CHAPTER XI. DENOMINATE NUMBERS. MEASURES AND WEIGHTS. Article 294. Length, or distance, is ascertained by applying to the object to be measured a measure of length, as an 295. inch, a foot, a yard, etc. The length of this page is about 8 inches. The principal unit of length is the yard, which is divided into feet and into inches. The standard yard of the United States is a brass bar, which is deposited in the Office of Weights and Measures at Washington. Copies of this standard yard have been distributed to the United States Custom houses; other copies have been given to the State Governments. The U. S. standard yard was obtained from the British standard yard. NOTE. The English mile (given in the above table) is much shorter than the mile of other European nations. Thus, a German mile is 8106 yards, that is, 4 English miles. A Geographical, or Nautical mile, or knot), is 1.15 English miles, nearly. SURVEYORS' LINEAR MEASURE. 296. A Gunter's Chain, used by land surveyors, is 4 rods or 66 feet long, and consists of 100 links. The unit is the chain; and the table consists of divisors and multiples of this unit. These square The principal Area is a product 1 Inch. 297. Surface, or area, is measured by square units, as square inches, square feet, square miles, etc. units are the squares of linear units. unit of surface is the square yard. of which length and breadth are the factors. Thus, the number of square inches in a square foot is the product of the length and breadth of a square foot, expressed in inches, that is, 12 x 12 = 144 square inches. 1 Square Inch. 1 Inch. 8q. mi. A. 1= = 1 acre, = 1 square mile, ( sq. mi.) UNIT EQUIVALENTS. sq. yd. sq. ft. sq. in. 8q. rd. 1=640=102400=3097600 =27878400 =4014489600 160= 4840 = 43560 = 6272640 = 1 square mile, (sq. mi.) 36 square miles (6 miles sq.) 1 township, Tp.) NOTES. A square mile of land, as surveyed by U. S. Government surveyors, is called a Section. The "section lines," that is, the lines bounding the sections, extend North and South, and East and West. 36 sections constitute a township. A tier, or row, of townships extending North and South, is called a Range. Ranges are numbered East and West of a Principal Meridian. The townships in each range are numbered North and South of a Base-line, which is the parallel of latitude forming the base of the survey. MEASURES OF VOLUME. 299. Volume, or solidity, is the product of three dimensions, length, breadth, and thickness. ical units; as cubic inches, cubic feet, etc. These cubical units are cubes of linear units. The standard of volume or solidity is the Cubic Yard. CUBIC MEASURE. 300. Cubic measure is used in finding the volume of solids, such as logs, stones, etc; the capacity of rooms, bins, NOTES. Observe that as 1728 is the cube of 12, as stated above, so 27, the number of cubic feet in one cubic yard, is the cube of 3, the number of feet in one linear yard. A pile of wood or stone 8 feet long, 4 feet wide and 4 feet high, contains one cord. A cord foot is of the length of the pile, and contains 16 cubic feet. A perch of stone, or of masonry, contains 24 cubic feet. For examples in linear, square, and cubic measures, see 301. Liquid Measure is used in measuring liquids, such as milk, oil, etc. NOTES. A barrel formerly was regarded as a measure containing 311 gallons; and a hogshead equalled 2 barrels. Barrels now frequently contain 50 gallons or more. 302. Dry Measure is used in weighing such articles as grain, fruits, etc. |