What is Avoirdupois system (avdp)?
The traditional measurement of weight that uses pounds and ounces as units. Used to weigh everything but gems, precious metals, and drugs. The name was derived from the French term which means “goods of weight.”
This traditional measurement system is used both in England and the United States and is used in the measurement of pharmaceutical and precious metals. The earliest known occurrence of the word “avoirdupois” was in an English work called the “Treatise on Weights and Measure dated 1303. The basic concepts behind the system were first used in the 13th for the wool trade and between the 14th and 16th centuries, therefore the system was also known as the wool pound. It was based on a prototype weight that was divided into 16-ounce measurements.
There were other measurement units in use at the time, but the avoirdupois system used 3 even numbers as divisors, which probably increased its popularity. Avoirdupois became the official standard when Henry VII made it a legal measuring system, and Queen Elizabeth I made three different rulings to enforce a common standard, establishing the Imperial system of weights and measurements.
In 1959 by international consensus the International Avoirdupois Pound was created, when the pound and ounce measurements became standardized across English speaking countries using pounds as mass units.
The earliest measurements of the avoirdupois measurement were as following:
- 6992 grains
- 14 pound stone
- A 26 stone woolsack
- An ounce of 1/16 pound,
- An ounce divided into 16 parts
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