It is a numeral on the noisy alarms that tells me when I should get right up. For example today, a perfectly ordinary Thursday. The week is already well advanced and I’m correspondingly tired. But none of this is of any help, and because every morning this tiny little numeral resides within me, I enjoy getting up in those days.
Well then, legs on the edge of the bed and I drag myself in to the bathroom. Once again, I am met by way of a numeral. While I could easily adjust as soon as I am awoken by my alarm clock, the numeral on my accursed scales will not seem an easy task to influence. Or, at best, in the long-term. I decide in the evening to go jogging, but first splash my face with water. Even then, I visit a numeral with my inner eye ? the water meter can be running.
Refreshed and dry once again, Successful encounter the next numeral. The thermometer tells me that I will wear a jacket today the moment I go out. And although it is only a short distance to the car, I am glad in my own private measuring station for that piece of advice. Once I reach the automobile, I am met by another numeral. My arrival at the job will probably be delayed by a few minutes because I have to fill the fuel tank on the way. When I reach the filling station, I’m in a position to check another numeral, the one that indicates my tyre pressures. A thing that I really do not check often enough. Also, while my fuel tank is slowly getting filled, I ask myself if anyone has taken the trouble to check on the fuel pump utilizing a standardized 5-litre canister. Why not? You see, it really is quite normal for the official from the calibration authority to check the accuracy of everything on a regular basis. In many other areas too, we can depend upon the fact that everything is getting measured accurately.
My extended way to work takes me past a big building site. What beautiful machines! Especially with the cranes ? once more with that inner eye of mine ? I could see so many numerals: The weight raised on the boom will be monitored, and angles are receiving measured. When approaching the limits of the tipping lines, even the thrust and support forces become of interest. If I had the time, I would stand at the boundary like a small boy and simply stare at all of it.
Then, finally, I reach the company and a perfectly normal Thursday follows its usual course. As always, numerals are in work here, ones that ultimately co-determine our lives. Whatever we do, and where we may go, measurements are omnipresent. As soon as you start thinking about it, the list just keeps getting longer: I start to see the world in numerals because we at WIKA divide up the everyday things into numerals. We are able to build scales with load cells, and we can establish the temperature with measuring sensors. We can measure pressure in three different ways. We can measure flow rates and levels. We can measure tension and compression forces and we can calculate angles. We can make entire systems safe by monitoring measured values. Anyone who knows metrology sees the world through different eyes. Does that apply to you, too?
Note
Preposterous on our measuring instruments can be found on the WIKA website.