Metro vs SAE

[MHarryE]

Auto manufacturers, major ag equipment and construction equipment manufacturers have been metric for ages. However there are standards that can’t adapt to change. Important consumer items Americans could handle like buying a 750 ml bottle of whiskey rather than a fifth. But land - how can you change? What did they do in Canada? I bought a King Kutter 2 bottom moldboard plow for garden use, made in India, inch hardware, one of the few pieces of new ag equipment I have that isn’t metric yet is made in a metric country. In 1989 I took an engineering job with Caterpillar helping resolve a real fiasco. They had bought a small company that itself had recently acquired an European company. That small company’s engineering manager could not comprehend the metric system so he had all drawings converted to fraction inch. Caterpillar is all metric so first thing convert all drawings to metric. Original metric drawings no longer available so drafters converted the fractions and usually rounded so the number did not match the original metric. Fiasco was that nothing fit. So after a few machines were cut to fit it was start from scratch. Cat continued to do the same buying Perkins which used a combination of inch and metric fasteners so the only inch fasteners on our machines for several years were the bolts securing our Perkapillar engines in them. My first time renting a car in Britain was different. I knew Britain was all metric but leaving the airport I was surprised by the low speed limits. That was when I realized all metric did not include the cost of changing road signs so speeds, distances, all English units.

 

[4570Man]

I’m less apposed to miles, pounds, hp, gallon and stuff like that vs measurements.