Load (unit)
Theload,also known as afodder,fother,andcharrus(Latin:carrus,lit."cartload"), is a historicEnglish unitofweightormassof various amounts, depending on the era, the substance being measured, and where it was being measured. The term was in use by the 13th century, and disappeared with legislation from the 1820s onwards. Modern equivalents of historical weights and measures are often very difficult to determine, and figures given here should be treated with caution.
Etymology
[edit]According to theOxford English Dictionary,the word "fother" (noun) is derived from:
OE.fóðer(strong neuter n.) =OS.fôthar(MDu.voeder,Du.voer),OHG.fuodar(MHG.vuoder,Ger.fuder):–WGer.*fôÞr(o); the continental words mean ‘cartload’, ‘a certain weight supposed to represent a cartload’, ‘a certain measure of wine’ (see fooder, fudder). The root is usually believed to be an ablaut variant of faÞ- to stretch out: seefathomn.[1]1. A load; a cart-load (of hay, turf, wood, etc.). b. transf. A mass; a quantity, ‘lot’. c. Used for an enormous quantity, a ‘cart-load’ of gold or money. 2. spec. 'A definite weight of some specified substance.' a. Of lead: Now usually 19½cwt.b. ellipt. in phrases: 'to fall' as a fother (of lead); hence, a crushing blow.[1]
Lead load
[edit]In very general terms, a "load" or "fother" of metallicleadwas approximately or exactly equal to onelong tonof 2240lbs(1016kg), also equal to approximately onetonne.Fothers have been recorded from 2184 lbs (991 kg) to 2520 lbs (1143 kg).[2]
According to theTractatus de Ponderibus et Mensuris,a memorandum ofEdward I(reigned 1272–1307), the load of metallic lead was 30fotmals,175stone,or 2,100Merchant pounds(approx. 1016kg).
The Load of Lead doth consist of Thirty Fotmals, and every Fotmal containeth Six Stone, except Two Pound; and every Stone doth consist of Twelve Pound, and every Pound consisteth of the Weight of 25 Shillings, whereby the Sum in the Fotmal is Seventy Pound. But the Sum of the Stones in the Load is Eight Times Twenty and Fifteen, and it is proved by Six Times Thirty which is Nine Times Twenty. But of every Fotmal there are abated Two Pound in the foresaid Multiplication, which are Sixty, which make Five Stone. And so there are in the Load Eight Times Twenty and Fifteen as is aforesaid.[3][4]
InDerbyshireup to the 13th century a fother of lead is recorded of 1680 lbs or 15long hundredweight(cwt.) (approx. 762 kg), and likewise in Devon a load of lead weighed the same.[2]An Act of Parliament (12 Cha. 2.c. 4) (1660) stated that a fodder or fother of lead was onelong ton,or 20 cwt. (1016 kg)[5]
Miners of lead ore in Yorkshire in the late 17th century used a fodder of 3,808 pounds (1,727 kg), on the assumption that the ore whensmeltedweighed about 65% less (about 2240 lbs or one long ton).[6]Other measures were also used for lead ore, e.g. the volumetric "dish" used in theLow Peakdistrict of Derbyshire was 14pints(weighing 58 lbs, 26 kg), but in theHigh Peakit was 15 or 16 pints.[7][8]
Fothers were not used in all districts; for example in theMendip Hillsand inBurnley,Lancashire,tons, hundredweights and pounds were used in the first half of the 17th century.[2]Vivant-Léon Moissenet, a French mineralogist who studied and wrote about English mining in the mid 19th-century[9]stated that in Shropshire 200 lbs were added to each ton of concentrate at the smelt works to make a ton of 2,440 pounds (1,110 kg).[2]
By the early 19th century there was a vast multiplicity of local measurements of all types of goods, which a parliamentary report of 1820 made clear.[10][11]Forplumbers,and in London, a fodder was 19½ cwt (now about 990 kg), and with miners generally 22½ cwt (now about 1140 kg). In Derbyshire a "mill fodder" was 2820 lbs (1280 kg), but when shipped atStockwith-on-Trent,2408 lbs (now about 1092 kg). InHullit was 2340 lbs (1060 kg). In Northumberland a fother ofpig leadwas 21 cwt. (1066 kg), and inNewcastlesometimes 22 cwt (now about 1120 kg).[12]
The fother was generally used by miners, shippers and smelters. When the metallic lead finally came to be sold it was weighed precisely; its value was calculated to the nearest pound weight and the price adjusted accordingly.[2]
Straw load
[edit]The load ofhayorstrawwas 36trussesor 1,296 pounds[13](now about 588kg).
Wood load
[edit]The American load of stackedfirewoodvaried. A load of unhewn wood came to1+2⁄3cord-feetor26+2⁄3cubic feet(now about 0.75m³), while a load of hewn wood came to1+23⁄40cord-feetor 43cubic feet[14](now about 1.2m³).
Wool load
[edit]The load ofwoolwas 12weyor 108.13sacks[13](now about 1372kg).
Dung and lime
[edit]InNorthumberlandin the 1820s, a fodder ofdungor oflimewas equal to a cartload pulled by two horses.[5]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]Citations
[edit]- ^abfothern,.OED2(1994) on CD-ROM v. 1.14. Oxford University Press.
- ^abcdeGill & Harvey 1998,p. 132.
- ^Ruffhead, Owen,ed. (1763a),The Statutes at Large,vol. I: From Magna Charta to the End of the Reign of King Henry the Sixth. To which is prefixed, A Table of the Titles of all the Publick and Private Statutes during that Time, London: Mark Basket for the Crown, pp.148–149.(in English)&(in Latin)&(in Norman)
- ^"Tractatus de Ponderibus et Mensuris".sizes.Retrieved24 April2021.
- ^abSecond Report 1820,p. 17.
- ^Gill & Harvey 1998,p. 131.
- ^Gill & Harvey 1998,p. 129–30.
- ^Second Report 1820,p. 15.
- ^"Vivant-Léon Moissenet (1831-1906)".Les Annales des Mines(in French).Retrieved24 April2021.
- ^Second Report 1820.
- ^This report led to the wide-rangingWeights and Measures Act 1824(5 Geo. 4.c. 74) which repealed nearly all previous weights and measures legislation since earliest times.
- ^Second Report 1820,pp. 17, 27.
- ^abCardarelli (2003),p. 49.
- ^Cardarelli (2003),p. 52.
Bibliography
[edit]- Cardarelli, François (2003),Encyclopaedia of Scientific Units, Weights, and Measures,London: Springer,ISBN978-1-4471-1122-1
- Commissioners on Weights and Measures (18 September 1820).Second Report of the Commissioners appointed by his Majesty to consider of subject of Weights and Measures(PDF).London: Ordered, by the House of Commons, to be printed.
- Gill, M.C.; Harvey, W.S. (1998)."Weights and Measures Used in the Lead Industry"(PDF).British Mining.6(61). Sheffield: Northern Mine Research Society.