Metric Madness

[Brianwarnock]

Had to share this with someone.

took delivery of some racking for my garage, ordered it over the net;
size 1220*1830*457 mm. Took some work with the old rule to judge the size.

When it arrived I discovered that it was made in the good ole' U. S. of A. and was exactly 48*72*18 inches I could have looked at my space and gone " that'll do nicely"

Brian

 

[Rich]

and what does 20% mean when approaching a hill, 20% of what for Christ sake!
and why aren't there 2,240lbs in an American Ton?

 

[Bodisathva]

and why aren't there 2,240lbs in an American Ton?

Because everyone got confused with the 12 inches / foot, 16 ounces / pound type stuff, we thought we'd actually make one easy for you, and what do you do? Muck up the an easy one like 2,000 pounds/ ton

 

[Ron_dK]

took delivery of some racking for my garage, ordered it over the net;

Approx size :

 

[Len Boorman]

The point is that "metric" is boring. everything in 10's 100's 1000's

personally I believe it to be tied up with the education standards falling behind.

As a kid I worked in my parents grocery store.

Eggs at 3pence 3 farthings each.

So 3/9d doz
1/7 ha''penny for half doz

Gross of this or that

inches/feet/yards/furlongs

pint/quart/gallon etc

All these taught you to use the grey matter holding your ears apart. called mental arithmetic or these days how to use a calculator

L

 

[Keith Nichols]

A possibly apocryphal story about the construction of the Nuclear Power station at Hartlepool in the UK.

The designs were American and so had to be converted in to metric units for construction in the UK. This was around the time of metrication in the Uk and so not everyone knew that an inch was 2.54 centimeters. The story is that one contractor constructed the main pressure vessel using the correct conversion and another built the pressure vessel building using 2.5cm to the inch. This modest error was sufficient to make the vessel significantly larger than the housing causing no end of grief and expense.

I think something similar was responsible for the loss of one of the Mars landers a few years back.

More of a problem than Brian's worries for his shed. But we are all glad that the shelves fitted in the end.

 

[Matt Greatorex]

Back when I worked in my father's hardware shop, we used to get lengths of timber delivered that were sized by the supplier as 46mm(d) x 46mm(w) x 8 feet(l).

I was never able to work out the reason for that one.

 

[Rich]

and why does 2 x 1 roll off the tongue easier than 50mm x 25mm please?

 

[statsman]

and what does 20% mean when approaching a hill, 20% of what for Christ sake!
and why aren't there 2,240lbs in an American Ton?

The 20% would refer to the grade of the hill. It's a truck/lorry driver thing and warns them if they should be in a lower gear so they don't run away.

I was in California a few years back and they have some 60% hills on the secondary highways. Damn, thats almost straight down.

By the way, it's not metric.

 

[Rich]

By the way, it's not metric.

Perhaps not but the signs here have been upgraded to "Euopean standards" or at least some of them.
But I still don't understand what 20% is supposed to mean, 20% of what?

 

[Matt Greatorex]

I believe it means for every 100 metres you go forward, you go up 20. So an incline of 1% (or 1 up in 100 metres forward) is very slight, but coming downhill on Statsman's 60% isn't something you want to attempt without good brakes.

 

[Rich]

1 in 3 was much easier to follow

 

[Keith Nichols]

Matt,

I thought it was a percentage of the 90 degrees between horizontal and vertical. Thus a 0% 'hill' is a flat road and a 100% 'hill' is a vertical cliff. A 60% hill means you are ascending or descending more than you are traveling horizontally and a 40% hill would be the other way round.

It is a long time ago that this format came into the UK and so my memory or understanding may be wrong. If I find I have the time later, I may try and get the skinny from the horses mouth, so to speak, and look up some official website in the UK.

 

[Matt Greatorex]

Matt,

I thought it was a percentage of the 90 degrees between horizontal and vertical. Thus a 0% 'hill' is a flat road and a 100% 'hill' is a vertical cliff. A 60% hill means you are ascending or descending more than you are traveling horizontally and a 40% hill would be the other way round.

It is a long time ago that this format came into the UK and so my memory or understanding may be wrong. If I find I have the time later, I may try and get the skinny from the horses mouth, so to speak, and look up some official website in the UK.

I bow to your wisdom, sir.

I was passing on what I'd been told, but your explanation makes more sense to me.

 

[Brianwarnock]

Thanks Keith I always wondered, so for a simpleton like me the bigger the number the steeper the hill,

Brian

 

[pono1]

I vote that they (whoever they would be -- sign design people?) replace the arcane with the simple...

Steep
Really Steep
Deploy parachute

 

[Len Boorman]

You will never get that past Brussels

and as we all know your suggestion is far too simple and too easily understood for the burocrats.

L

 

[John Big Booty]

Matt,

I thought it was a percentage of the 90 degrees between horizontal and vertical. Thus a 0% 'hill' is a flat road and a 100% 'hill' is a vertical cliff. A 60% hill means you are ascending or descending more than you are traveling horizontally and a 40% hill would be the other way round.

It is a long time ago that this format came into the UK and so my memory or understanding may be wrong. If I find I have the time later, I may try and get the skinny from the horses mouth, so to speak, and look up some official website in the UK.

Not quite right
Follow this link for a full explanation

 

[Keith Nichols]

Not quite right[/URL]

I just found the same site checking this out myself.


Apologies to all those in whom I have planted a false idea. The original explanation given is correct:

Units of rise over one hundred horizontal units gives the percentage, thus 1 in 10 would give 10 rise over 100 along = 10%

A 100% hill would be a 100 unit rise over a 100 unit horizontal which is 45 degrees not the 90 I suggested. On reflection, I can see that anything even approaching 45 degrees would not be made into a road. There wouldn't be many vehicles that could negotiate such terrain.

 

[Len Boorman]

To be totally picky then

At the top of the hill the sign may say 10% so

The sign at the bottom of the hill for people about to go up the hill it should say -10% then

or vice versa of course

L