It is a numeral on the noisy alarms that informs me when I should get up. For instance today, a perfectly ordinary Thursday. The week is already well advanced and I am correspondingly tired. But none of that is of any help, and because each 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’m met by way of a numeral. While I can easily adjust as soon as I am 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 visit a numeral with my inner eye ? the water meter can be running.
Refreshed and dry once more, I immediately encounter another numeral. The thermometer tells me that I should wear a jacket today the moment I go out. And although it is just a short distance to the automobile, I am glad in my own private measuring station for that piece of advice. Once I reach the car, I am met by another numeral. My arrival at the job will likely be delayed by a few minutes because I have to fill the fuel tank en route. As soon as I reach the filling station, I’m in a position to check another numeral, one that indicates my tyre pressures. Something that I 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 an official from the calibration authority to check on the accuracy of everything on a regular basis. In many other areas too, we can rely 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 can see so many numerals: The weight raised on the boom will undoubtedly 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’d stand at the boundary just like a small boy and stare at everything.
Then, finally, I reach the company and a perfectly normal Thursday follows its usual course. As always, numerals are at work here, ones that ultimately co-determine our lives. No matter what we do, and where we may go, measurements are omnipresent. Once you start thinking about it, the list just keeps getting longer: I 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 are able to measure flow rates and levels. We can measure tension and compression forces and we are able to 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 connect with Reduced , too?
Note
More info on our measuring instruments are available on the WIKA website.