Ounce
Ounce names 3 different subjects across the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. Each is set out below. 1 of them is described by more than one encyclopedia.
Ounce A division of the pound weight in English
The Encyclopedia of Founding (1892)
A division of the pound weight in English. In Troy weight it means the twelfth part of a pound, and weighs 480 grains. In avoirdupois weight the ounce is the sixteenth part of a pound, and equal to 437 1/2 grains Troy. Ovens for Drying Moulds and Cores.--Much subsequent annoyance and loss is saved by exercising forethought with regard to location, size, and style of oven when it has been decided to build a new or make extensive alterations in an old foundry. Some moulds, owing to their magnitude and form, must necessarily be built in the casting-pit and dried there. The pit becomes, in such cases, a drying stove or oven by simply closing the mouth and building open fires at convenient places on the bottom if wood or bituminous coal is used for fuel; if anthracite coal must be the fuel, then recourse must be had to extemporized exterior fireplaces, with suitable arrangements for creating a draught. It is, however, possible, in some instances, to build large moulds in sections, and by this means convey all the parts to the oven to be dried--a very superior way when it can be done. Temporary contrivances for drying small cores are to be met with in almost every foundry, from the rim and bottom-plate of the heating stove to the more elaborate device consisting of wrought-or cast-iron sides bolted together, inside of which are slides to rest shelves upon, the top having a hole with raised edge to receive a stove-pipe. The hinged door may be the full size of the oven, so as to expose all parts of the oven at once. An ordinary fire-pot, with provision for draught underneath, can be set down in the floor and this oven set over it, or the plates may be long enough to permit the fireplace to be enclosed within the structure, and thus make the oven a portable one. Millet's patent core-oven for small cores is a brick structure with an iron front, to which is attached the necessary hinges for swinging the perforated shelves in and out. Each of the shelves works independently, and, by means of a duplicate door on the back, the oven is closed, thus retaining the heat in the oven while the cores are being loaded or unloaded. It will be seen that no heat escapes. Cores may be handled with dispatch, as all operations are conducted outside, so that both fuel and time are economized. Other excellent ovens for small cores may be obtained from the supply dealers at a very low coast, which when placed down on the floor and a pipe connection made are at once ready for use. Steam-heated ovens are now very numerous. They consist of steam-piping laid direct from the boiler to the oven, where a valve controls the amount of steam allowed to enter a system of coils, which latter constitute the core shelves as well, being set somewhat slanting for drainage. Sixty pounds steam-pressure in the coils give a temperature in the oven of 250 deg., which is sufficient to dry ordinary cores without the possibility of burning them; an increased pressure will, of course, give greater heat. Ventilation is perhaps best secured by a somewhat loose-fitting door and an outlet at the bottom of the wall. The ordinary ovens for drying large moulds and cores are, as a rule, very defective, lacking in suitable rack and carriage accommodation,--two very important features, well worthy of more than ordinary consideration. To save the annoyance and loss attendant on moving heavy loads in and out of the oven, they may very readily be constructed of two main walls of masonry, having hinge fixings built in them on the top and ends, to which plate-iron doors may be accurately hinged. When the moulds are ready for the oven, the covers are thrown back and the end or ends opened, so that a free passage is made for loading direct from the crane to the oven, and thus obviating the jarring of the moulds which usually attends transit on carriages. Closing over the top covers and shutting in the ends converts this into an admirable oven at once, which, when the moulds are dry, may be opened again and become, as it were, part of the foundry floor, on which the moulds may rest safely until required for closing and casting. For description and details of special large oven constructed by the author, see "The Iron Founder," p.52. See also DAMPER; ROTARY OVENS.
Ounce a unit of weight
Described by 2 of the 6 encyclopedias.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a unit of weight. In troy weight, the ounce is one-twelfth of a pound, contains 20 pennyweights of 24 grains each, and is, therefore, equivalent to 480 grains. In avoirdupois weight, the ounce is the sixteenth part of a pound, and is equivalent to 437½ grains troy. Also a money of account in Morocco, valued at about six cents. In zoölogy; Felis uncia, the snow leopard; habitat, the Himalayas, at an elevation ranging from 9,000 to 18,000 feet. It is about the size of a leopard, of which it is probably an immature form; ground color pale yellowish-gray, dingy, yellowish-white beneath. The fur is thick, and it has a well marked short mane. It has never been known to attack man. one of OUNDLE, a small but ancient and scene of pleasant town of Northamptonshire N, England, 13 miles S. W. of Peterborough; has an old church, partly Early English and partly Decorated style, restored in 1864. Here St. Wilfrid died. Laxton's grammar school dates from 1550.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
a measure of weight. The ounce and inch are both akin to the Latin uncia, meaning a twelfth. An ounce is the twelfth part of a pound Troy, or the sixteenth part of a pound avoirdupois. The Troy ounce contains 480 grains; the avoirdupois, 437 1/2. The abbreviation is oz. See Metric System ; Avoirdupois
Ounce ouns, in zoology
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
ouns, in zoology, a leopard found up to a height of 1,200 feet in the mountain ranges of Asia. In the cold heights of Central Asia it corresponds to the lynx of North America . See Lynx
What Has Changed in the Last Century
The arithmetic in these entries still holds: the troy ounce is 480 grains, the avoirdupois ounce 437½, and "oz." is still the abbreviation. What has been pinned down since is the underlying standard — the international yard and pound agreement of 1959 fixed the avoirdupois pound at exactly 0.45359237 kg, making the ounce exactly 28.349523125 grams, while troy weight has retreated to precious metals alone. The bigger error is Collier's zoology in 1921: the ounce or snow leopard is not "probably an immature form" of the leopard but a full species in its own right, now classed as Panthera uncia and shown by genetic work to be a close relative of the tiger. It is also no longer merely a Himalayan curiosity but a protected animal of conservation concern, listed by the IUCN as Vulnerable with a wild population estimated in the low thousands.
Written for this edition, 2026.