[ARC5] Cost of sets - 1950 and 2010

[Kenneth G. Gordon]

On 23 Sep 2010 at 11:26, Henry Mei'l's wrote:

> Europeans shake their heads about the Anglo-Saxon use of  feet, inches
> etc. BUT one advantage is that an inch is the rough quivalent of the
> top joint of your thumb, the foot ... , the yard the length of your
> extended arm to mid-chest, etc.

Another advantage is that the English system has been standardized for well 
over a century.

As far as I can tell, there are STILL no universally standardized metric 
threads and diameters. 

This is one reason why a metric tap and die set in the U.S. is so cheap when 
compared to an "English" set: the metric tap and die set only fits itself.

I remember an Italian rapier I once worked on which had a damaged thread 
where a special nut held on the hilt: it was metric diameter, and turns-per-
inch. 

I cut the darned thing off and welded on a piece of 1/4-20 threaded rod.

In my opinion, from a machinists standpoint, it really doesn't matter what 
standard you use....as long as it IS a standard.

Furlongs-per-fortnight would be just as good.

Ken Gordon W7EKB