mklotz said:but it's even farther beyond the typical math skills of products of our laughable education system.
mklotz said:Calling it a #5 screw because it was made with the fifth machine the factory bought may be ok within the factory, but it's idiocy to allow that designation to find its way into general usage.
mklotz said:Consider the weight markings on anvils. On older anvils you'll find a triplet of numbers (e.g., a-b-c) stamped or cast into the base. "a" is the number of cwts (hundredweights). "b" is the number of quarters and "c" is the remaining number of pounds.
mklotz said:A "quarter" is two "stone" and a stone is 14 pounds so a quarter is 28 pounds.
A cwt is four quarters so it's 4*28 = 112 pounds. (Yes, that's right. In the Imperial system a unit called a *hundred"weight weighs 112 pounds, not 100 pounds.)
joe d said:Marv: This was the manner used for marking ordinance in the English army and the Royal Navy, certainly into the 19th century, presumably when the foundries had some down-time from government contracts they cast anvils and used the marking system they were familiar with?
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