Web Page No 2570
6th April 2019
1st Picture. Imperial Weights
2nd Picture. Metric Weights
3rd Picture. British Standard lengths
Pounds and Ounces
How many of these do you remember?
Pounds and ounces, or imperial measurements as they were known, were used until 2000 in UK shops. One pound was abbreviated to lb, from the Latin word libra. There were sixteen ounces in a pound and the abbreviation was oz.
The system was known as avoirdupois. It does not translate directly from modern French, as 'avoir du pois' literally means 'to have peas'. However, the term came from the old French expression 'aveir de peis' and meant 'goods of weight'.
Weight measurements under the avoirdupois system are:
- 16 drams = 1 ounce (1 oz)
- 16 ounces = 1 pound (1 lb)
- 14 pounds = 1 stone
- 112 pounds = 1 hundredweight (1 cwt)
- 20 hundredweight = 1 ton
There were also 7000 grains in a pound.
Some alternatives:
- 8 pounds = 1 butcher's stone (used in London meat markets)
- 100 pounds = 1 central or new hundredweight
Bushels
There was also a quantity known as a bushel.
A bushel was the volume of 80 lb of distilled water. It had a volume of 2219.192 cubic inches Bushels of different comodities had different weights:
- A bushel of apples weighed 40 lb
- A bushel of potatoes weighed 56 lb
- A bushel of salt weighed 56 lb
- A bushel of peas weighed 63 lb
- A bushel of coal weighed 80 lb
A bushel was sub-divided into 4 pecks.
People used troy weights for measures of precious metals such as gold. They were not well understood by most people.
They have no connection with the ancient City of Troy, but instead the French town of Troyes, which was known in medieval times for its commercial fairs.
Troy weights are as follows:
- 3.17 grains = 1 carat
- 24 grains = 1 pennyweight (dwt)
- 20 pennyweights = 1 ounce (or 480 grains)
- 12 ounces = 1 pound (or 5,760 grains)
- 100 pounds = 1 hundredweight
Troy ounces, pounds and hundredweights are not the same as avoirdupois ounces, pounds and hundredweights. However, grains are. So 1 troy grain is equal to 1 avoirdupois grain.
You can see from the above that 1 troy pound is 12 x 20 pennyweights or 240 pennyweights. There are 240 old pennies in a pound. Is there a connection?
The answer is, yes, the first money pound was 240 silver pennies. Each penny was supposed to weigh a pennyweight so a £ in money was also a pound in weight. However, the Mint used what was called the tower pound instead of the troy pound. The tower pound was so called because the Mint was in the Tower of London. A tower pound was 15 sixteenths of a troy pound and a tower pennyweight was in proportion.
Apothecaries' weights
Apothecaries' weights were used by chemists and doctors for medical preparations.
- 20 grains = 1 scruple
- 3 scruples = 1 drachm
- 8 drachms = 1 ounce (480 grains)
- 12 ounces = 1 pound
Apothecaries' ounces and pounds are the same as troy ounces and pounds.
Law's Grocery Manual noted that the apothecaries' weights were 'old'. They were discontinued in the UK by the Medical Act, 1858. From then onwards, avoirdupois weights were to be used in medicines
Volume measurements
20 fl.oz (fluid ounces) = 1 pint
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8 pints = 1 gallon
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Length measurements
Most people are familiar with feet and inches, and yards, but what about chains, rods and poles?
These are the imperial measures of length in use in the 1950s.
- 12 inches = 1 foot
- 3 feet = 1 yard
- 6 feet = 1 fathom
- 5½ yards = 1 pole, rod or perch
- 4 poles = 1 chain
- 40 rods = 1 furlong
- 220 yards = 1 furlong
- 8 furlongs = 1 mile (statute mile)
- 1.151 statute miles = 1 geographical mile, nautical mile or knot
I remember learning that 1760 yards made a mile as did 5280 feet and that a cricket pitch was 22 yards or one chain.
All very confusing !!!!!
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Peter
On this day 6th April 1960-1965.
On 06/03/1960 the number one single was Why - Anthony Newley and the number one album was South Pacific Soundtrack. The top rated TV show was The Larkins (ATV) and the box office smash was Some Like It Hot. A pound of today's money was worth £13.68 and Burnley were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.
On 06/03/1961 the number one single was Walk Right Back/Ebony Eyes - Everly Brothers and the number one album was South Pacific Soundtrack. The top rated TV show was No Hiding Place (AR) and the box office smash was One Hundred and One Dalmations. A pound of today's money was worth £13.25 and Tottenham Hotspur were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.
On 06/03/1962 the number one single was Rock-a-Hula Baby/Can't Help Falling In Love - Elvis Presley and the number one album was Blue Hawaii - Elvis Presley. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was Lawrence of Arabia. A pound of today's money was worth £12.89 and Ipswich Town were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.
On 06/03/1963 the number one single was The Wayward Wind - Frank Ifield and the number one album was Summer Holiday - Cliff Richard & the Shadows. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was The Great Escape. A pound of today's money was worth £12.64 and Everton were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions. The big news story of the day was 2 journalists jailed in London for protecting sources.
On 06/03/1964 the number one single was Anyone Who Had a Heart -Cilla Black and the number one album was With the Beatles - The Beatles. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was Dr Strangelove. A pound of today's money was worth £12.24 and Liverpool were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.
On 06/03/1965 the number one single was I'll Never Find Another You - Seekers and the number one album was Rolling Stones Number 2 - The Rolling Stones. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was The Sound of Music. A pound of today's money was worth £11.69 and Manchester United were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.
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