Evening star., 1927-05-30
Simplifying Measures.
Process Offered in Which Useless
Units Are Dropped.
To the Editor of The Star:

To the Editor OF The Star:
The process of simplification and
unification in the field of weights ana
measures is to slough off useless, eX-
traneous, incongruous, irregular and
| non-commensurable units. For this
purpose it is proposed that:
"a The cubic foot with its 1000
ounce measures, each the perfect
cube of the tenth of it's base dimen-
sion, displaces the hectoliter Of 6102.2
cubic inches, the decaliter of 61022
cubic inches, the gallon of 231 cubic
inches the liter of SLOPE cubic inches,
the quart of 5775 cubic inches, the
pint of 2S.875 cubic inches. the gill of
7.21875 cubic inches, the deciliter of
6.1022 cubic inches, the fluid ounce of
Is cubic inches, the centiliter of
.61022 cubic inches. and the milliliter
of .061022 cubic inches, as commercial
capacity measures.
The British milk trade is carried
in 5, 10, 90 and 40 ounce bottles. The
bulk of the trade in processed fruits
and vegetables in the United States
is carried in 20 and 80 ounce tins,
known to the trade as No. and No.
21a cans. This series may convenient
ly be extended to include 40, so 100,
500 and / 900 ounce containers. The
capacity of fluid containers, whether
of glass or of tin, should be standard
lied upon the unit of the ounce meas
ure of water. This is the British
fluid ounce. (The American fluid
ounce is 1-24 ounces of water.) This
regulation should apply to all fluid
containers having capacities up to
1000 ounces or 1. cubic foot.
(2) That the ounce be divided into
decimal submits comparable to the
dime, cent and mill of the silver dol
lar, to be called dino. cento and milo,
or doit, colt and mott, and in either
case to be denoted do, CO., and mo-,
which will displace the pennyweight
of "a grains, the scruple of 20 grains,
the gram of 15.432 grains, the carat
of 3.16 grains. the metric carat of
grains, the centigram Of .154 grains
and the milligram of .015 grains in the
field of weights below that of the
standard ounce. The cento (co.) will
be the dominant unit in this field.
None of these petty weights have any
aliquot relation to the American ounce,
which is all the more reason why we
should divide the ounce as we divide
the dollar into tenths, hundredths and
thousandths. This division offers no
impeachment whatever to the use of
the halves, quarters and eighths of
the ounce. The division of the silver
dollar is perfectly adapted to the use
of halves, quarters and eighths as so
cents, 25 cents and 125 mills This af-
fords the one way to bring order into
a field now confused by these eXtrane
Gus troy and metric weights.
The American silver dollar has the
weight Of .95 ounce. The Maria The
resa dollar has the weight of 80 ounce.
The American silver dollar might well
be increased to weigh one ounce of
standard or mint silver fiat. We would
thus revive the ancient relation be-
tween coins and weights. Our stand
ard ounce was the trade ounce of the
Romans.
The cartons and packages which are
now marked 1 pound ounces should
be marked 20 ounces; the cartons and
packages which are marked l pound
ii ounces should be marked 80 ounces;
and so on with 40, so and 100 ounce
cartons and packages, which will cover
the whole range of retail package and
ounce goods which are the outstanding
feature Of modern American market
ing Trade trends the world over pre-
fer weight marks in a single unit de-
nomination. This serves comparison of
package weights, comparison of prices
ana ulfecC computation or costs. 1T IS
a great convenience to the buying
public.
81 That the pole of 10 feet displace
the hectometer of 32S feet, the chain
of G6 feet, the decameter of 32.9 feet,
the rod of 16.5 feet. the fathom of 6
feet, the meter of 32S feet, and the
yard of feet as general measures of
length and distance. The engineers
ape today bears a 10.foot interval. The
denotation of this interval as pole will
serve it's use as unit under that
name. There is real place in the field
of engineering for the pole unit. The
phrase "10foot pole" has been current
for decades.
The conversion factors are: Mile.
52S poles; kilometers, 32S poles.
The pole is 10 feet, just rs the
meter is 10 decimeters: the cubic foot
is the cube OF the tenth Of the pole,
just as the liter is the cube of the
tenth of the meter: and the ounce is
the cube of the tenth of the foot of
water, just as the gram is the cube of
the tenth of the decimeter of water.
Pole, cubic foot, ounce have the |
same correlation as have meter, liter, |
gram Rut role Mcubic foot and ounce