Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
The only troy weight in widespread use is the British Imperial troy ounce and its American counterpart. Both are based on a grain of 0.06479891 gram (exact, by definition), with 480 grains to a troy ounce (compared with 437 + 1 ⁄ 2 grains for an ounce avoirdupois). The British Empire abolished the 12-ounce troy pound in the 19th century.
The grain was the legal foundation of traditional English weight systems, [5] and is the only unit that is equal throughout the troy, avoirdupois, and apothecaries' systems of mass. [6]: C-6 The unit was based on the weight of a single grain of barley which was equal to about + 4 ⁄ 3 the weight of a single grain of wheat.
The 56-pound weight was used as a reference standard as late as 1588. [12] [20] A statute of Henry VIII (24 Hen 8 c. 3) made avoirdupois weights mandatory. In 1588 Queen Elizabeth increased the weight of the avoirdupois pound to 7000 grains and added the troy grain to the avoirdupois weight
In the Middle Ages, an English penny's weight was literally, as well as monetarily, 1 ⁄ 20 of an ounce and 1 ⁄ 240 of a pound of sterling silver. At that time, the pound unit in use in England was the Tower pound, equal to 7,680 Tower grains (also known as wheat grains). The medieval English pennyweight was thus equal to 32 Tower grains.
The apothecaries and troy pounds are divided into 12 ounces (of 480 grains) while the avoirdupois pound has 16 ounces (of 437.5 grains). The unit of volume, the gallon , has different values in the United States and in the United Kingdom – the US fluid gallon being about 0.83 imperial gallons and the US dry gallon being about 0.97 imperial ...
The table of imperial avoirdupois mass is the same as the United States table up to one pound, but above that point, the tables differ. 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 ).
Get AOL Mail for FREE! Manage your email like never before with travel, photo & document views. Personalize your inbox with themes & tabs. You've Got Mail!
This grain was legally defined as the weight of a grain seed from the middle of an ear of barley. There also was a smaller wheat grain, said to be 3 ⁄ 4 (barley) grains or about 48.6 milligrams. The avoirdupois pound was eventually standardised as 7,000 grains and was used for all products not subject to Apothecaries's or Tower weight. [27]