Re: [Rollei] Tripod threads was: Hello and Question

[Marc James Small <msmall >]

At 10:17 PM 9/22/01 -0700, jwjensen1 wrote:
>Historically, one of the stories I heard from a high school drafting
>(draughting) teacher, ca. 1953, was that one of the big projects from WWII
>times was the conversion of British Whitworth screw sizes to American
>Standard (or whatever they were called at the time) for the purpose of
>retooling the Rolls Royce Merlin engine (of Spitfire fame) to the Packard
>Merlin (of P-51 Mustang fame).

Now, for the rest of the story!  The US and UK standardized all of their
threads in World War II, and the Merlin engine was the least of their
worries, as the US was supplying the UK with everything from tanks to
artillery and was, in turn, using Bedford lorries and the like in some
theaters.  Hence, the "Unified National" series resulted, still the US norm
and still widely used in the UK, though metric is oozing its unnatural way
into the mix as the British slowly allow themselves to be Europeanized.
<he grins, he grins, guys, this is a JOKE, not a troll!>

Marc

msmall    FAX:  +540/343-7315
Cha robh bàs fir gun ghràs fir!

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