[USMA:31894] Re: "UK measures"/FFU's

[Bill Potts]

I'm not an FFU user (such people being a rarity on this listserver), but I believe the U.S. ton (otherwise known as the short ton -- 2000 lb) was simply a rational substitution for the English ton (or long ton -- 2240 lb).   Rather than being a multiple of 112 lb, or hundredweight (abbreviation: cwt), it was the same multiple of 100 lb (a more sensible value for something known as a hundredweight, but officially known as the cental [a rarely used term]).   The folks in the colonies were probably glad to be rid of peculiar units like the stone (14 lb), a choice of unit on which we can blame the existence of the hundredweight (8 stones).   I don't know the date of the first use of the short ton.   I acknowledge that you know most of the above. However, it's written for the benefit of all participants here.   By the way, for your amusement, you might be interested in the definition of a ton given on a web page called "Technical Terms and Definitions" on the American Industrial Hygiene Association website. ton A short ton equals 2000 pounds. A long ton (also known as a British ton) equals 2240 pounds. A metric ton is 1000 kilometers or 2204.62 pounds. Now that metric ton is a really long ton.   You can find it at http://www.aiha.org/pubs/style5.html.   They also say that EHF is "300 to 300 GHz" -- a pretty narrow range. (They also forgot VHI -- Very High Indeed.)   Bill Potts, CMS Roseville, CA http://metric1.org [SI Navigator]     -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]On Behalf Of ewc Sent: Thursday, January 13, 2005 01:42 To: U.S. Metric Association Subject: [USMA:31893] Re: "UK measures"/FFU's Hi Bill & all   you write   <<You are correct in saying that you don't have specific knowledge of the Conf�rence G�n�rale. The people who attend the CGPM are not French academics, but are representatives of their respective countries. I don't believe France has any greater representation than any other country>>   In my reasonably long experience of attending meetings I've come to the conclusion that who attends is pretty much irrelevant - its he who writes the minutes that counts.  But anyhow - that issue is no going to be advanced by us exchanging simplistic one-liners.   How about answering my earlier question - where did the US customary ton come from?  Any 'FFU' users care to answer?   rob   (Robert Tye, York, UK)