2000-10-15
This is very true. What most people don't realize is that SI is more than a
measuring system. It is a foundation for a whole family of standards.
Organizations like DIN and ISO have developed all their standards based on
rational SI. If ISO were to accept an American standard and modify it to
fit more rationally with SI, I'm sure the American developers would not be
happy campers.
A year or so ago, we saw where some American Standards officials were upset
with ISO because they were rejecting American standards. It would appear to
me American standards bodies would love to get some non-SI based standards
into ISO as a means to get FFU accepted more in the world. Americans might
even view the sole use of metric as monopolistic and feel true competition
would allow for FFU to have equal space in the world of trade. In this way,
American companies won't have to convert to the use of metric.
John
My personal opinion is that many of ASTM standards are rejected by
the ISO because they are based on non-SI units, rather than because of
differences in the adoption procedures of the ASTM (and ANSI) versus those
of the ISO, as James would have us believe.
For example, the R numbers in the U.S. for the thermal resistance
of insulation materials are generated by thickness in inches and area in
square feet, making U.S. R values not acceptable as ISO standards.
There are many other examples of ASTM standards which are not based on SI,
and which are, therefore, not acceptable to ISO member nations.
Gene.
