Anker (unit)

For other uses, see Dutch units of measurement § Volume.

An Anker (usually anglicized as Anchor[1]) was a Dutch unit of capacity for wine or brandy equal to 10 US gallons[2] that was used as a standard liquid measurement.[3] It was most commonly used in Colonial times in New York and New Jersey, thanks to the earlier Dutch settlement of New Amsterdam (later New York City).

Many European countries had a different measurement of this unit that varied from 9 to 11 US gallons [equivalent to 7.5 to 9.25 Imperial gallons[4] or 34 to 42 Litres].[5][6]

Conversion

1 Anker ≡ 10 US gallons[3] [8.33 Imperial gallons or 37.8541 Litres]

1 Anker ≡ 0.03785411784 m3

References

  1. ^ Lederer, Richard M. (1985). Colonial American English: A Glossary. Essex, Connecticut: A Verbatim Book. pp. ??. ISBN 978-0930454197.
  2. ^ The US gallon was based on the British wine gallon, a liquid measurement for wine and brandy. It was called a wine gallon to distinguish it from the ale gallon, the beer gallon, and the dry-measure corn gallon for grain. They were replaced by the Imperial measure system by 1826.
  3. ^ a b Cardarelli, François (2003). Encyclopaedia of Scientific Units, Weights and Measures. London: Springer. p. 49. ISBN 978-1-4471-1122-1.
  4. ^ The Imperial gallon was based on the British Ale gallon.
  5. ^ Simmonds, P[eter] L[und] (1892). The Commercial Dictionary of Trade Products, Manufacturing and Technical Terms, Moneys, Weights, and Measures of all Countries (New edition revised and enlarged). London: George Routledge and Sons. p. 12.
  6. ^ "Anker, a small cask or runlet containing 8 1/3 [Imperial] gallons, which in this country is now obsolete. The anker is still, however, a common liquid measure in many of the Continental states, varying from 7½ to 9¼ [Imperial] gallons." - Simmonds, The Commercial Dictionary of Trade Products, Manufacturing and Technical Terms, Moneys, Weights, and Measures of all Countries (1892), pg. 12