Tuesday, October 23, 2007

At left is another chart from the Rudolfs J. Drillis article Folk Norms and Biomechanics illustrating the origins of basic units of measure. (Click on the image to see it in a larger form.) By using measurements based on the body, tools could be made specific to the user, rather than specific to an arbitrary standard. For example if I were to make rakes for my wife and I to do the raking of leaves around the house, hers and mine could each be made using the same "rule of thumb." Her thumb and mine, leading to differing results, with my rake being designed longer to match the proportions and efficiencies of my own body. It is interesting to think of standardization as having the purpose of meeting the needs of the individual rather than the needs of the manufacturers and distributors of objects.

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