It is a numeral on the noisy alarms that informs me when I should get up. For example today, a perfectly ordinary Thursday. The week has already been well advanced and I am correspondingly tired. But none of that 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 over the edge of the bed and I drag myself in to the bathroom. Once again, I am met by way of a numeral. While Supercharge can easily adjust the moment I’m awoken by my alarm clock, the numeral on my accursed scales will not seem easy 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 see a numeral with my inner eye ? the water meter can be running.
Refreshed and dry once more, I immediately encounter the next numeral. The thermometer informs me that I will wear a jacket today when I leave the house. And although it really is only a short distance to the automobile, I am glad within my own private measuring station for that little bit of advice. Once I reach the car, I’m met by the next numeral. My arrival at the job will be delayed by a few minutes because I need to fill the fuel tank en route. As soon as I reach the filling station, I’m able to check another numeral, one that indicates my tyre pressures. Something that I really do not check often enough. Also, while my fuel tank is slowly getting filled, I ask myself if anyone has had 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 on the accuracy of everything regularly. In many other areas too, we can depend upon the point that everything gets measured accurately.
My extended solution 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 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 might go, measurements are omnipresent. As soon as you start thinking about it, the list just keeps getting longer: I see the world in numerals because we here at WIKA divide up the everyday things into numerals. We can build scales with load cells, and we are able to establish the temperature with measuring sensors. We are able to measure pressure in three various ways. We are able to measure flow rates and levels. We are able to measure tension and compression forces and we can calculate angles. We are able to 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
Further information on our measuring instruments can be found on the WIKA website.