Metric System Demonstration Apparatus -- Early American Legal Standards
Early American Legal Standards
The United States Constitution specifically grants to the federal government authority to regulate weights and measures. The units of measurement are not specified. As early as 1790, in a report ignored by Congress, Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson proposed that the country either adopt weights and measures based on English use or introduce new units that were decimal multiples and submultiples of one another. Great Britain established non-metric national standards of measurement in 1824 and the U.S. followed suit in 1834. The United States Coast Survey soon supplied both custom houses and the states with standard yards, pounds, and bushels.
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U.S. Yard Standard and Matrix
- Description
- This brass yard standard and matrix are stored in a mahogany case with brass handles on either end and brass hooks to secure the lid, one of which no longer closes. The yard standard has extensions on either side which make it 104 cm (41") long. The yard fits into a matrix, which is divided into tenths, with the first division also divided into tenths. The yard and matrix each weigh 13 lbs., 4 oz. The case also contains 4 mahogany wedges and 3 mahogany rectangles, each less than 7 cm long. A scriber and square were originally in the case.
- This yard standard is one of those distributed by the Treasury Department to the states after Congress set standard measures on June 14, 1833. Sets of weights were distributed to the states by 1838. Metric length standards were distributed to the states and to customhouses into the 1860s. The Bureau of Standards transferred this object to the Smithsonian in 1929.
- Reference: Rexmond C. Cochrane, Measures for Progress (Washington, D.C.: National Bureau of Standards, 1966), p. 27-28.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1836
- maker
- United States Office of Weights and Measures
- ID Number
- MA.309586
- accession number
- 103830
- catalog number
- 309586
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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U.S. Standard Weights
- Description
- These cylindrical brass weights are part of a set of standards prepared by the United States government. They weigh one pound Troy, one pound, two pounds, three pounds, four pounds, five pounds, ten pounds, and twenty pounds. A knob at the top of each weight makes it easier to lift. The set also includes a weight lifter.
- All the knobs are stamped with an image of an American eagle. Those in this set, except for the Troy weight, are marked: 69. A mark on the knob for the Troy weight reads: 9.
- The weights fit into cavities in a velvet-lined wooden case. The amount of each weight is indicated on a paper tag attached to the base of the corresponding cavity.
- The United States government began distributing weights to the states in about 1845. When the weights were transferred to the Smithsonian from the Bureau of Standards in 1929, correspondence in the files suggests that they were of the type distributed before the Civil War.
- Reference:
- Accession File.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1850
- maker
- United States Office of Weights and Measures
- ID Number
- CH.309590
- accession number
- 103830
- catalog number
- 309590
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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U.S. Standard Liquid Measures Based on the Gallon, a Non-metric Measure
- Description
- This elegant set consists of five brass liquid measures with handles. A stamp on the lip of the smallest reads: B.S. No. 333, and another stamp on the side reads: U.S. STANDARD (/) 1/16 GALLON. The next largest measure reads on the lip: B.S. No. 334, and on the side: U.S. STANDARD (/) 1/8 GALLON. The middle-sized measure reads on the lip: B.S. No. 335, and on the side: U.S. STANDARD (/) 1/4 GALLON. The fourth measure reads on the lip: B.S. No. 336, and on the side: U.S. STANDARD (/) 1/2 GALLON. The largest measure reads on the lip: B.S. No. 458, and on the side: U.S. STANDARD (/) GALLON. The seal of the National Bureau of Standards also is stamped on the four smaller measures.
- The United States Constitution explicitly grants the federal government the power to regulate weights and measures. Most colonies used weights and measures based on British custom, and the first U.S. standard measures were in units such as pounds, yards, and gallons. The first standards, which were weights, were delivered to the states in 1838. By 1856, Alexander Dallas Bache could report that the Office of Weights and Measures he headed had completed full sets of weights, measures and balances for the states. Customhouses also were being equipped, with that task completed in about 1866.
- These five liquid measures appear to be examples of these standards. However, they are numbered with “B.S.” numbers, and in four cases stamped with the seal of the Bureau of Standards. The Bureau was not established until 1901. The objects came to the Smithsonian in 1929.
- Reference:
- Rexmond C. Cochrane, Measures for Progress: A History of the National Bureau of Standards, [Washington, DC]: National Bureau of Standards, U. S. Department of Commerce, 1966, esp. pp. 20-47.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1860
- maker
- United States Office of Weights and Measures
- ID Number
- CH.309583
- catalog number
- 309583
- accession number
- 103830
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
