Metric Demonstration Apparatus
date: label: date made
content: 1880-1950
notes: label: Description
content: In the wake of the Revolution of 1789, French scientists developed a new system of weights and measures known in English-speaking countries as the metric system. A handful of early 19th-century American mathematics textbooks discussed metric measurements. In the 1860s, metric measures were legalized in the United States, although they were not mandatory. A few advocates of the new system, most notably Columbia University president Frederick A. P. Barnard and librarian Melville Dewey, joined together to form the American Metrological Society and to advocate the use of metric measures. Dewey led the American Metric Bureau in Boston in the late 1870s. When the Bureau closed, the American Metrological Society took over distribution of its products.
label: Description
content: One piece of Metric Bureau demonstration apparatus was a wooden cube similar to this one. It is 10 centimeters on a side. The top layer may be removed to represent 100 square centimeters (10 x 10 x 1). A 10 x 1 x 1 slice of square layer also breaks away and then a 1 x 1 x 1 cube to represent a cubic centimeter.
label: Description
content: The wooden cube fits snugly into a hollow metal box. The volume of the cube is 1000 cubic centimeters or one liter in the metric system. A mark stamped on the box reads: LITER. If the box is filled with water, the water weighs one kilogram.
label: Description
content: The apparatus has no maker’s mark. It has been at the Museum since at least 1963.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Chemistry
label: See more items in
content: Metric System
label: See more items in
content: Measuring & Mapping
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: CH.323506
label: catalog number
content: 323506
label: accession number
content: 251559
objectType: label: Object Name
content: weights and measures - demonstration apparatus
label: Object Type
content: Weights
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: tin (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: cube: 10 cm x 10 cm x 10 cm; 3 15/16 in x 3 15/16 in x 3 15/16 in
label: Measurements
content: overall: 4 1/16 in x 4 1/8 in x 4 1/8 in; 10.31875 cm x 10.4775 cm x 10.4775 cm