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Metrication is the act or process of converting to the metric system of measurement. The United Kingdom, through voluntary and mandated laws, has metricated most of government, industry, commerce, and scientific research to the metric system; however, the previous measurement system (Imperial units) is still used in society.
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.
The Magna Carta of 1215 stipulates that there should be a standard measure of volume for wine, ale and corn (the London Quarter), and for weight, but does not define these units. [6] Later development of the English system was by defining the units in laws and by issuing measurement standards. Standards were renewed in 1496, 1588, and 1758. [7]
The units of cubic length (the cubic inch, cubic foot, cubic mile, etc.) are the same in the imperial and US customary systems, but they differ in their specific units of volume (the bushel, gallon, fluid ounce, etc.). The US customary system has one set of units for fluids and another set for dry goods. The imperial system has only one set ...
The stone or stone weight (abbreviation: st.) [1] is an English and British imperial unit of mass equal to 14 avoirdupois pounds (6.35 kg). [nb 1] The stone continues in customary use in the United Kingdom and Ireland for body weight. England and other Germanic -speaking countries of Northern Europe formerly used various standardised "stones ...
Imperial and US customary measurement systems. Cincinnati Customs House c. 1850–60. Governments were one of the earliest users of weights and measures – often for the purpose of tax collection. In the United States the US Treasury rather than Congress took the lead in establishing a standard system of weights and measures.
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]
A system of units of measurement, also known as a system of units or system of measurement, is a collection of units of measurement and rules relating them to each other. Systems of measurement have historically been important, regulated and defined for the purposes of science and commerce. Instances in use include the International System of ...