Standards of Measure and Weight.
The bronze bar and the platinum weight, more particularly described in the first part of the First Schedule of this Act, and at the passing of this Act, deposited in the Standards Departments of the Board of Trade, in the custody of the Warden of the Standards, shall continue to be the imperial standard of measure and weight, and the said bronze bar shall continue to be the imperial standard for determining the imperial standard yard for the
United Kingdom, and the said platinum weight shall continue to be the imperial standard for determining the imperial standard pound for the United Kingdom.
Imperial Measures of Length.
The straight line or distance between the centres of the two gold plugs or pins (as mentioned in the First Schedule to this Act),[268] in the bronze bar by this Act declared to be the imperial standard for determining the imperial standard yard, measured when the bar is at the temperature of sixty-two degrees of Fahrenheit’s thermometer, and when it is supported on bronze rollers placed under it in such a manner as best to avoid flexure of the bar, and to facilitate its free expansion and contraction from variations of temperature, shall be the legal standard measure of length, and shall be called the imperial standard yard, and shall be the only unit or standard measure of extension from which all measures of extension, whether linear, superficial, or solid shall be ascertained.
[268] See further on.
One third part of the imperial standard yard shall be a foot, and the twelfth part of such foot shall be an inch, and the rod, pole, or perch in length shall contain five such yards and a half, and the chain shall contain twenty-two such yards, and the furlong two hundred and twenty such yards, and the mile one thousand seven hundred and sixty such yards.
The rood of land shall contain one thousand two hundred and ten square yards according to the imperial standard yard, and the acre of land shall contain four thousand eight hundred and forty such square yards, being one hundred and sixty square rods, poles or perches.
Imperial Measures of Weight and Capacity.
The weight in vacuo of the platinum weight (mentioned in the First Schedule to this Act), and by this Act declared to be the imperial standard for determining the imperial