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The pound or pound-mass is a unit of mass used in both the British imperial and United States customary systems of measurement.Various definitions have been used; the most common today is the international avoirdupois pound, which is legally defined as exactly 0.453 592 37 kilograms, and which is divided into 16 avoirdupois ounces. [1]
The definition of the pound avoirdupois in the imperial system is identical to that in the U.S. customary system. In the U.S., only the ounce, pound and short ton – known in the country simply as the ton – are commonly used, though the hundredweight is still used in agriculture and shipping.
The avoirdupois weight system is thought to have come into use in England around 1300. [citation needed] It was originally used for weighing wool. In the early 14th century several other specialized weight systems were used, including the weight system of the Hanseatic League with a 16-ounce pound of 7200 grains and an 8-ounce mark.
An ounce-force is 1 ⁄ 16 of a pound-force, or about 0.2780139 newtons. It is defined as the force exerted by a mass of one avoirdupois ounce under standard gravity (at the surface of the earth, its weight). The "ounce" in "ounce-force" is equivalent to an avoirdupois ounce; ounce-force is a measurement of force using avoirdupois ounces.
The troy ounce is the only unit of the system in current use; it is used for precious metals. Although the troy ounce is larger than its avoirdupois equivalent, the pound is smaller. The obsolete troy pound was divided into 12 ounces, rather than the 16 ounces per pound of the avoirdupois system.
sixteenth of an ounce (possibly originated as the weight of silver in Ancient Greek coin drachma) Ounce (oz) ≈28.35 g: 1 oz = 16 dr = 437.5 grains Pound (lb) ≈453.6 g: 1 lb = 16 oz = 7000 grains ('lb' is an abbreviation for the Ancient Roman unit libra) Stone (st) 6.35 kg: 1 st = 14 lb (see Stone (unit) for other values) Quarter (qr) 12.7 kg
The former Weights and Measures office in Seven Sisters, London (590 Seven Sisters Road). The imperial system of units, imperial system or imperial units (also known as British Imperial [1] or Exchequer Standards of 1826) is the system of units first defined in the British Weights and Measures Act 1824 and continued to be developed through a series of Weights and Measures Acts and amendments.
In all of these systems, the fundamental unit is the pound (lb), and all other units are defined as fractions or multiples of a pound. The tables of imperial troy mass and apothecaries' mass are the same as the corresponding United States tables, except for the British spelling "drachm" in the table of apothecaries' mass.