[time-nuts] time-nuts Digest, Vol 89, Issue 51

Chris Albertson albertson.chris at gmail.com
Thu Dec 15 17:42:38 UTC 2011


On Thu, Dec 15, 2011 at 9:29 AM, Dan Kemppainen <dan at irtelemetrics.com> wrote:
>
> On 12/14/2011 3:59 PM, time-nuts-request at febo.com wrote:
>>
>> It's not like metric is totally absent.  We drink 2 liter cokes and defend
>> ourselves with 9mm pistols.   Our cars use mostly metric parts.  Even ham
>> radio operators, arguably the most jingoistic and set in the past bunch
>> around, get on the 80, 40, and 20 METER bands.
>
>
> I agree with you, and funnily enough the rest of the NATO world uses 7.62mm
> and 5.56mm rifles. (Both were originally based on standard inch sized rifle
> cartridges designed in the US)
>
> The problem in converting to metric would require replacing a lot of tools.
> For example Mills, lathes, and other machining tools and measurement devices
> are expensive, and last for decades.

Can you point one even ONE machine shop in the US that can make metric
parts?  Those guys would have gone out of business years ago.   Also
how many are still using hand cranks and reading veneer scales?   Even
small one man ships are using CNC now.

The US is slowly converting.  It will take a long time.  Even now if
you go to Home Depot and look at plywood you see the better (non
construction) grades sold in even millimeters with the inches being
some odd number of 32nds approximation.   This will slowly creep into
more and more products.

So the debate is silly.  If the US should convert???  No.  the only
question is how fast are we converting and when will we be fully
converted.   Not even if this will happen, it will.




Chris Albertson
Redondo Beach, California



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