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Imperial Units

Imperial Units

As a true patriot, I loathe the very fact that an American software program like Autodesk contains references to the metric system championed by the Europeans.  Whatever happened to the Imperial System?  The right system?  Sure, it was brought to us by way of the British colonists, but while the rest of the world has moved on to the metric systems for its so-called "practicality" and "accuracy" and other meaningless hype, the United States has defiantly held on to the system of imperial units, turning a system that was once the symbol of our oppressors into a symbol of our own liberty and freedom.

 

Wait, you might say.  We have inches in Autodesk 360!  Inches are imperial units, yes?  In fact, inches are only a small fraction of our glorious system of measurements.  How can we champion inches, but neglect the thou (1/12000 ft), the chain (66 ft), the cable (608 ft), the link (66/100 ft), the rod (66/4 ft), or, god forbid, the furlong (6 or 6.08 ft, depending who you ask).  Or, for smaller lengths, the barleycorn (1/3 in), the poppyseed and the line (1/4 barleycorn), the digit (3/4 in), the nail (2 1/4 in), the Ynch (3 barleycorns), the shaftment (width of the hand and outstretched thumb, 6 1⁄2 ynches before 1066, 6 inches thereafter), or the Ell (from fingertip of outstretched arm to opposite shoulder, 20 nails = 1 1⁄4 yard or 45 inches).  How can we so quickly abandon our precious units of measure, our national heritage?

 

And thus, I implore the developers of Autodesk 360 Fusion: change the units of measure in Autodesk to celebrate the glory of our nation.  Away with terrible european systems of measure!  Bring back the furlong from the edge of obsolescence.  Bring back the digit, the barleycorn, the shaftment.  Bring back the glory of America.  Bring back freedom.

 

12 Comments
mickey.wakefield
Autodesk

Respect the conviction. But I have some bad news: contrary to popular belief, the United States does not actually reject the metric system - on the contrary. the United States was the first nation in the world to codify the use of the meric system as a matter of federal law. In fact - it was (I believe) the very first act of the United States congress - although it did not force usage of the system.  The US Coast Guard used the metric system for its map-making activities in the second decade of the 19th century as well - using (alas) gagues brought from France. In 1866 - a law was passed to create American Standard Metric measurements - a move considered progressive at the time, and in 1975, Congress passed a law to promote and co-ordinate our conversion to the metric system.

 

We have met the enemy - and he is us. A revolution may be in order.

 

Smiley Wink

 

 

JulietKiloMike
Participant

Ah, yes.  But you see, ever since the original push for the metric system in the 70's, many brave Americans have begun to see the metric system for the symbol of oppression that it truly is.  Today, many of our largest industries rely on the imperial system, from air traffic altitudes being classified in feet to machining specifications being defined in inches.  Of course, there are still a few sticklers for the metric system--so the revolution you mentioned may not be a bad idea.

 

Naturally, the pitchforks for said revolution would have to be machined to specifications stated in imperial units, and we would need access to a CAD program that catered to such needs.  Why does Autodesk bow to an internationally-recognized standard of measurement when we can have our own arbitrary units of measure?  Down with the oppressors!  Onwards with the barleycorns and poppyseeds.

secorw
Community Manager

Hear, hear!  Slugs or kilograms?  There is clearly a correct answer to this question.

JulietKiloMike
Participant

The slug, most definitely.

 

Say, have you considered imperial / old english units of area?  True American patriots would line up at the door vying for an opportunity to CAD their the faces of their machine tools in small fractions of wonderful units like the perch (272.25 square feet), or the Carucate (an area equal to that which can be ploughed by one eight-oxen team in a single year (also called a plough or carve). Approximately 120 acres).

 

You see that?  That three-barleycorn by four-barleycorn by five-barleycorn triangular baseplate with an area of 0.00000255 Carucates?  That there is an American baseplate.

It's perfect that you’ve used the NATO alphabet for your username here.

cekuhnen
Mentor

And what CAD  application for engineering and product design in the world supports:

 

" thou chain cabke link rod furlong   or   barleycorn poppyseed line digit nail Ynch shaftment ynches Ell"

 

Could not resist the teasing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWKTkOWC2K8

 

herzinj
Alumni
Status changed to: Future Consideration
 
samSPHRN
Community Visitor

Political implications aside, I would like the ability to choose my default units based on the project. Perhaps there's already a way to do that? I'm still finding my way around.

 

Great post! 

rataylor
Advocate

i want my imported sketches to be the same units, whether inch or mm.

darcsky
Community Visitor
is it possible to set a feet and inches style for dimensions? I don't mind decimal inches for creation but my output needs to be feet and inches, 121.25" is very scary compared to 10'-1 1/4".
DavePlant
Contributor

JKM.. I think I have ruptured my gut.

Being Canadian, every thing I draw is tiny. In fact, oddly, It always turns out 1/25.4 scale.

But, at least, I only have to be able to count to ten.

 

JulietKiloMike
Participant
I do apologize for any injuries that may have been sustained in the
enjoyment of this post.

But, in all honesty, I'm surprised that your drawings have turned out
smaller than expected--I would have thought that they'd be
disproportionately larger than drawings created in the Southern Hemisphere,
due to issues with the Mercator Map Projection. I was visiting in Canada
once and, on a whim, attempted to make a drawing of Greenland. I was
rather miffed when it turned out to be the size of Australia, but
fortunately things returned to their correct scale once I came back
stateside.

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