Ton (tonne)

["John Fielding" <johnf@domain.elided>]

In AD1392 Micheal Smith mentions the ton, short ton and tonne.  How many readers knows
what a "shipping ton(ne)" is?

Incidentally I pride myself in being bi-lingual, proficient in Imperial and Metric!


Today in this country (South Africa) where we have been Metric for many years it causes
great surprise to many motor mechanics to find that even a fully "Metric" car has still
got many bolts made with Imperial threads.  A classic case is the cylinder head studs. 
Although the bit you tighten the head nuts on is Metric, the bit which goes into the
block is usually Imperial.  Wierd!  Until you realise that soft Ali blocks don't work
with coarse Metric as they are still too fine threads for Ali,  most cars made here still
use either UNC or Whitworth studs for the head studs into the Ali block.

A case of "horses for courses"?  Imperial will never die, it will just slowly fade away.

John

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