Brer alexander koryagin wrote to Brer Roy Witt about Re: 3xHa!:

 RW>>>> different systems, Metric and English measure. Who has the upper
 RW>>>> hand, again?

 ak>>> Suppose that some President can say to the Americans - we need to
 ak>>> go the metric system because we have difficulties in selling our
 ak>>> goods. Our spare parts are incompatible with ones from the metric
 ak>>> world, even a puny screw. So, we have two possibilities: to close
 ak>>> our car production and fire workers, or to accept the metric
 ak>>> system and sell more goods in the metric world.

 RW>> He'd be blowing hot air in the wind. We already manufacture in
 RW>> metrics and most blueprints have dimensions in metric and SAE (not
 RW>> just one, but two ways of measuring the same dimensions).

 ak>     I read some years ago that an American Martian probe crashed on
 ak> its surface because the programmers mixed up miles and kilometers. It
 ak> is difficult to sit on two chairs.

You got your stories mixed up with Mars 2. Mars 3 was an unmanned space
probe of the Soviet Mars program which spanned the years between 1960 and
1973. Mars 3 was launched nine days after its twin spacecraft Mars 2. The
probes were identical spacecraft, each consisting of an orbiter and an
attached lander. Mars 2 crash-landed on the martian surface. No American
mars probes have crashed.

 RW>> currency, which first appeared in the early 19th century is an
 RW>> example of the forward thinking of our country's founders. One
 RW>> dollar consists of 100 cents (. 01), or one dime (. 10 dollar), but
 RW>> you can also have. 05 and. 25 of a dollar. Either way, the dollar
 RW>> is an example of how our currency was devised way back when.

 RW>> Whereas, the British method of pounds and shillings is still used
 RW>> today, although it came from the dark ages when the King's nose
 RW>> gave them inches and their currency composed of how many 'pounds'
 RW>> the King weighed. All other countries in Europe were built on the
 RW>> same idea, until miraculously, someone came up with a decimal
 RW>> system equivelant of the dollar and called it a Euro!

 ak>     Pounds and shillings are used in the UK, but they were
 ak> decimalised.

Duh...if they hadn't, where would they be today?

 ak> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pound_sterling
 ak> -----Beginning of the citation-----
 ak> Since decimalisation in 1971 (see Decimal Day), the pound has been
 ak> divided into 100 pence (until 1981 described on the coinage as "new
 ak> pence".
 ak> ...
 ak> Prior to decimalisation, the pound was divided into 20 shillings and
 ak> each shilling into 12 pence, making 240 pence to the pound.
 ak> -----The end of the citation-----

 ak>>> BTW, a funny story happened in the USSR in 1930s. The famous
 ak>>> aircraft designer Tupolev (do you remember his TU-104, TU-144?)
 ak>>> was given a lot of money and sent to the US to buy full licenses
 ak>>> to produce some American aircrafts in the USSR. He indeed had
 ak>>> bought some crafts with the complete documentation, but it had
 ak>>> appeared that the USSR cannot produce them -- everything was
 ak>>> different! We had plants to produce alluminum sheets, bars etc,
 ak>>> but we could do it in the metric system only. It meant, that the
 ak>>> crafts should have been completely redesigned, or they would have
 ak>>> been out of balance. It cost so much, that Tupolev was declared a
 ak>>> saboteur and put in prison. It was one of the first victims of the
 ak>>> American system in the USSR. ;=)

 RW>> LOL! All Tupolev had to do was mulitiply any inch dimension by 25.4
 RW>> and he'd have the equivalant dimension in metric.

 ak>     As I can explain it, an aircraft is made from the materials
 ak> produced by the local industry.

And as the American SAE has found, there is a metric to SAE equivalant or
vice versa that fits the requirements. i.e. there is very little measured
weight difference between a 3mm sheet of aluminum and a SAE sheet of 1/8th
inch. Yet, one is thicker than the other.

 ak>  The USSR industry had different metric standards.

Not a problem, if you can "sit on two chairs" at once and have the ability
to figure these things out, it's quite easy to do.

 ak> For instance, a standard aluminum sheet (to make an aircraft body)
 ak> had another thickness, size and weight. The same was for metal bars
 ak> and another details.

The tolerances are usually plus or minus .5 millimeters or more, which
would allow the use of 1/8" thick material here or vice versa in 3mm
supplied materials. And the list goes on.

I've worked a lifetime in the business, so I know that these things can be
done.

 RW>> make himself a chart of conversion and would have been a hero
 RW>> instead of a saboteur. As it was, he was a victim of his own
 RW>> ignorance and should have had that all worked out before he left
 RW>> America, where he could have had some help in doing the
 RW>> conversions. I was taught the difference in the 1940s as a child,
 RW>> so those conversions aren't rocket science.

 ak>     Probably, he thought that getting aircrafts and documentation was
 ak> enough to learn how it works.

What he failed to see was that the documents he aquired would have to have
been changed to fit the 'Soviet' standards, which would have had to be in
concert with the worldwide use of the metric system at the time. Been
there, done that.

 ak> As an aircraft designer he was right.

Yes, but his failure wasn't in how it works, but how to convert one
measurement to another.

 ak> But it was impossible to start making those crafts. Every craft
 ak> consisted of thousands of details and hardware.

We do it all the time. If there's an international market for a product,
we conform to the metric system, but use SAE products and materials to get
there from here.

 ak> Even screws were different.

It's very easy to convert a 1/4" screw call out to a metric equivalant.
You can have one smaller and lighter, as in 6mm or you can have one a
little heavier, as in 7mm or 8mm.

We even take your 7.62mmx39mm AK-47 cartridges and convert them to SAE
and they're made to NATO specs.

 ak> It was not enough to change sizes, they needed to make tons of new
 ak> documentation, taking in mind the USSR's standards; they had to be
 ak> sure that, for instance, an aircraft rear had such a weight that
 ak> didn't spoil the overall balance during the flight.

But the Soviets learned how to do that in a hurry when Germany invaded
your country and kicked butt, until winter set in. Meanwhile, the Soviets
used Americn made equipment on a 'lend lease' basis until they could get
their *&%& together and make their own. Even then, Soviet tanks, etc.,
where copies of American tanks and equipment, including airplances.


         R\%/itt - K5RXT

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