Line (unit)

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For the equivalent French unit, see Paris line.

The line (abbreviated L or l or ‴ or lin.) was a small English unit of length, variously reckoned as 1⁄10, 1⁄12, 1⁄16, or 1⁄40 of an inch. It was not included among the units authorized as the British Imperial system in 1824.

Size[]

The line was not recognized by any statute of the English Parliament but was usually understood as 1⁄4 of a barleycorn,[citation needed] which itself was recognized by statute as 1⁄3 of an inch but often reckoned as 1⁄4 of an inch instead. The line was eventually decimalized as 1⁄10 of an inch, without recourse to barleycorns.[3] The button trade used the term, redefined as 1⁄40 of an inch.[4]

In use[]

Botanists formerly used the units (usually as 1⁄12 inch) to measure the size of plant parts. Linnaeus's Philosophia botanica (1751) includes the Linea in its summary of units of measurements, defining it as "Linea una Mensurae parisinae"; Stearns gives its length as 2.25 mm. Even after metrication, British botanists continued to employ tools with gradations marked as linea (lines); the British line is approx. 2.1 mm and the Paris line approx. 2.3 mm.[5]

Entomologists, both in the UK and in other European countries, in the 1800s were using lines as a unit of measurement for insects, at least for the relatively large mantids and phasmids - examples include Westwood[6],[7] in the UK, and de Haan[8] in the Netherlands.

Gunsmiths and armament companies also employed the 1⁄10-inch line (the "decimal line"), in part owing to the importance of the German and Russian arms industries.[9] These are now given in terms of millimeters, but the seemingly arbitrary 7.62 mm caliber was originally understood as a 3-line caliber (as with the 1891 Mosin–Nagant rifle). The 12.7 mm caliber used by the M2 Browning machine gun was similarly a 5-line caliber.[9]

Foreign units[]

Other similar small units called lines include:

  • The Russian liniya (ли́ния), 1⁄10 of the diuym which had been set precisely equal to an English inch by Peter the Great[10]
  • The French ligne or Paris line, 1⁄12 of the French inch (pouce) and about 1.06 L.
  • The Portuguese , 1⁄12 of the Portuguese inch or 12 "points" (pontos) or 2.29 mm
  • The German linie was usually 1⁄12 of the German inch but sometimes also 1⁄10 German inch
  • The Vienna line, 1⁄12 of a Vienna inch.[11][12]

See also[]

References[]

Citations[]

  1. ^ Jefferson (1790).
  2. ^ Niles (1814), p. 22.
  3. ^ Jefferson,[1] republished by Niles.[2]
  4. ^ Cole (2002).
  5. ^ Stearn, W.T. (1992). Botanical Latin: History, grammar, syntax, terminology and vocabulary, Fourth edition. David and Charles.
  6. ^ Westwood, J.O. (1859). Catalogue of the Orthopterous Insects in the Collection of British Museum. Part I: Phasmidae. British Museum, London.
  7. ^ Westwood, J.O. (1889). Revisio Insectorum Familiae Mantidarum, speciebus novis aut minus cognitis descriptis et delineatis. – Revisio Mantidarum. Gurney & Jackson, London.
  8. ^ Haan, W.de (1842). Bijdragen tot de Kennis Orthoptera. in C.J. Temminck, Verhandelingen over de natuurlijke Geschiedenis der Nederlandsche overzeesche Bezittingen. volume 2.
  9. ^ Jump up to: a b Hogg (1991).
  10. ^ Cardarelli (2004), pp. 121–124.
  11. ^ Albert Johannsen. "Manual of petrographic methods". p. 623.
  12. ^ Karl Wilhelm Naegeli; Simon Schwendener. "The Microscope in Theory and Practice". p. 294.

Bibliography[]

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