I saw two sets of socket wrenches at the auto store recently, one YOE (Ye Olde
English) on on SI (metric).
Here were the sizes, in random order:
Ye Olde English
3/4”
5/8”
9/16”
7/16”
1/2”
3/8”
5/16”
Metric
13 mm
10 mm
14 mm
9 mm
17 mm
12 mm
15 mm
It's an interesting exercise to have someone try to put each set (separately)
in order, smallest to largest. Even better might be to actually obtain such
sets of sockets or other wrenches and, after mixing them up, ask someone to
arrange them in order.
I've always argued that this is one example of how SI beats YEO but this is the
first time I've actually found a real set of real tools so that I know I am
using a realistic example and not just one I made up. (I'm not a "tool guy"!)
I found it interesting that the metric set was "missing" an 11 mm and a 15 mm
socket (missing from a completely uniform set of steps - 1 mm each step). I
also note that YOE was missing the 11/16" size (from a completely uniform set
of steps - sixteenths of an inch).
I like to fiddle with numbers so here are some other lists and comparisons of
these same values.
Here is a list of the combined YOE-SI wrenches, in order:
5/16”
9 mm
3/8”
10 mm
7/16”
12 mm
1/2”
13 mm
14 mm
9/16”
15 mm
5/8”
17 mm
3/4”
It's interesting that they alternate except for the one example were two metric
(13 and 14 mm) sizes fall between two YOE sizes (1/2" and 9/16").
Here is the same list with all sizes converted (where necessary) to millimetres
for ease of comparison:
mm
7.94
9.00
9.53
10.00
11.11
12.00
12.70
13.00
14.00
14.29
15.00
15.88
17.00
19.05
and here it is again,
this time with the numbers rounded to whole millimetres, except where doing so
would show a YOE size as if it were exactly equal to an SI size:
mm
8
9
9.5
10
11
12
12.7
13
14
14.3
15
16
17
19
I think it is interesting that there is no size of about 18 mm in either set.
Bill Hooper
1810 mm tall
(Bigger than the average socket wrench)
Fernandina Beach, Florida, USA
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SImplification Begins With SI.
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