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The imperial system has a hundredweight, defined as eight stone of 14 lb each, or 112 lb (50.802 345 44 kg), whereas a US hundredweight is 100 lb (45.359 237 kg). In both systems, 20 hundredweights make a ton. In the US, the terms long ton (2240 lb, 1 016.046 9088 kg) and short ton (2000 lb; 907.184 74 kg) are used.
The United States system of units of 1832 is based on the system in use in Britain prior to the introduction to the British imperial system on January 1, 1826. [6] Both systems are derived from English units, a system which had evolved over the millennia before American independence, and which had its roots in both Roman and Anglo-Saxon units.
The imperial and US customary systems of measurement use the SI for their formal definitions, the yard being defined as 0.9144 metres exactly, the pound avoirdupois as 0.453 592 37 kilograms exactly while both systems of measure share the definition of the second.
[7] [8] A US liquid gallon can contain about 3.785 kilograms or 8.34 pounds of water at 3.98 °C (39.16 °F), and is about 16.7% less than the imperial gallon. There are four quarts in a gallon, two pints in a quart and 16 US fluid ounces in a US pint, which makes the US fluid ounce equal to 1 / 128 of a US gallon.
When the Tower system was abolished in the 16th century, the bushel was redefined as 56 avoirdupois pounds. The imperial bushel established by the Weights and Measures Act of 1824 described the bushel as the volume of 80 avoirdupois pounds of distilled water in air at 62 °F (17 °C) [citation needed] or 8 imperial gallons. [1]
The same is true of quarts, gallons, etc.; six US gallons are a little less than five imperial gallons. The avoirdupois system served as the general system of mass and weight. In addition to this, there are the troy and the apothecaries' systems. Troy weight was customarily used for precious metals, black powder, and gemstones. The troy ounce ...
British imperial measures distinguish between weight and volume. Weight is measured in ounces and pounds (avoirdupois) as in the U.S. Volume is measured in imperial gallons, quarts, pints, fluid ounces, and fluid drachms. The imperial gallon was originally defined as 10 pounds (4.5359 kg) of water in 1824, and refined as exactly 4.54609 litres ...
The tun (Old English: tunne, Latin: tunellus, Medieval Latin: tunna) is an English unit of liquid volume (not weight), used for measuring wine, [1] oil or honey. Typically a large vat or vessel, most often holding 252 wine gallons, but occasionally other sizes (e.g. 256, 240 and 208 gallons) were also used. [2] The modern tun is about 954 litres.