On Fri, 02 Oct 2009 09:30:51 +0100, Andrew May wrote:

Jules wrote:
On Thu, 01 Oct 2009 20:06:58 +0100, michael adams wrote:
But when using a tape measure surely most people use the top scale for
accurate measurement ? Same as using a ruler when measuring a line on
a piece of paper. So why are the inches always still on top ?

I suppose it'd be worth knowing what other markets the same tape measure's
exported to, and what they use. It's all Imperial here in the US still
(thankfully - even though I was brought up on Metric I find it a lot
easier to work in feet and inches when building things) so if the same
measure's also sold in the US you've got a potential market of 300 million
there using primarily inches vs. 60-odd million in the UK wanting cm.


Do any tape measures sold in the US have imperial and metric scales. The
one that I bought over there, made by Stanley, was imperial only.

Yes, ISTR seeing ones for sale in the local 'shed.

They do teach metric in schools here, incidentally - our 11 year old came
home just the other day with homework where they were supposed to measure
various stuff in metric using a tape measure. At which point I discover
that I actually own four tape measures (five if I count a short non-steel
one) and all of them are inches-only :-)

cheers

Jules