Han Maenen wrote in USMA 14649:
>If Hassler had adopted the Imperial system the USA would now be using the
>Imperial gallon, pint, gill; the long ton, the long hundredweight, the
>quarter and the British stone and other British units unfamiliar to
>Americans now.
>Hassler and Bache just streamlined and improved the old-English, colonial,
>pre-Imperial units brought to the USA by British settlers before 1824. As
>far as I known, before 1893 the US had its own yard and pound standard and
>never used an authentic British Imperial Standard Yard and Pound.
In 1814 an 82 inch bronze bar with an inlaid silver scale was procured from
Troughton of London. This bar was a copy of Troughton's and not been
compared with the standard British yard. From 1832 until 1856 this bar
served as the unofficial standard of length for the USA.
A Troy pound was sent to the USA in 1827 by Albert Gallatin, Minister of
the USA in London, and delivered to the Mint at Philadelphia. An Act
passed by the House on 1828 May 19 established this pound as the standard
for the Mint. This was the only law of the USA officially adopting a
standard of the customary system of weoghts and measures.
The USA obtained new copies of the British standards in 1856.
Information obtained from U.S. Metric Study Interim Report NBS SP 345-10 of
1971.
Joseph B. Reid
17 Glebe Road West
Toronto M5P 1C8 Tel. 416 486-6071
