I agree that the monthly, Automotive Engineering, used haphazard units. Conferences, technical papers and standards (at least the ones I used) seemed to better adhere to policy.
After I retired, I remained an SAE member for 2-3 years, then quit. One (minor) factor was the units mess in the Automotive Engineering monthly magazine. To me the question was exactly who were they writing for as all the employed engineers worked in metric, and had been since the mid-70's. When had these alleged retired engineers retired, and why weren't they dead yet. After having this argument with someone on the publications board, I concluded I would not renew my membership. ________________________________ From: Stanislav Jakuba <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Cc: U.S. Metric Association <[email protected]> Sent: Sun, January 31, 2010 7:47:04 PM Subject: Re: [USMA:46531] Re: Active metric discussion Some decade later SAE instituted "SI only" policy in several publications and most standards, notably the Automotive Engineering monthly and standards such as J1349 I helped to write. I also served on the Metric Advisory Committee (MAC - it had different titles over the years). MAC was pretty much disbanded by the late 1990s after several letters (some say as many as 12) from (mostly retired) SAE members protested the use of SI. The last MAC president had not have the rank to overcome the back-stage politicking (nobody at MAC ever saw even 1/2 of those "crucial" letters), and I-P units were soon introduced alongside the metric (not even SI anymore). I wrote to the SAE Board several times that SAE publications do not follow TSB 003 (former J916), but again - somebody with influence had it all barricaded solidly. And so it is nowadays I-P with SI, SI with I-P, I-P only, SI only, from one sentence to the next, from one issue to the other. Stan Jakuba On Sat, Jan 30, 2010 at 7:53 AM, John M. Steele <[email protected]> wrote: I am amused by the frequent mention of "SAE" as some magic talisman against evil metric wrenches taking over the world. :) > >The SAE is metric and publishes its metric policy and guidelines as Technical >Standard Board publication TSB 003 (formerly published as J916). Quoting a >snippet: "In 1969, the SAE Board of Directors issued a directive that "SAE >will include SI units in SAE Standards and other >technical reports." During the ensuing several decades, SAE metric policy >evolved and implementation >progressed. The SAE’s current metric policy is, 'Operating Boards shall not >use any weights and measures >system other than metric (SI), except when conversion is not practical, or >where a conflicting world industry >practice exists.'" > >However the attitudes generally expressed clearly explain why automobile >companies convert a number of specifications back to to Customary to suit the >market. > > > > ________________________________ From: Pat Naughtin <[email protected]> >To: U.S. Metric Association <[email protected]> >Sent: Sat, January 30, 2010 2:12:13 AM >Subject: [USMA:46530] Active metric discussion > > >Dear All, > > >You might be interested in and even responding to some of the remarks made >here: http://community.artofmanliness.com/forum/topics/the-metric-system?id=2357106%3ATopic%3A219522&page=1#comments > > >Many are quite thoughtful and thought provoking. Some others are rubbish! > > >Cheers, > >Pat Naughtin >Author of the ebook, Metrication Leaders Guide, that you can obtain >from http://metricationmatters.com/MetricationLeadersGuideInfo.html >PO Box 305 Belmont 3216, >Geelong, Australia >Phone: 61 3 5241 2008 > > >Metric system consultant, writer, and speaker, Pat Naughtin, has helped >thousands of people and hundreds of companies upgrade to the modern metric >system smoothly, quickly, and so economically that they now save thousands >each year when buying, processing, or selling for their businesses. Pat >provides services and resources for many different trades, crafts, and >professions for commercial, industrial and government metrication leaders in >Asia, Europe, and in the USA. Pat's clients include the Australian Government, >Google, NASA, NIST, and the metric associations of Canada, the UK, and the >USA. See http://www.metricationmatters.com/ to subscribe. >
