Is the USA changing to all metric?

[NY_Dutch]

I once had fellow that was traveling to Canada ask me what adapters he needed for their metric power.

 

[DonTom]

Canada ask me what adapters he needed for their metric power.

He was confused with Japan where they use 100 VAC!

-Don- Auburn, CA

 

[NY_Dutch]

He was confused with Japan where they use 100 VAC!

-Don- Auburn, CA

I guess someone had been filling him on the metric system for road signs, measurements, etc., so he just assumed they had "metric power" as well.

I used to win a few beers now and then back in the day, with my "metric adjustable wrench". Standard adjustables in the US have inch markings on the handles, but the adjustable that came in the small tool kit in my new 1974 Toyota Hilux pickup was labeled in centimeters. 25, as I recall...

 

[TheBar]

We've changed to metric time - only 10 hours in a day. All that time we spent in primary school learning to count in multiples of 12.

Wow! I am looking forward to those one hour daytime naps Plus the older I get the longer it takes me to get things done. I will be able to get more than twice as much done in an hour.

 

[CharlesinGA]

I have noticed more and more that I see more measurements in metric.

Even my Zero motorcycles, made here in CA, every bolt is metric.

When I look things up on the web, I often only see metric mentioned. Often even when it only applies to stuff in the USA.

If a US manufacturer wants to sell their products outside the US, they will have to use Metric in design, and hardware.

Other things that are stupid are SAE tools, but only because of the way they are labeled. Why do we reduce the factions just to make things more difficult?

I would mark SAE tools as in 128ths. IOW, 64/128 for a half inch.

Apparently you missed fractions in school. I simply have no issue with fractions, and for the most part, can figure out the decimal sizes to go with them, in my head.

I can work quite well with the metric system, but for many things, I prefer fractions. I worked on aircraft most of my life and the only time I encountered metric wrench sizes was on an Aerospatiale Dauphine II helicopter I maintained. Our Dassaut Falcon 20 was fractional hardware (though many components were metric, but attached with fraction hardware). I worked on Airbus products some for the airliine and again, it was all fraction hardware, with the components being metric but for the purposes of R&R of them, it was fraction.

Then there is British Standard, or British Association, and Whitworth, where the size does not represent the size of the hex, but rather the outside diameter of the shank of the bolt or stud. I have one drawer in my toolbox dedicated to those wrenches and sockets.

Charles

 

[TheBar]

If a US manufacturer wants to sell their products outside the US, they will have to use Metric in design, and hardware.

Maybe for small companies with limited computer power. Since 1998 or so our computers were able to reliably convert hand written metric numbers to feet/inch data and vice versa. Like the postal system has been reading hand written addresses since 1970. The company I worked for had no problems selling totally custom metal buildings to metric countries. Simple to convert our feet/inch construction drawings for them to metric since our drawings were all computer generated. If their architect supplied hand drawn metric drawings to us it was simple for our computers to convert to feet/inches for our plants to make the parts.

Our company eliminated all drafting desks in 2002. Engineering was 80% done by AI and all drafting was all being done on computer screens.

 

[DonTom]

Apparently you missed fractions in school. I simply have no issue with fractions, and for the most part, can figure out the decimal sizes to go with them, in my head.

So can I, in most cases, but I do not like to stop working just to think about such totally unnecessary BS while I am trying to get a job done.

-Don- (@ the Truckee-Tahoe Airport)

 

[msw3113]

...Our company eliminated all drafting desks in 2002...

Drafting desks seem to have gone the way of slide rules.
I am still in awe of the many engineering achievements made pre-computer. We recently traversed the Mackinac Bridge, for example.

 

[John From Detroit]

One of the things is that I think the USA is the only country NOT metric so if you want to sell "Elsewhere" GO METRIC. Lots of political "Chatter about the trade deficit. Only mentioned political because they talk abou it.,

Trade deficits happen when we buy more than we sell and if it is not metric.. It is harder to sell overseas. If we went all out metric, would our overseas sales improve?

I know of at least one company that answered that with a resounding YES.

 

[Wasillaguy]

Pretty much everything here was SAE when the Japanese cars first came and we bought them up like candy.
Same thing will happen in reverse. American cars are a novelty in many countries, and I doubt they care if they have to buy some SAE tools to work on them.

 

[NY_Dutch]

Did you know?​

• We use the metric system (International System of Units or SI) every second of every day. After all, the second (s) is the SI base unit of time.
• U.S. coins & currency are produced using metric specifications.
• Many U.S. products, like wine and distilled spirits, have been successfully sold with only metric measures since the early 1980s.
• Metric units are used extensively on packages to provide net quantity, nutrition, and health-related information, and for prescription drugs, over-the-counter medicine, vitamin supplement dosing, and other consumer products.
• SI units are increasingly used on consumer product labeling in the U.S. lighting sector. Voluntary package labeling standards adopted by flashlight manufacturers help consumers make product comparisons. While shopping, consumers easily evaluate light output (lumen), peak beam intensity (candela), beam distance (meter), and impact resistance (meter).

