Hi all,
Since we are talking about "changing" the measurement units I thought
this might be of interest!
How Specifications Live Forever
The US Standard railroad gauge (the distance between the rails) is 4 feet,
8.5 inches. That is an exceedingly odd number. Why was that the gauge
used? Because that is the way they built them in England, and the US
railroads were built by English expatriates. Why did the English build
them like that? Because the first rail lines were built by the same
people who built the pre-railroad tramways, and that's the gauge they
used.
Why did "they" use that gauge? Because the people who built the tramways
used the same jigs and tools that they used for building wagons, which
used that wheel spacing. Okay! Why did the wagons use that odd wheel
spacing? Well, if they tried to use any other spacing the wagons would
break on some of the old, long distance roads because that's the spacing
of the old wheel ruts.
So who built these old rutted roads? The first long distance roads in Europe
were built by Imperial Rome for the benefit of their legions. The roads have
been used ever since. And the ruts? The initial ruts, which everyone else
had to match for fear of destroying their wagons, were first made by Roman war
chariots. Since the chariots were made for or by Imperial Rome there were all
alike in the matter of wheel spacing.
Thus, we have the answer to the original question. The United States
Standard railroad gauge of 4 feet 8.5 inches derives from the original
specifications for an Imperial Roman army war chariot. Specs and
bureaucracies live forever. So, next time you are handed a specification
and wonder what horse's ass came up with it, you may be exactly right.
Because the Imperial Roman chariots were made to be just wide enough to
accommodate the back-ends of two war horses.
from the Internet - source unknown
Dr MJ Linington
HEAD:Department Agricultural Sciences
email:lngtn-mj@acaleph.vista.ac.za
Snail Mail: Dept. Agricultural Sciences
VUDEC, Vista University
P/Bag X641, Pretoria, 0001
Tel: 012 322 1303
Fax: 012 322 3243
cell:083 637 0182
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