Old Measures and Weights (Switzerland)

Comparison of Swiss and Bern hour (1837)

The 1835 Concordat

With the Concordat on a common Swiss system of measures and weights of August 17, 1835, the metric system was introduced in Switzerland as the reference (not the measure) system and the old units were brought to simple proportions. In addition, the old units should have a decimal ratio to one another, if possible; Exceptions included the hollow mass and the fathoms .

The Concordat became valid in the wholly or predominantly German-speaking cantons of Zurich, Bern, Lucerne, Glarus, Zug, Freiburg, Solothurn, Basel (city and landscape), Schaffhausen, St. Gallen, Aargau and Thurgau, where it was approved on January 1, 1838 or in Glarus on January 1, 1839. With the federal law of March 13, 1851, its provisions were extended to all of Switzerland. The Latin cantons of Geneva, Ticino, Vaud and Valais, however, were reluctant to give up their wholly or partially metric dimensions, and the canton of Uri continued to maintain its pre-revolutionary dimensions.

The definitive introduction of the metric system took place through the Federal Law on Weights and Measures of 1875, which came into effect on January 1, 1877.

Lengths

According to the Concordat

Line	= 1/10 line	= 0.0003 m = 0.3 mm
line	= 1/10 inch	= 0.003 m = 3 mm
inch	= 1/10 feet	= 0.03 m = 3 cm
Foot	(Base size)	= 0.3 m = 3 dm
Cubit	= 2 feet	= 0.6 m = 6 dm
Rod	= 4 feet	= 1.2 m
Fathoms	= 6 feet	= 1.8 m
rod	= 10 feet	= 3 m
Hour, league hour	= 16,000 feet	= 4800 m = 4.8 km

Elle and stick can (only) be divided into half, quarter and eighth notes.

Older cubits

Before the introduction of the Concordat, the following cubits were in force:

Kanton Aargau

• Aarau 1 cubit = 593.87 millimeters = 263.26 Parisian lines
• Laufenburg 1 cubit = 597.55 millimeters = 264.89 Parisian lines
• Rheinfelden 1 cubit = 548.03 millimeters = 242.94 Parisian lines
• Zofingen 1 cubit = 597.39 millimeters = 264.82 Parisian lines
• Zurzach 1 cubit = 602.67 millimeters = 267.16 Parisian lines

Canton of Appenzell

• 1 cubit of canvas = 801.7 millimeters = 355.4 Parisian lines
• 1 yard of wool = 616.07 millimeters = 273.1 Parisian lines

Canton Bern

• ½ rod = cubit = 600 millimeters
• Steinbrecher Feet = 13 Berner inches = 0.317696 meters

Canton of Friborg

• 1 bar = 474.15 Parisian lines = 1069.6 millimeters

Canton lucerne

• 1 cubit = 627.7 millimeters = 278.26 Parisian lines

Canton of Neuchâtel

• 1 cubit ( aune ) = 1 1/9 meter = 492.5 Parisian lines

Canton of Solothurn

• 1 cubit = 545.9 millimeters = 242 Parisian lines

Canton of St. Gallen

• 1 cubit of canvas = 735.4 millimeters = 326 Parisian lines
• 1 yard of wool in the canton of Zurich

Canton of Schaffhausen

• Canton 1 cubit = 595.6 millimeters = 264.03 Parisian lines
• Stein am Rhein 1 short cubit = 590.7 millimeters = 261.85 Parisian lines
• Stein am Rhein 1 long cubit = 699.5 millimeters = 310.09 Parisian lines

Canton of Vaud

• 1 cubit (aune) = 1.2 meters = 531.955 Parisian lines

Canton of Valais
Like Canton of Vaud

Surfaces

Square inches	(Base size)	0.0009 m² = 9 cm²
Square feet	= 100 square inches	= 0.09 m² = 9 dm²
Square fathoms	= 6 feet × 6 feet	= 3.24 m² (technical dimensions)
Square rod	= 100 square feet	= 9 m² ( field size )
Juchart	= 400 square rods	= 3600 m² = 36 a
Square hour	= 16,000 feet × 16,000 feet = 6,400 Juchart	= 23,040,000 m² = 23.04 km²
Man grave	= 1/10 Juchart	≈ 2.8 to 3.4 Ar

volume

volume

Cubic inches	(Base size)	= 0.000027 m³ = 27 ml
Cubic feet	= 1000 cubic inches	= 0.027 m³ = 27 l
Cubic fathoms	= 216 cubic feet	= 5.832 m³ (for hay - see Heuklafter - and overburden)
Wooden fathoms	= 1 square fathom times x foot	(locally different, x integer or halves)

Hollow mass, dry (especially grain)

Mässlein	= ¼ four of a kind	= 0.0009375 m³ = 0.9375 l = 937.5 ml
Immi (émine)	= 1/10 quarter	= 0.0015 m³ = 1.5 l
Quadruplets	= ¼ quarter	= 0.00375 m³ = 3.75 l
Quarteron	(Base size)	= 0.015 m³ = 15 l
Mütt , sack	= 4 quarters	= 0.06 m³ = 60 l
Malter	= 10 quarters	= 0.15 m³ = 150 l = 1.5 hl

A quarter is said to hold exactly 30 pounds of distilled water at 3½ ° Réaumur (4.375 ° C), which was believed to be the state of greatest density. Is measured in each case with a cylinder whose height and diameter are of equal size: . ${\displaystyle V_{Z}={\frac {d^{2}\pi h}{4}}\Rightarrow d=h={\sqrt[{3}]{\frac {4V_{Z}}{\pi }}}}$

Hollow mass, liquid

Mass (pot)	(Base size)	= 0.0015 m³ = 1.5 l
Hem, ohm	= 100 mass	= 0.15 m³ = 150 l = 1.5 hl

The measure should hold exactly 3 pounds of pure water. Sub-units are not determined nationally but only regionally and can be determined by halving as well as tenting. Here, the measuring cylinder is to be twice as high as it is wide: . ${\displaystyle V_{Z}={\frac {d^{2}\pi h}{4}}\Rightarrow d={\frac {h}{2}}={\sqrt[{3}]{\frac {2V_{Z}}{\pi }}}}$

Weights

Lot	= ½ ounce	= 0.015625 kg = 15.625 g
ounce	= 1/16 pound	= 0.03125 kg = 31.25 g
lb	(Base size)	= 0.5 kg = 500 g
Hundredweight	= 100 pounds	= 50 kg

The pound can also be divided into tenths and hundredths, which do not have a name of their own. The quarter pound is the four leagues . Today in Switzerland a hundredweight is understood as 100 kg, as in Austria .

See also

• Old weights and measures

literature

• Anne-Marie Dubler : Measures and Weights. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
• Anne-Marie Dubler: Measures and weights in the state of Lucerne and in the old Swiss Confederation. Lucerne 1975.
• Katja Hürlimann: Usual dimensions and weights of the Ancien Régimes (example Zurich) .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Ludwig Snell: Handbook of Swiss constitutional law: in five books. Volume 1, Orell Füssli and Comp., Zurich 1837, p. 316
2. ↑ Georg Kaspar Chelius: Measure and weight book. Jäger'sche book, paper and map dealer, Frankfurt am Main 1830