Of course we are talking of the old English system here... the rest of Europe
each had their own system until Napoleon forced them all to go metric. Except
the Russians that is, since they beat him, they got to keep their old system
until 1917.... versts, lines, etc.
Jan Eyerman
1973 Hillman Avenger DL
Bill Mounce <bmounce@bellatlantic.net> wrote:
Vic, convert that to ergs per square acre, and you win the prize! Bill
Victor Hughes wrote:
> Bill, well a pitch is where cricket (no Jan E and Pete C, not Plymouth
Cricket)
> matches are played, and a cricket pitch is 22 yards long. Same length as a
chain,
> which is surprising as the timing chain on my Alpine looks nowhere near that
long.
> 10 chains to a furlong (I know it's hard to believe the imperial system used
10 of
> anything to make up something else), 8 furlongs to a statute mile (one of
two miles
> used, the other being the nautical mile) and 12 furlongs to a league.
>
> All of which goes to show that the Imperial system was actually devised by
sadistic
> schoolmasters to torture small children with problems like "If a man had
enough
> apples to reach from one end of a cricket pitch to another, and the apples
had an
> average circumference of 3 nails, and were priced 3 shillings, sixpence and
3
> farthings a dozen, how much would all the apples cost (including VAT)
(allowing for
> the curvature of the earth)"
>
> Cheers and a Firkin of brown bubbly to all
>
> Vic
>
> Bill Mounce wrote:
>
> > Vic, can you now fill us in on pitches, chains, furlongs and leagues?
God, I
> > miss the Imperial system! Bill in plain old Pennsylvania.
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