[AT] Supposedly why our old tractors are not metric and a fairly simple tutorial

[Cecil Bearden]

Tom:

That copper bar was suspect to me also, for the simple fact that brass, 
a compound of copper will expand & contract with heat and cold.  One of 
our old sayings it "Cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass 
monkey".  A monkey was the holder sort of shaped like a hand for 
cannonball on a ship.   They were made of brass. At exceptionally cold 
temps, the metal would contract and the balls would fall off the 
monkey..   So came the saying to describe the weather....    Kinda like 
colder than a well diggers butt in Utah....   One of my dad's old sayings...
Cecil

On 2/24/2020 5:50 PM, Thomas Martin wrote:
>
> A bit of creative writing... Certainly chronologically challenged, 
> with Dombey captured allegdly
>
> in possession of a Standard meter, 4 years before the length was 
> established. :-)
>
> FYI From more  credible sources:
>
> The metric system *was* first proposed in 1791.
> It *was adopted* by the *French* revolutionary assembly in 1795,
> and the first metric standards ( a standard *meter* bar and kilogram bar)
> *were adopted in 1799*. *The length of the meter bar was only 
> established in late 1798*
>
> The Standards weren't made of copper but Platinum. Copper wouldn't be 
> stable enough
>
> temperature wise.
>
> There *was* considerable resistence to the system at first, and its 
> use *was* not made compulsory
> in *France* until 1837.
>
> Tom
>
>> On 25 February 2020 at 03:08 Indiana Robinson 
>> <robinson46176 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> I'm not sure how accurate this story is but it matches what I had 
>> read for years.
>> https://www.thevintagenews.com/2018/04/12/metric-system-usa/
>>
>> If they had listened to Jefferson we would  not be messing with a 
>> double system, metrics would just be what we use...  The 10 based 
>> system can be done in  your head (could have saved all those years 
>> learning those damned fractions) :-)  and every tool box wouldn't 
>> have a fraction to decimal conversion chart tucked in somewhere that 
>> you can't ever find when you need it. Also we would not have to worry 
>> about some dead kings thumb size getting lost or a bad few years for 
>> the barley crop or a lot of other stuff they tried to set as 
>> standards long ago.
>>
>> This site looks fairly well done and I liked the little section on 
>> the metric size of a few common objects.
>> https://www.wikihow.com/Measure-Centimeters?fbclid=IwAR1z77b9GTGRpTD7TM1cH51LA1CKzsTyPJ-n87HsRDmbJv7b5ME7QyCVpbs 
>>
>>
>> If you have forgotten how to use your Abacus there is a section on 
>> that too.  :-)
>>
>>
>> .
>>
>> -- 
>> -- 
>>
>> Francis Robinson
>> aka "farmer"
>> Central Indiana USA
>> robinson46176 at gmail.com <mailto:robinson46176 at gmail.com>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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