BRITISH STANDARDS. 55 Avoirdupois at 30 inches and 62° F. fills 277-274 cubic inches,.. the Imperial standard gallon contains 277.274 cubic inches. Thus the imperial Bushel (8 gallons) will contain 2218-192 cubic inches. Also it follows that "a pint of pure water weighs a pound and a quarter.” By the Report of 1820 the French metre was also declared to be 39.37079 inches, the English standard being used at 62° F. The Houses of Parliament were burnt in 1834 and the standards destroyed. Fortunately however the Royal Astronomical Society in 1832 made a one-yard scale for themselves and compared it with Bird's Imperial standard of 1760 in 1834 before the fire. The Astronomical Society's centre yard being taken as 36 inches, Bird's was found to be 35.999624; thus if the Astronomical Society's yard be measured, and 000376 be taken from it, we get the true standard yard. The Report of 1838. The Commission appointed in 1838 to consider the best means of restoring the standards made the following recommendations. 1o. They advocated the retention of a certain arbitrary brass rod and brass weight as the best standard yard and pound. They found however the pendulum experiments (then recently made) doubtful and erroneous in many ways and the determination of the weight of a cubic inch of distilled water by no means accurate enough. At the same time they affirmed that the standards can always be better restored by comparison with accurate copies (e.g. Astronomical Society's Scale and Ordnance Bars) than by reference to natural constants. 2o. They proposed that the lb. A voirdupois should become the standard weight instead of the lb. Troythat the Avoirdupois lb. and oz. and the Troy oz. should be retained (the Avoirdupois dram and the Troy lb. being abolished). Also the smaller weights of Troy and Apothecaries' scales were to be retained for a time, but a decimal scale of Avoirdupois weights be made with 7 grains (the Millet) as the unit. In addition 3 series of decimal weights in grains, Troy ounces, and Avoirdupois lbs. were strongly recommended. grain-weights were to be compared with the old Troy lb. of 5760 grs. and from them a platinum weight of 7000 grs. was to be constructed as the standard lb. The 100 lbs. weight was to be called a centner. The 3°. The standard of capacity was defined to be the capacity which contains 10 pounds' weight_of distilled water weighed in air at 30 inches and 62° F.,” and this was called the Imperial Gallon. This capacity is to be expressed in cubic inches but only as a subsidiary standard when the principal standard is inapplicable-the object of this recommendation is to remove as far as possible the errors which are involved in the determination of the standard of length. The Imperial Gallon contains 277 274 cubic inches. 4°. The Government were strongly recommended to introduce decimal subdivisions of the acre (10 sq. chains 1 acre, 10000 sq. links = 1 sq. chain) and to sanction the decimal subdivision of the foot as used by engineers. = 5°. They proposed a decimal system of coinage with the sovereign as the basis-the radical coins being the pound, the florin (£), the cent (£), the mil (£TOOO). = The value of the cent would be 2:4d. 23d. nearly. = In 1853 another Commission reported strongly in favour of the same coinage. The Acts of 1879 and 1887 re-affirmed the units of 1826 but the Act of 1887 abolished the use of anything but the oz. Troy and grains for silversmiths. FLORINS, CENTS, AND MILS. A Decimal Coinage. 57 The adoption of the Recommendation of the Commission of 1838 has been constantly proposed by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and many other public bodies interested. There can be no doubt of the great simplification such a step would produce. Trade would not in any real sense be disturbed because the sovereign remains the integer-there would be some confusion at first over the new coins, but this would quickly disappear when once the ratio of old prices to the new was understood. The method of Money-Decimalisation (to 3 places) used throughout this book shows how easy it would be to get hold of the value of any number of mils in s. d. f. and vice versa, e.g. 35 mils 81d., 247 mils = 4s. 111d. and so on-3s. 74d. = 180 mils etc. = The old coins would for the most part be retained, e.g. the florin = 100 mils, the shilling = 50 mils, the sixpence = 25 mils, the 2s. 6d. = 125 mils. The 3d., 1d., d., d. would all disappear in favour of 10 mils (cent), 5 mils, 2 mils, 1 mil. The ratio of the penny to the 5-mils would be 200 240 or 5: 6, thus five 5-mils would be taken for 6 pence. Money would be quoted in £ and mils--prices in mils probably. The advantages of such a decimal coinage are very great-among them are these :— 1. Most operations are thereby reduced to purely arithmetical operations. 2. Decimals would be universally understood. 3. A great saving of time in schools and business would be the result. 4. Fractions are avoided in the majority of operations. 5. The Decimal System lends itself to finer subdivisions in prices etc. This reform taken in conjunction with the adoption of the Metric System of Weights and Measures would greatly reduce the labour of commercial calculation and above all would allow the use of all the Methods of Approximation which depend so largely upon Decimals. Named from Troyes in France or Troy-Novant (London). Formerly used in philosophical observations but now generally superseded by the Metric System. The grain was originally a dried wheat grain. The Imperial Standard Pound Troy of 1758 is the standard from which all other weights are obtained. Gold is weighed for jewellery purposes in "carats" and "caratgrains". The word "carat" expresses the pureness without regard to the actual weight, but strictly the gold carat is lb. T. 10 dwts. =240 grains T. 1 g. carat 4 g. carat grains, .. 1 g. carat grain = 60 grains T. Since 1852 the Bank of England weighs Bullion in ounces and decimals of an ounce. Diamonds are also weighed in "carats" and "carat grains", but these are quite distinct from the gold carats and grains. = 151 diamond carats 1 oz. T., i.e. 303 d. carats 960 grs. T., . 1 d. carat 3 grs. T., hence 1 gold carat = 240 grs. T. = 303 d. carats=75 d. carats. 1 d. carat 34 grs. T. nearly. BULLION WEIGHT. 59 Pearls are weighed in "grains"-600 pearl grains = 1 oz. T., .. 1 pearl grain Troy grain exactly. = The Act of 1887 abolished all weights but the Troy oz. and grain for silversmiths. 1o. Mental Rules for Troy weight. To find price (1) per oz. given price per grain-2 × price in d. as £. 2o. Special Rule for Troy weight. Given price per oz.-to find price of lb., oz., dwts., grs. Reduce lbs. to oz. Consider oz. as £, dwts. s., grains d. Decimalise as for money (Five and Four): Then use Practice or Decimalisation of Price. Example. 5 lbs. 11 ozs. 8 dwts. 14 grs. at £1. 17s. 5d. per oz. 1. Price per oz. given price per grain as 9s. 7 d., 3s. 10d., 2s. 6d., 3s. 74d., 1s. 9d. 2. 41000 ozs. 320 grs. at £3. 178. 10d. per oz. and at £3. 178. 9d. per oz. 3. 41 lbs. 7 ozs. 18 dwts. 16 grs. at £3. 16s. 51d. per oz. and at £2. 11s. 5d. per oz. 4. 5240ğ ozs. at 39d. per oz. |