Remember Russians and Germans both used first angle projection, while Americans used (still use) third angle projection. Russians did not have to re-draw German technical drawings, while Americans did.
On Thu, Jul 9, 2020, 6:52 AM Stanislav Jakuba <[email protected]> wrote: > *Did Metric Help the Russians in the Space Race?* > > > > *by Stan Jakuba* > > > > History suggests that Russian use of the metric system helped their space > program outpace the U.S. in the early days of the space race. The Russians, > starting with Sputnik, collected all the space travel world records in > those early years, and gave up on the moon landing more for political than > technical reasons. > > > > The space program started in both nations after World War II, when both > sides “imported” then current space technology from the Germans. The > “import” consisted of the documentation and hardware for the V2 rockets > that terrorized London and, after the allied invasion, Antwerp. With the > hardware and documentation, each nation “retained” a group of German > scientists, engineers and technicians that worked on that war project. > > > > It is usually not recognized that the Russians had their own "von Braun" > and coworkers, just as the U.S. did. These “Russian” Germans, such as > Helmut Grottrup, are so little known because they did not have the NASA PR > machine behind them as von Braun did. The Russian government kept secret > the names of their own engineers, let alone giving credit to the > non-Russians. > > > > In any case, the “Russian” Germans must have been a formidable group of > scientists and engineers, considering that they reaped all the space race > records with the Russian backward technology and without the equivalent of > the McMaster-Carr catalog we had in the U.S.; they made most of even > standard hardware themselves, as needed. > > > > Coming back to the metric system, von Braun’s group used the MKS system > (which later became MKSA and eventually SI in 1960 as we know). Relocated > to the U.S. they continued working in that system, and U.S. engineers then > converted the metric documentation, such as drawings and calculation > results, to the U.S. conventions. > > > > The “Russian” group likewise continued working the same way they had in > Germany. But here the German and USSR engineers spoke the same measurement > language that was used by all engineers in the metric world throughout > most of the 20th century. Thus the Russians did not need to employ staff > to convert as we did, and did not experience delays and wasted money due to > mistakes associated with working in two measuring systems. Their work > progressed faster and cheaper simply because everybody was drawing, > calculating, machining, assembling, etc. metrically. > > > > For example, when the German detail drawings hit the manufacturing floor > in Russia, the lathe, milling, grinding, etc. operators could start cutting > metal immediately, without even knowing the German language. They knew the > language of engineering drafting, which by that time was very much the same > throughout European nations. In fact, the Russians built about twenty V2s > for testing right away. > > > > It might be interesting to put that situation into perspective with our > war effort in building some English-designed hardware, such as the famous > Rolls-Royce Merlin airplane engine. All the drawings, despite of using > inches and the English language, had to be redrawn for American factories > to make parts here. In technical literature, the spoken language is not as > important as the drafting language, and the European (nowadays ISO) > language spans those, and also unifies national standards with its drafting > symbols and various standardized design features. > > > > The importance of a common engineering language can perhaps be best > illustrated by the statement I heard at a fasteners conference, that “if > threaded fastener standards were harmonized globally, World War II might > have been over two years earlier.” > > > > Sadly, the obvious, long-term advantage of the metric system is still > debated in the U.S. today. How many other races have we been losing without > realizing it? To this day, the first stage of NASA rockets, including the > Space Shuttle one, have been designed and built in Russia for us. > > Published in Metric Today a few decades ago. > > On Wed, Jul 8, 2020 at 8:48 PM John Nichols <[email protected]> wrote: > >> According to my Russian supervisor they are good at listening at walls. >> >> >> >> But he is biased. But you are correct. >> >> >> >> John >> >> >> >> *From:* USMA <[email protected]> *On Behalf Of *Peter >> Goodyear >> *Sent:* Wednesday, 8 July 2020 7:29 PM >> *To:* USMA List Server <[email protected]> >> *Subject:* [USMA 1474] Re: Metric to the Moon >> >> >> >> Hi, everyone, >> >> >> >> You could also respond that the Russians: >> >> - Put the first satellite in orbit, >> - Put the first man in orbit, >> - The first woman in orbit, >> - Made the first spacewalk, >> - Operated the first extra-terrestrial rover, >> - Landed the only two probes on Venus, >> - Took the first pictures of the far side of the moon, and probably a >> few other firsts, too. >> >> And they used the metric system exclusively, to design, construct, and >> operate their spacecraft. >> >> >> >> >> >> Best wishes, >> >> Peter Goodyear, >> >> Melbourne, Australia >> e-mail: [email protected] <[email protected]> >> >> >> >> = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = >> >> >> >> On 9 Jul 2020, at 10:02, [email protected] wrote: >> >> >> >> That's not a real argument though and more of a "poke in the eye with a >> stick" sort of meme. It means nothing. The pyramids weren't built in the >> metric system either. >> >> >> >> The Apollo missions were done in ifp because that's what they used at the >> time. That was also 50 years ago. Let the snarky memes pass you by. I >> agree, it's sort of a funny statement, but it really means nothing to the >> actual argument. >> >> -------- Original Message -------- >> Subject: [USMA 1472] Metric to the Moon >> From: "[email protected]" <[email protected]> >> Date: Wed, July 08, 2020 4:48 pm >> To: USMA List Server <[email protected]> >> >> Don-- It seems that on some of the "social media" boards these days, a >> big >> argument against the metric system is the (mis)statement that the U.S. >> got >> to the moon not using the metric system. If I recall some of the >> discussion here and in "Metric Today," the metric system was in fact >> used, >> at least in part. >> >> Moreover, all of the space activities since then (space station, >> interplanetary probes, etc.) have been essentially all metric. >> >> I'm thinking that it would be useful to have information to debunk this >> argument collected as one of the red bullet points on the USMA's home >> page >> (perhaps under "Why Use the Metric System"). I think I recall an article >> in "Metric Today" on this topic. Perhaps it could be lifted for this >> purpose and used as an easy response when someone raises the issue. >> --Martin Morrison >> _______________________________________________ >> USMA mailing list >> [email protected] >> https://lists.colostate.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/usma >> <https://nam01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Furldefense.com%2Fv3%2F__https%3A%2Flists.colostate.edu%2Fcgi-bin%2Fmailman%2Flistinfo%2Fusma__%3B!!KwNVnqRv!TpimtgEZvDBYlDv7y_q0pQzTITZb_iSPRLtgdPt5wfHAiSHa3tNVHXPU1AX8dxr9-xQ%24&data=02%7C01%7Cusma%40lists.colostate.edu%7Cac84e2468a064c77f2a608d824017bdd%7Cafb58802ff7a4bb1ab21367ff2ecfc8b%7C0%7C0%7C637298936080177017&sdata=XQKOBsoJnTNlu3ftIz%2FuGQGAC0aeucofv7rZAev3mAo%3D&reserved=0> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> USMA mailing list >> [email protected] >> https://lists.colostate.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/usma >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> USMA mailing list >> [email protected] >> https://lists.colostate.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/usma >> > _______________________________________________ > USMA mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.colostate.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/usma >
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