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Old 20th Jul 2017, 4:03 pm   #1
Pellseinydd
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Default GPO Telephones Tape Measure

Just acquired a GPO tape measure - it is described as 'Tape Measure 66ft - linen - leather cased for general measuring'

Interesting that the units of measure are a 'Link' !!!

Searching finds -
Twenty-five links make a rod, pole or perch (16.5 feet).
One hundred links make a chain ( or 66ft the length of the tape).
One thousand links make a furlong.
Eight thousand links make a mile.

1 link ≡ 0.01 chain
≡ 0.04 rod
≡ 0.66 foot
≡ 0.22 yard
≡ 7.92 inches

An interesting item from the 1950's.

Interesting how the GPO kept living in the past! I remember when I worked for them before they became the 'Post Office' in 1969, there were number of part time jobs you weren't allowed to do/be such as 'Sheriff's Assistant' or 'Inspector of Nuisances' - titles long gone elsewhere
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Old 20th Jul 2017, 4:10 pm   #2
Dave Moll
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Default Re: GPO Telephones Tape Measure

Quote:
Originally Posted by Pellseinydd View Post
One hundred links make a chain ( or 66ft the length of the tape).
Just the job for measuring the distance between the stumps of a cricket pitch!
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Old 20th Jul 2017, 6:16 pm   #3
julie_m
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Default Re: GPO Telephones Tape Measure

Quote:
Originally Posted by Pellseinydd View Post
Twenty-five links make a rod, pole or perch (16.5 feet).
One hundred links make a chain ( or 66ft the length of the tape).
One thousand links make a furlong.
Eight thousand links make a mile.

1 link ≡ 0.01 chain
≡ 0.04 rod
≡ 0.66 foot
≡ 0.22 yard
≡ 7.92 inches
And people thought SI was too complicated ....
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Old 20th Jul 2017, 9:24 pm   #4
Graham G3ZVT
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Default Re: GPO Telephones Tape Measure

Quote:
And people thought SI was too complicated ....
Network Rail still use chains.
Graham.
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Old 20th Jul 2017, 11:28 pm   #5
emeritus
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Default Re: GPO Telephones Tape Measure

I still have a measure like that with the same calibrations. It is pre-war, and my late father said it was bought by my grandfather for measuring a plot of land that he had bought. When I was little we no longer had the plot, and I used to play with the measure, pretending it was a flying saucer, the clip-out winder being the entrance hatch! The "Link" is the length of a link of a "Gunter's Chain", something that was used by surveyors, presumably as chain was essentially inextensible and therefore more accurate than a linen tape.
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Old 13th Aug 2017, 10:36 pm   #6
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Default Re: GPO Telephones Tape Measure

Quote:
Originally Posted by rambo1152 View Post
Network Rail still use chains.
And common distances are still referred to in imperial -e.g. - distance between rails=" four foot"/ between sets of track ="six foot , or ten foot". And safety distances ( as in minimum clearance dependant on speed of line ) , again in feet.
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Old 14th Aug 2017, 6:58 am   #7
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Default Re: GPO Telephones Tape Measure

We used to have to recite the relationships between all these Imperial measurements at school.
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Old 14th Aug 2017, 7:00 am   #8
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Default Re: GPO Telephones Tape Measure

And horse racing still uses furlongs
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Old 14th Aug 2017, 1:12 pm   #9
IvorBlister
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Default Re: GPO Telephones Tape Measure

I do all my woodworking and DIY in feet and inches too! I can visualise, for example, 18 inches easily rather than 457.2 mm.
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Old 14th Aug 2017, 2:32 pm   #10
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Default Re: GPO Telephones Tape Measure

That works both ways, your kitchen worktop is probably 23 and 19/32 inches wide.
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Old 14th Aug 2017, 5:09 pm   #11
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Default Re: GPO Telephones Tape Measure

I use loads of units, rough stuff my own cubit, house stuff feet and inches (the house was built in inches) and engineering m and mm (who invented the centimetre? an awful not to the power of three unit). I once heard a sports commentator saying 3 metres 20 centimetres and 3 millimetres, arghhhhh...
 
Old 14th Aug 2017, 7:21 pm   #12
IvorBlister
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Default Re: GPO Telephones Tape Measure

But I can visualise 23 and 19/32 inches or 23.6 inches (a fraction under 2ft) much easier than 600mm AC/HL

Nick
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Old 15th Aug 2017, 1:56 am   #13
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Default Re: GPO Telephones Tape Measure

I must confess to having a certain fondness for the centimetre, having been measured in them -- and weighed in kilos -- on a regular basis throughout my formative years. Also, I can visualise a metre and a centimetre together in my head, which doesn't work with larger ratios. If I'm trying to visualise a millimetre, then I can't fit a full metre into my mind; whereas if I concentrate on the metre, the individual millimetres blur into one another. 100:1 seems to be a sort of "sweet spot" for me. Hectograms and centilitres are also commonly encountered on the Continent, and almost every country in the world has a "big coin" divided into 100 -- not 10 or 1000 --"little coins". So maybe it's not just me who likes the ratio 100:1 .....

