Line (unit)

----

See also: Line

The line ( line , symbol: ln ) is a measuring unit length conceived during the Middle Ages. Generally, it is the inch divided by twelve.

In clock industry, the line being worth 2.255mm exactly is still somewhat used in an approximate way for the gauge of a movement.

The line of the Anglo-Saxon system is worth today exactly 2,116 Misters the line of King de France, symbol L , a twelfth of the inch of the King, is defined by the Law of the 19 Frimaire An VIII (December 10th 1799) which stipulates that “the meter is equal to 3 feet and 11,296 lines of the Toise of Paris”. What gives approximately 2,256 mm to the line of the Old Mode.

According to the official system of the the Middle Ages, it there a:

4 lines in a grain of barley (= 1/9 palm)
9 lines in a finger (= 1/4 palm)
12 lines in a inch (= 1/3 palm)
36 lines in a palm
144 lines in a foot (= 4 palms)
216 lines in a Bent (= 6 palms)
864 lines in a Measuring apparatus (= 24 palms)

In parallel, the builders of the cathedrals employed a system based on five numbers of the Suite of Fibonacci (1175-1240):
1,1,2,3,5,8,13,21, 34,55,89,144,233 , 377,610,987…

Their measuring instrument was called “ the royal cane ”. It measured on the whole 555 lines (≈ 1,25 meter).
It was made up of five different measurements, connected between them by additions of preceding measurements.

34 lines in a palm (lat. palmus minor)
55 lines in a palm (lat. palmus maior)
89 lines in a Empan (a palm plus a palm)
144 lines in a foot (a empan more one palm)
233 lines in a Bent (a foot plus a empan)

See too

measuring units of the Old Mode (Length)
Metrology

Random links: