Ligne
997871
216997774
2008-06-04T04:13:20Z
Jimp
275655
{{Unit of length
|m=.0022558291
|accuracy=4
}}
:''For the French river of the same name see [[River Ligne]]''.
The '''ligne''' (from the [[French language|French]] word meaning "[[line]]") is a unit of length that was in use prior to the French adoption of the [[metric system]] in the late 1700s, and is still used by [[France|French]] and [[Switzerland|Swiss]] [[wristwatch]] makers to measure the size of a watch movement.<!--(For example, ''[[Girard-Perregaux]]'' will introduce a new 12 ligne chronograph movement.)--> In this usage there are 12 ligne to one [[French units of measurement#Length|French inch (''pouce'')]]. The standardized conversion for a ligne is 2.2558291 [[millimetre|mm]] (1 mm = 0.443296 ligne), and it is abbreviated with the letter L or represented by the triple [[Prime (symbol)|prime]], ‴.
This is comparable in size to the British measurement called "line" (one twelfth of an imperial inch).
In the ninth century the term ''ligne'' came into use among [[Germany|German]] [[button]] makers, where it was used to measure the diameter of buttons. The consensus definition was that a ligne was the measurement of a round wick, folded flat. In this sense it measures {{frac|40}} of an [[inch]], but not exactly, for there were several inches in the kingdoms and petty states of Germany at that time. Such a measurement became the American measurement called "line", being one fortieth of the US-customary inch. Its use was again to measure buttons, and was probably introduced by German immigrants.
==See also==
* [[Horology]]
* [[Line (length)]]
[[Category:Obsolete units of measure]]
[[Category:Units of length]]
[[fr:Ligne (unité)]]
[[hr:Ligne]]
[[ja:リーニュ]]