Legal Metrology Department

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Legal Metrology Department

The Weights and Measures Department was renamed according to the OIML, located in Paris, (International Organization for Legal Metrology) instruction as Legal Metrology Department. The Department is working under Food & Consumer Affairs ministry.

Definition of Legal Metrology

Legal metrology comprises all activities for which legal requirements are prescribed on measurement, units of measurement, measuring instruments and methods of measurement, these activities being performed by or on behalf of governmental authorities, in order to ensure an appropriate level of credibility of measurement results in the national regulatory environment.

Government of Kerala

Kerala is a state in the Union of India. The Legal Metrology Department was formed in 1961 and Mr Adoor Prakash is the minister (Legal Metrology, Coir).

Official website

The periodical verification and stamping of weight and measures; licensing of dealers, repairing and manufacturing of weights and measures; registration of users of weights; and prosecution of offenders are the basic duties of the Department of Legal Metrology.

Legal Metrology's motto : No less no more, but just exact.

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Functions

Consumer protection and maintenance of accuracy of 'weights & measures' used in trade and commerce is the prime duty of the Department. Checks packages for the statutory required declarations, so that the consumer get the exact weight/measure/number of the item contained in the package at a fixed all inclusive slae price - MRP. The Standards of weights & Measures (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 1977 helps the user to choose the fresh package/item by checking the printed Packed date.

The Department enforving officials are conducting numerous inspections at shops and other trade premises and book cases relating to weights and measures and packaged commodities.

Any business firm wanting to use any type of weights or measure, must register with the Department and also must periodically seek their verification for accuracy of the equipments. A Certificate will be issued to the firm after stamping the weighing/ measurement instrument. As per the rule, the trader/user has to display the Certificate near the instrument.

The Department is serving the general public by assuring them that they are getting the correct quantity/measure/number of items from the shops.

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To whom to Contact

In case of complaints, one may contact Inspector at Taluk level, Assistant Controller at District level and Deputy Controller at regional level. Still, the complaint is not attended properly, contact :

The Controller, Legal Metrology, Vikas Bhavan, Thiruvananthapuram -695033
Ph : 0471 - 2305996, Fax : 0471 - 2305996
Email : [email protected]
[email protected]

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Weights & Measures means all equipments described in the Legal Metrology Act & Rules.

Precission electronic balance (Mettler Toledo, 0.1 mg)



Adair Dutt Max. 420 g, e= 1 mg electronic balance (AJ Tuning fork balance)

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International System of Units

If people of every region use a different unit for weighing, the trade between these two regions will create problems. Now a days inter continental trade is common and the use of a common unit in measurement become essential.

SI (System International) presctibe the unit and it's symbol for international use.

Lenth, mass, time, temperature, volume etc are considered to be basic quantities. The standard unit for the measurement with it's symbol in bracket are

Length : metre (m)
Mass : gram (g)
Time : second (s)
Temperature : kelvin (K) also degree celcius (°C)
Volume : litre (l)

Units are always written singular. There is not dot after the unit symbol. One character space is provided between numeral and unit or it's symbol. Unit with the name of a scientist is always written in lowercase, while the symbol will be in Uppercase.

Eg :

Force : newton (N)
Energy : joule (J)
Power : watt (W)
Voltage : volt (V)
Current : ampere (A)

Prefixes permitted to use with standard symbols are

c - centi (10 ^-2)
m - milli (10 ^-3)
k - kilo (10 ^3)
M - mega (10 ^6)

Prefixes are helpful to write large and small measurements convienently.

Eg :

1,000 m = 1 km
1,000 ml = 1 l
11,000 V = 11 kV
1,000 mg = 1 g
1, 000 kg= 1 t (t, symbol for ton)

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Conversion table

In the earlier days, there were a number of units were used for weighing and measurement in various countries. Later, due to the growth of inter continental trade, a common unit become necessary for the trade.

The following table can be used for unit conversion.

Length

1 mile = 1760 yard
1 mile = 8 furlong
1 furlong = 10 chain
1 chain = 4 rod
1 rod = 5 1/2 yard
1 yard = 3 feet
1 foot = 12 inch

Standard Unit : metre

Area

1 sq. mile = 640 acre
1 acre = 4840 sq. yard
1 sq. yard = 9 sq. feet
1 sq. foot = 144 sq. inch

Standard Unit : metre^2 (sq m)

1 are = 2.47 cents

Volume

1 gal = 4 quart
1 quart = 2 pint
1 pint = 4 gill
1 pint = 34.6774 inch3
1 gill = 5 fl. oz
1 fl. oz = 8 fl. drachm
1 US gal = 0.8327 gal
1 US pint = 0.8327 pint
1 US pint = 16 fl. oz
1 yard3 = 27 feet3
1 foot3 = 1728 inch3

Standard Unit : metre^3 (cub. m)

Weight

1 ton = 20 cwt
1 ton = 2240 lb
1 ton = 1.12 US ton
1 cwt = 4 quarter
1 quarter = 2 stone
1 stone = 14 lb
1 lb = 16 oz
1 oz = 16 dram
1 oz = 437.5 grain
1 US ton = 2000 lb
1 Sovereign = 8 g

Cast Iron weights



Sovereign is a British gold coin (22 carat) with a gold content of 7.322 g (113 grains) weighing 7.9881 g. The coin has a thickness of 1.52 mm and a diameter of 22.05 mm. The coin has an effigy of St George.

Standard Unit : gram
conveniently kilogram and ton are used.

Brass weights

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Length

1 km = 10 hm
1 km = 1000 m
1 hm = 100 m
1 m = 10 dm
1 dm = 10 cm
1 cm = 10 mm

Area

1 km2 = 100 hectares
1 hectare = 100 ares
1 are = 100 m2
1 m2 = 100 dm2
1 dm2 = 100 cm2
1 cm2 = 100 mm2

Volume

1 m3 = 1000 litre
1 litre = 1 dm3
1 litre = 1000 cc
1 litre = 1000 ml

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Length

1 mile = 1.609 km
1 yard = 0.9144 m
1 foot = 0.3048 m
1 inch = 25.4 mm

1 km = 0.6214 mile
1 m = 1.0936 yard
1 m = 3.2808 feet
1 mm = 0.0394 inch

Area

1 sq. mile = 2.59 km2
1 acre = 0.4047 hectare
1 acre = 4046.86 m2
1 sq. yard = 0.8361 m2
1 sq. foot = 0.0929 m2
1 sq. inch = 645.16 mm2

1 km2 = 0.3861 mile2
1 km2 = 247.105 acre
1 hectares = 2.4711 acre
1 m2 = 10.7639 feet2
1 mm2 = 0.0016 inch2

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Volume

1 gallon = 4.5461 litre
1 US gallon = 3.785 litre
1 pint = 0.5683 litre
1 cu. inch = 16.3871 cm3

1 litre = 0.22 gal
1 litre = 0.2642 US gal
1 litre = 1.7598 pint
1 m3 = 219.969 gal
1 m3 = 35.3147 feet3

Weight

1 ton = 1.016 tonne
1 lb = 0.4536 kg
1 oz = 28.3495 g
1 US ton = 0.9072 tonne

1 tonne = 0.9842 ton
1 tonne = 1.1023 US ton
1 kg = 2.2046 lb
1 kg = 35.274 oz



Queen Victoria's diamond necklace. The largest diamond weighs 11.25 carat (1 Carat = 0.2 gram).

Temperature conversion

deg. F= deg. C x 9/5 + 32

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Luminous intensity : candela

Molar volume : mol (mole)

Pressure : newton (N)