It is a numeral on the alarm clock that tells me when I should get right up. For instance today, a perfectly ordinary Thursday. The week has already been well advanced and I am correspondingly tired. But none of this is of any help, and because each morning this tiny little numeral resides within me, I love getting up in those days.
Well then, legs over the edge of the bed and I drag myself into the bathroom. Once again, I am met by a numeral. While I can easily adjust as soon as I am awoken by my noisy alarms, the numeral on my accursed scales does 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, Revenge visit 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 tells me that I should wear a jacket today the moment I go out. And although it is only a short distance to the automobile, I am glad in my own private measuring station for that piece of advice. Once I reach the automobile, I am met by the next numeral. My arrival at work will likely be delayed by a few minutes because I have to fill the fuel tank en route. The moment 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 using 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 regularly. In many the areas too, we can depend upon the truth that everything is getting measured accurately.
My extended solution to work takes me past a large 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 be monitored, and angles are getting 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 such as a small boy and simply stare at all of it.
Then, finally, I reach the business 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 are able to 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 can measure tension and compression forces and we are able to 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
More info on our measuring instruments can be found on the WIKA website.g