At 13:25 -0700 03/09/2010, Don Mannino wrote: >That's just great information, John. I have never seen that type of >marking, but it makes perfect sense. Yes. It's a bit cryptic but it saves space and ink. So far as I know only Grotrian did it this way. >Were Millimeters in common use in Germany back then? Somehow I thought they >were something post WW-II, but that's probably just some kind of American >bias. WikiPedia tells us Napoleon introduced the metric system in 1791. "The International System of Units is the official system of measurement for all nations in the world except for Burma, Liberia, and the United States." You're in great company! However for a lot of work the old measurements are far more practical. England finally switched to metric in 1965 and went overboard with it, as usual. Except that we still use the mile. The metric music wire gauge was first introduced in Germany as the "New Westphalia" gauge probably in the 1870s, but I have seen it mentioned only by Wolfenden. JD
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