Old weights and measures (Austria)

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Length measurements

In 1756, in the general dimensional patent of the ruling Archduchess of Austria Maria Theresa, the fathom measure used in Vienna and its multiples and sub-multiples in the Archduchy of Austria and in the Kingdom of Hungary were established as binding measures of length. The Viennese cubit, which measures 1¾  Roman cubits , was also retained.

The law should also apply to the Kingdom of Bohemia , of which Maria Theresa was queen. In practice, however, Prague stuck to the use of the traditional “Roman foot”.

With the law of July 23, 1871, the metric system was introduced in Austria with effect from January 1, 1876 and the fathom was set at exactly 1.89648384 m.

Thus, the old dimensions are converted as follows:

 Point                    =  182.917 037 µm     
 line  =  12  Points               =  2.195 004 mm
 inch  =  144  Points   =  12  Lines   =       =  26,340 053 mm
 fist  =  576  Points  =  48  Lines  =  4th  inch  =  105,360 213 mm The span is equal to two fists or two thirds of a foot, a good 210.72 mm.
 foot  =  1728  Points  =  144  Lines  =  12  inch  =  316.080 640  mm Viennese foot = Viennese shoe
 Fathoms  =  6th  foot              =  1.896 483 840 m   Viennese fathoms
 rod  =  10  foot              =  3.160 806 400 m  
 mile  =  24000  foot  =  4000  Fathoms  =  2400  Rods   =    7.585 935 360 km  Austrian Post mile, police mile , the geographical mile , contains about 3910 Wr. Fathoms
In Austrian it is called the line, the inch, the foot, the or the fathom, the rod and the mile.

The cannon range , three nautical miles, about ¾ of the German geographic mile, is 5.556 km.

The Wiener Maßelle was set at 777.558 420 mm in 1871, i.e. 0.047% below the modern seven-smooth value of exactly 777.924 millimeters. This Viennese yardstick was probably brought to Spain under Charles V , where it z. B. in Barcelona as the Catalan yardstick (vara) remained a legal measure of length until the end of the 19th century.

The 776 mm piece of cloth removed from St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna is around 1.6 mm - i.e. considerably - shorter than the Vienna Maßelle, while the linen piece measures 896 mm.

and display information about the image
At the bottom you can see the St. Stephen's Cathedral leash at about 896 mm, at the top the towel at about 776 mm. The former was later no longer used.
As Franz Twaroch, Vienna, showed, both are in a trigonometric relationship to one another. The cloth cell is ½√3 of the linen cell.
Fig .: 1  px on the screen ≈ 1 mm realiter (scale depends on the resolution )

Area dimensions

Square fathoms = 3.597 m²
Middle = 225 square fathoms = approx. 809.2 m²
yoke = 1,600 square fathoms = 5 754.642 m² (in the 18th century referred to as Niederösterreichisches Joch and later as Katastraljoch)

Room dimensions

liquid capacity
whistle = 177.221 ml
Seidel = 2 whistle = 354.443 ml
Measure = 4 buckets = 0.0448 cubic feet = 1.41777 l
bucket = 40 measure = 160 seidel = 56.7108 L.
 
fixed dimensions
cups = 480.366 ml
Fodder = 2 cups = 960.732 ml
Pig = 4 cheesecloths = 3.842,926 L.
Metzen = 16 pigs = 1.9471 cubic feet = 61,486 82 l (called Stockerauer Metzen in the 18th century )
Courage = 30 Mets = 1.844 605 m³
Fathoms * = 1/2 cubic fathom = 3.410 496 cubic meters

 * Wood measure for 1/2 fathom long billets

For the sixteenth part of the Metzen, the pig, there were also other terms such as Maßel or Mühlmessel

Weight measurements

Salzburg 4 pound reform weight (4 × 560.25 grams)

In the Middle Ages and the early modern period , the Viennese pound was 561.288 g, (according to another source 561.336 g) d. H. two Viennese marks . In 1811 , Montgelas in Bavaria had rounded the Viennese pound, which was also valid there, to 560,000 g. In the course of the 19th century, Vienna followed suit in its commercial weights. This should prepare for the easier conversion to the metric kilogram. A distinction must therefore be made between an old historical value and a reform value around a quarter percent lower .

unit               old value (after)     Reform value
 Tiny bit        =  4.385 0625 g   =  4.375  g 
 Lot  =  4th  Tiny bit   =  17.540 2500 g   =  17,500 g 
 lb  =  32  Loth  =  561,288 0000 g   =  560,000 g 
 Hundredweight  =  100  lb  =  56.128 8000 kg  =  56,000 kg
 hem  =  2¼ Hundredweight  =  126.289 8000 kg  =  126,000 kg
 Ship barrel  =  20th  Hundredweight  =  1 122.576 0000 kg  =   1 122,000 kg
 Centimeters            =  100,000 kg

literature

  • Burkhard Köster : Military and Railway in the Habsburg Monarchy 1825-1859 In: Wehrwissenschaftliche Forschungen Volume 37, Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag, 1999, Appendix 1 Currencies and units of measurement 299 ff., ISBN 978-3-486-56331-3

Contemporary, chronological:

  • Historical-statistical outline of the Austrian monarchy. 1834, measure and weight. P. 150 ff ( digitized version in the Google book search).
  • Ferdinand Malaisé : Theoretical-practical instruction in arithmetic. Munich 1842, Appendix 1 Measures, Weights and Coins , p. 307 (Online: Titel , p. 307 , home.fonline.de - in the text version of the 1st appendix by the webmaster in question incorrectly referred to as “Official units of measurement in Europe 1842”. )

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Angelo Martini: Manuale di metrologia ossia misure, pesi e monete. Loescher, Torino 1883, Prague. P. 577 ( Webrepro , braidense.it)
  2. ↑ Law of July 23, 1871, which establishes a new order of dimensions and weight , announced by Reichsgesetzblatt No. 16 on March 2, 1872, p. 29 ( Webrepro , ALEX, Austrian National Library)
  3. ↑ Angelo Martini: Manuale di metrologia ossia misure, pesi e monete. Loescher, Torino 1883, Prague. P. 55 ( Webrepro , braidense.it)
  4. ↑ Viennese ells . hexadecimal.florencetime.net
  5. ↑ Ludolph Schleier: The commercial science. Fest'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Leipzig 1848, p. 93
  6. ↑ a b According to  Meyers Konversationslexikon, 1892  the Vienna Mark is equal to 280.644 g. Consequently, the Viennese pound has a mass of 561.288 g.
  7. ↑ RGBl. 126/1892 of August 2, 1892, Article XXII. In:  Reichsgesetzblatt for the kingdoms and countries represented in the Reichsrathe , year 1892, p. 644 (online at ANNO ). Template: ANNO / Maintenance / rgb, with which the krona currency is determined. This shows the Wiener Mark (half a Viennese pound) at 280.668 g.

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