Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Email
Answers.com

Short ton

 

(DOD) 2,000 pounds. Also called S/T or STON.

Search unanswered questions...
Enter a question here...
Search: All sources Community Q&A Reference topics
Wikipedia: Short ton
Top

The short ton is a unit of weight equal to 2,000 pounds (907.18474 kg) [1]. In the United States it is often called simply ton[1] without distinguishing it from the metric ton (or tonne, 1,000 kilograms) or the long ton (2,240 pounds (1,016.0469088 kg)); rather, the other two are specifically noted. There are, however, some U.S. applications for which unspecified tons normally means long tons (for example, Navy ships)[2] or metric tons (world grain production figures).

Both the long and short ton are defined as 20 hundredweights[1], but a hundredweight is 112 pounds (50.80234544 kg) (which is equal to 8 stone, 1 stone/6.35029318 kilograms) in the Imperial system (long or gross hundredweight)[1] and 100 pounds (45.35923700 kg) in the U.S. system (short or net hundredweight)[1].

The spelling tonne is from Gallic and French. The term applied to the barrel of the largest size. In Old English the spelling was tunne, "cask". A full cask about a metre (about 40 in) high could easily weigh a metric tonne, since the volume of the antiquated British wine cask tun is defined as 954 litres which for water (density = 1 g/cm3) amounts to as many kilograms. In the context of heraldry, the term 'tun' is also recognized—again meaning a very large barrel, such as a brewer might use. For example, tuns are part of the blazon of the brewer's guild of London, England.[citation needed]

A short ton–force is 2,000 pounds-force (8,896.443230521 N).

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e "NIST Handbook 44 Specifications, Tolerances, and Other Technical Requirements for Weighing and Measuring Devices, Appendix C: General Tables of Units of Measurement". United States National Institute of Standards and Technology. 2006-04-26. http://ts.nist.gov/WeightsAndMeasures/Publications/appxc.cfm. Retrieved 2008-10-13. "20 hundredweights = 1 ton" 
  2. ^ "Naval Architecture for All". United States Bureau of Transportation Statistics. unknown. http://ntl.bts.gov/DOCS/narmain/narmain.html. Retrieved 2008-10-13. ""Historically, a very important and standard cargo for European sailing vessels was wine, stored and shipped in casks called tuns. These tuns of wine, because of their uniform size and their universal demand, became a standard by which a ship's capacity could be measured. A tun of wine weighed approximately 2,240 pounds, and occupied nearly 60 cubic feet (ref.1)." Today the ship designers standard of weight is the long ton which is equal to 2,240 pounds. (quoting Gillmer, Thomas, Modern Ship Design, United States Naval Institute, 1975" 

 
 

 

Copyrights:

Military Dictionary. US Department of Defense Dictionary of Military and Associated Words, 2003.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Short ton" Read more