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The short ton (S/T) is a unit of weight equal to 2,000 lb¹ (around 907.18474 kg). In the United States it is often called simply ton¹ without distinguishing it from the metric ton (or tonne, 1,000 kilograms) or the long ton (2,240 pounds, exactly 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 hundredweights¹, but a hundredweight is 112 pounds (which is equal to 8 stone) in the Imperial system (long or gross hundredweight)¹ and 100 pounds 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 high could easily weigh a tonne.^{citation needed} The antiquated British wine cask volume measurement tun is close to a metric tonne in weight as it defines about 954 litres which for most liquids amounts to as many kilograms.^{citation needed}

References

^ ^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). Retrieved on 2008-10-13. "20 hundredweights = 1 ton"
^ "Naval Architecture for All". United States Bureau of Transportation Statistics (unknown). Retrieved on 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"

Short ton.html

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