SAE

[RickT]

I'm just curious. Measurements for oil viscosity and tool sizes are often prefixed with "SAE." Society of Automotive Engineers is all I can find SAE stands for. Are SAE 10W 30 and SAE wrenches (versus metric wrenches) simply a way of saying it's a standard of measure maintained by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE)?
Thanks
P.S. I remember my grade-school teachers saying many years ago that the metric system would replace the English system. Hmmmmm.

[Dave Arbuckle]

SAE 10W 30 - Multi-grade oil, 10 weight Winter, 30 weight summer. The "weight", defined by the Society of Automotive Engineers.

The SAE is a professional/standards organization, somewhat like the IEEE (the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers), which you sometimes see referenced in computer parts and cables. SAE's web site is http://www.sae.org , if you're interested.

SAE wrenches (versus metric wrenches)

As far as I know (not very, frankly), this is an error. I don't believe the SAE defines the inch measure system. There are SAE thread pitches, I think.

The problem is, what to call the measurement system used in the U.S., as opposed to metric? Used to be called Imperial, but the British Empire doesn't use it any more. Ditto your use of "English" system. I just looked at the National Institute of Standards and Technology web site, and they seem to call it "U.S. system". Makes sense, we're about the only ones left using it...

Dave

[RickT]

Thanks, Dave. That makes sense. I knew someone would know.
Rick