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 this is of any help, and because every morning this tiny little numeral resides within me, I love getting up at that time.
Well then, legs on the edge of the bed and I drag myself in to the bathroom. Once again, I am met by a numeral. While I can easily adjust the moment I am awoken by my noisy alarms, the numeral on my accursed scales does not seem an easy task to influence. Or, at best, in the long-term. I decide at night 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 the next numeral. The thermometer informs me that I will wear a jacket today the moment I go out. And although it is only a short distance to the car, I am glad within 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 be delayed by a short while because I need to fill the fuel tank on the way. As soon as Hypnotic reach the filling station, I am able to check another numeral, the one that indicates my tyre pressures. A thing that I 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 is quite normal for an official from the calibration authority to check the accuracy of everything on a regular basis. In many other areas too, we can rely upon the truth that everything gets measured accurately.
My extended way 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 getting measured. When approaching the limits of the tipping lines, even the thrust and support forces become of interest. EASILY 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. Regardless of what Swoon-worthy do, and where we might go, measurements are omnipresent. Once 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 can establish the temperature with measuring sensors. We are able to measure pressure in three different ways. We are able to measure flow rates and levels. We are able to 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 planet through different eyes. Does that connect with you, too?
Note
Further information on our measuring instruments are available on the WIKA website.