Imperial volume measurements
Under the imperial system 20 fluid ounces made a pint and 8 pints made a gallon. Until very recently milk was sold in pints and petrol in gallons.
However, the system was very much more complicated. The following is table of the imperial volume measures in use in 1949.
- 1 minim = 1 drop
- 1 dram = 1 teaspoonful
- 2 drams = 1 desertspoonful
- 4 drams = 1 tablespoonful
- 60 minims = 1 dram
- 8 drams = 1 fluid ounce
- 20 fluid ounces = 1 pint
- 4 gills = 1 pint
- 2 pints = 1 quart (a quarter of a gallon) (*)
- 2 quarts = 1 pottle
- 4 quarts = 1 gallon
- 2 gallons = 1 peck
- 4 pecks = 1 bushel
- 2 bushels = 1 strike
- 3 bushels = 1 sack
- 4 bushels = 1 coomb
- 8 bushels = 1 quarter
- 12 sacks = 1 chaldron
- 5 quartrs = 1 wey, or 1 load
- 10 quarters = 1 last
(*) Do you remember the advert for Whitbred Tankard; "The pint that thinks it's a quart"; from the 1970s?
It must have been a huge effort for children to learn this system at school.
References
[1] - source Law's Grocery Manual, fourth edition, published 1949