Busting Myths about the Metric System

This year will be the 45th anniversary of the Metric Conversion Act, which was signed

www.nist.gov

 

[Tom]

Just a FWIW ... The standard UK spanner (aka wrench) sizes were known as Whitworth, named after the inventor. In addition to defining thread pitch and angle, Whitworth defined the ratio of the head size to bolt diameter. During World War II, to save materials, the Whitworth standard was adjusted so the heads of bolts were smaller. This standard was subsequently known as British Standard (BS) or British Standard Whitworth (BSW). Older Whitworth spanners could still be used on the new standard but a size down would need to be used instead. For example, a ¼W spanner could be used on a 5/16BS bolt.

Includes some info from British Standard Whitworth - Wikipedia and A brief history of the Spanner - Wonkee Donkee Tools

 

[Tom]

On the issue of time, I still wear my analog watches that I've owned for many years. The cheapest one (that I call "my Costco watch"), has single 'line digits' instead of numbers or Roman numerals. Being on my driver's side (left wrist), it has lost a few of the 'line digits', presumably due to the Sun melting the glue.

One time when I took it in for a battery replacement, the guy was all concerned and exclaimed "some of your digits are falling off!". I explained that I really wished they'd all fall off, as I've long been retired and have no real need to know the exact time. My other two analog watches are Seiko with Roman numerals, much older than my Costco watch, and I don't think the numerals are going to fall off any time soon.

The story of my Costco watch ...
We were attending an RV rally (either FMCA or Monaco owners) and were sitting with friends and their friends for dinner. The friend of a friend sitting across from me was a retired shrink who displayed numerous characteristics suggesting he was self-conscious (I think of his diminutive height). Every few minutes he'd reach across the table, wipe his wrist under my nose, and say "my $X,000 Rolex watch". I finally got tired of this behavior and wiped my wrist under his nose, saying "my $43 Costco watch".

In the 60's I wore a $12+/- Timex watch, and rarely took it off, even to take a shower. When, after 10 years, it quit working, I took it to a relative who was an amateur watch repairer. He opened it up and said "it's all rusty inside", to which I replied "it's your job to fix it and get it working again", which he did.

 

[Larry N.]

I, too, have analog wrist watches (and an analog pocket watch too), one of which is a Bulova (with the jeweler's name used instead) with a black face, luminous white hands and numbers, and includes tiny numbers for the 13-24 hours just below the respective 1-12 hours. It was a present from DW many years ago. The number three is replaced by a small window with the date.

My other watch that I normally use (especially for yard work and such) is an analog Timex Indiglo WR100M, also with a black face and white, luminous hands and numbers and the tiny 13-24 numbers. The number three is replaced by a small window with the date.

My third watch I sometimes use is an analog Croton Chronoaster Aviator Sea Diver, with black face, white hands and position indicators (not numbers) with the outer bezel that rotates for use as a minimal flight computer (circular slide-rule type), and stopwatch buttons. it has one small hand in the 9 o'clock position as a second hand and one small hand in the 3 o'clock position as the minutes counter for the stopwatch. Though the other two are battery operated, this one is windup.

All three of these get periodic use. As you maybe can tell, I'm not quite so fond of the "digital" displays on watches or clocks. They actually take a little concentration to read them while the analog takes a quick glance unless you need precision.

 

[Tom]

As you maybe can tell, I'm not quite so fond of the "digital" displays on watches or clocks. They actually take a little concentration to read them while the analog takes a quick glance unless you need precision.

Ironically, back in the 70's we produced 'watch chips' (semiconductors) for some of the early digital wristwatches. They had LED displays which required a large battery, and this resulted in a big, heavy case. One of the manufacturers gold plated their case, apparently in an attempt to offset the negatives of the heavy case but, of course, that resulted in a high $$$ price. My then-boss was given one of the watches by our customer, and continually wore/displayed it in a very prominent fashion.

 

[TheBar]

My other watch that I normally use (especially for yard work and such) is an analog Timex Indiglo WR100M

I never took off the first of that model Timex watch. It lasted 14 years without even a battery replacement. Because the battery is as big in diameter as the watch.

I was mowing the yard with my garden tractor, it fell off, and I ran over it.. Two weeks later I was mowing and heard another "ching". I saw where it landed and found the watch band had rusted through.

Even though it had been hit twice by the mower blades and the crystal was gone it was still keeping perfect time after 3 rain storms.

My second one is only 12 years old and still keeping perfect time with the original battery. Like the ad, a Timex just keeps on ticking. I hope Timex is still making that model if I live long enough to need another one

 

[Tom]

I never took off the first of that model Timex watch. It lasted 14 years without even a battery replacement. Because the battery is as big in diameter as the watch.

My Timex didn't need a battery replacement; It was a wind-up model

 

[John From Detroit]

U.S. coins & currency are produced using metric specifications

1¢ 10¢ $1.00 $10.00 $100.00 $1,00.00 Metric all the way.

 

[Tom]

1¢ 10¢ $1.00 $10.00 $100.00 $1,00.00 Metric all the way.

John,
It appears you might be confusing metric with decimal.

 

[DonTom]

It appears you might be confusing metric with decimal.

Could it be you who is confused?

"The US uses metric in money (100 cents), photography (35 mm film, 50 mm lens), medicine (1 cc of drug), nutrition labels (grams of fat), bottles of soft drink (liter), and volume displacement in engines (liters)."

Info. from here.


-Don- Reno, NV