Roland Dudley <cobra@cdc.hp.com> asks:
> ... cars produced between 1904 and the mid
> 1950s. In them several references are made to term cwt. This is a
> weight measurement which is apparently an abbreviation for hundredweight
> (or perhaps avoirdupois?). According to the dictionary this is either
> 100 pounds or 112 pounds. Does anyone know which value would be correct
> for this time frame?
Roland,
The hundredweight (the 'c' in cwt is Roman for 100) is and always
has been 112 pounds in Britain... and others may correct me if I'm wrong,
but I believe its the same in most places around the world.
Of course, Americans have been trying to redefine the English language
and the weights and measures system for 200 years. Americans have
taken "hundredweight" literally and hence in the United States it is
100 pounds. I can just imagine the original conversation, "Those
Limeys, just how on earth did they come up with 112 pounds for a
hundredweight anyway? Just plain dumb. Now, lets take a look
at this here gallon thingy. Its just too damn _BIG_! Limeys, ha!"
:-)
Cheers!
Garry Archer Esq. archer@hsi.com
3M Health Information Systems, Wallingford, Connecticut, U.S.A.
"An Englishman never enjoys himself, except for a noble purpose." - A.P.Herbert
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