When faced with an actual quantity, though, I tend to think of the prefix as binding more tightly to the number than the unit; so rather than "21 centimetres" I think of that as (21 centi) metres, with "centi" just being a convenient shorthand form of "times ten to the power of minus two" and the actual length being a number of metres. Pretending that there are different measuring units tends to weaken the idea of the universality of the property being measured. How many times heavier than 8lb. 7oz. is 11 stone? How many times heavier than 3.83kg. is 70kg.?

I don't mind mixing metres and centimetres; that's just a long-winded way of separating the whole and fractional parts, and I can rearrange it easily enough in my mind with the figures on the right sides of the point. And I doubt thtat very many people would ever complain that a sentence such as These shoes cost twenty-four pounds and ninety-five pence should be These shoes cost twenty-four point nine five pounds. But mixing metres, centimetres and millimetres definitely sounds wrong, like These shoes cost twenty-four pounds, nine ten-pence pieces and five pennies.

My own favourite tape measure is this 8-metre one, which came from Lidl. It has millimetre markings to both edges, and so can be used either way around:
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Even allowing for the fact that it's what I've grown up with, I really can't see why anyone wouldn't think the advantages of SI would outweigh the cost of adopting it.

No doubt if aliens are observing us, they will think all our ideas about counting and measuring bizarre; whether it be continuously changing the step size from one unit to the next, having a prefix in the name of a fundamental unit or just counting in tens.
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Old 15th Aug 2017, 7:21 am   #14
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Default Re: GPO Telephones Tape Measure

I find that, except for UK road distances and beer, I mainly use metric units nowadays. Like many others though I did learn to recite the imperial units by rote at school and I'm happy to swap between systems (and sometimes mix them) if it's convenient to do so. That said, I don't go quite as far as ICI Billingham who met the conflicting requirements of scientists and engineers by using BBUs (Billingham B*****d Units) - things "like pounds per square centimetre" or "KgCal/hour/Sq Ft".

Oh and the British Metrication Board, through it's newspaper ads in the 70's, has forever etched in my memory:

"A litre of water's a pint and three quarters."

"A metre measures 3 foot 3, it's longer than a yard you see."

and the absolute cracker, "Two and a quarter pounds of jam weighs about a kilogramme"

I still find those useful from time to time.

Hugh

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Old 19th Aug 2017, 11:29 pm   #15
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Default Re: GPO Telephones Tape Measure

I use whatever works out closer on the thing I am measuring. So something might be 405mm one side and 18 and 1/2 the other way.(those aren't supposed to be equivalents.)
I would be lost without inches on a tape measure. I always check, and if it doesn't have inches on I don't buy it.
I guess the "funny" sizes one encounters in the building trade are metric equivalents of old imperial sizes(such as 2440 mm for 8'), which rather makes a mockery of the whole thing!
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Old 20th Aug 2017, 12:28 pm   #16
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Default Re: GPO Telephones Tape Measure

Looking back at the title, how many ex GPO folks remember the standard rule for internal use pre tape measures? --rule box 2 ft .
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Old 20th Aug 2017, 1:44 pm   #17
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Default Re: GPO Telephones Tape Measure

Cor! You must be old!

The 'Tapes, Measuring, 66ft' that I mentioned I've got, is listed in a 1944 edition of the 'Vocabulary of Engineering Stores' - as is the 'Rule, Boxwood, 2ft, 4 fold' . So means that you were around before then ? Wow!

The Vocabulary of Engineering Stores (often referred to as the 'Ratebook' but that was the version with prices of items in it) has many interesting items in it -
'Kettles, Aluminium, 8 pint' GPO engineers consumed lots of tea!
They would also need a 'Jugs, Earthenware, 1 gallon' for the milk.
For the cakes to accompany the tea, we find 'Trays, Baking'.
And there are plenty more 'interesting' items to find - it is just having the time to search!
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Old 20th Aug 2017, 2:10 pm   #18
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Default Re: GPO Telephones Tape Measure

Hi Pellseinydd I have a A3 size note book Mechanical aids E-in-C 2290 ( A1011) if it is any use to you give me a PM with your address

Dave
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Old 20th Aug 2017, 5:54 pm   #19
Pellseinydd
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Default Re: GPO Telephones Tape Measure

Have done

Thanks
Ian
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Old 20th Aug 2017, 6:51 pm   #20
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Default Re: GPO Telephones Tape Measure

Most old farm steadings about here would have a chain hanging up until comparatively recently. A convenient length to pay dykers by, and can be laid on the ground so one person can take a measurement. Not so handy to carry in your pocket though!
The links had twists in them - presumably that was how they were calibrated.

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