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Research Note – General -The following material is an expansion of a message that originally appeared in the SUB-ARCH list. It may prove useful to researchers who need to convert units from the original sources to modern equivalents. Cross-Cultural Historic Units of MeasurementCompiled by Chuck Meide, June 200516th Century Iberian Units of Measurement(from Smith 1993: 53-56; Hudson 1997: xvii; Chardon 1980a, 1980b)Spanish Linear Distance:18th Century French Units of Measurement(from Boudriot and Berti 1993: 10.)Eighteenth century French units are often approximately 10% larger than the equivalent English measures. Linear Distance:The French foot, pied, measured 32.48 cm, and was divided into 12 inches— pouces—of 2.71 cm. The inch was further divided into 12 lines— lignes—of .226 cm, and finally, the line was divided into 12 points— points—measuring .0188 cm each.The span—toise—equaled six feet or 1.95 m. The nautical league—lieue marine—was one twentieth of a degree or 2,850.4 toises (5,565 meters) The mile—mille—was one third of a league (950 toises) or 1,855 meters. The fathom—brasse —was five French feet, or 1.62 meters (as opposed to the English fathom of 6 English feet). The ell—aune—was 1.188 meters in length (used for measuring sail canvas) The palm—palme—was 13 lignes or 2.92 cm (used for measuring circumference of masts). Weight:The French pound—livre—weighed 0.489 kilograms. It was divided into 16 ounces—onces—of 30.563 grams each.One hundred French pounds made the 48.9 kg quintal—quinteau—which is roughly the equivalent of the English hundredweight. Two thousand French pounds equaled a ton—tonneau—or 978 kilograms. When measuring the burthen of ships, there was also the cubic ton, which is about 42 cubic feet or 1.43 cubic meters. Liquid Measure:The English quart is the equivalent of the pinte de Paris, which measured 0.93 liters. The pinte was divided into two chopines (46.5 centiliters), and the chopine was divided into two demi-chopines (23 cls), which in turn was divided into four boujarons (5.8 cls) so that 16 boujarons 1 pinte. The pot (1.86 liters) was equal to two pintes.The French Navy needed to use larger measures, such as the barrique, a cask (roughly equivalent to the English hogshead) which held 242 liters. There is some problem translating French to English terms, as the English in the late 18th century used different measures for wine, ale, beer, and dry goods, none of which correspond exactly to French measures. The closest (about 2.5% smaller) is the English measure used for wine; this therefore is the English equivalent used by Boudriot's translator (Boudriot 1986b: 108). The French Navy also used half-hogsheads or demi-barriques of 121 liters and third-hogsheads or tierçons of 161 liters (equivalent to 1/3 of 2 hogsheads). The ship's water casks were usually larger than single barriques, and were available in multiples of hogsheads, between two and eight. They were rated as pièces de 2 (482 liters), pièces de 3 (726 liters), pièces de 4 (968 liters), pièces de 5 (1,210 liters), pièces de 6 (1,452 liters), pièces de 7 (1,694 liters), and pièces de 8 (1,936 liters). The larger sizes were used exclusively by slave ships, as the French Navy typically didn't utilize casks larger than pièces de 4. 18th Century British Units of Measurement(From Lavery 1987)Weight:The weight of a heavy object (such as a cannon or anchor) would be expressed in three units: Hundredweights, quarters, and pounds.The hundredweight (cwt.) equaled 112 pounds or four quarters (50.848 kilograms). The quarter (qr.) equaled 28 pounds (12.712 kilograms). The pound (lb.) equals .454 kilograms. The ton is the equivalent of 20 hundredweight or 2,240 lbs. (1,016.96 kilograms) Other British Measurements:The gallon equals 4.456 litersThe ell equals 45 inches or 1.143 meters (4.5 cm shorter than the French ell). The cord, designating a pile of wood, is usually 8 ft by 4 ft by 4 in. (2.4 m by 1.2 m by 10 cm). The bushel is 8 gallons or 35.648 liters of dry goods, and the chaldron is 36 bushels (1,283.328 liters). British Cooperage Measures (18th-19th centuries):(From O'Neill 2003: 75)
Comparison of English & French measures:
18th Century Swedish Measurements:(From Hoving 1995)
Arbitrary Ways to Measure Linear Distance:
References
The French foot, pied, measured 32.48 cm, and was divided into 12 inches pouces of 2.71 cm. The inch was further divided into 12 lines lignes of .226 cm, and finally, the line was divided into 12 points points measuring .0188 cm each. {Brandon Cord Bradshaw} Back? Back to "RESEARCH NOTES"..... Back? Back to "- GENERAL -"
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