Why are Tip diameters referred to in millimeters?

Barry13

Barry13

Registered
I did a quick search on AZB & the net and couldn't find an answer to why Tip diameters are referred to & measured in millimeters. All the other dimensions of a cue are normally in inches. So why is the Tip diameter the exception? I can only guess it's because the Tip diameters are easier to say and remember; that is: 11.75, 12, 12.5, 13, etc. vs. .462", .472", .492", .512", etc. So does anyone know why millimeters are used for the Tip diameter? Thank you in advance.
 
I dunno but I guess because millimeter is so good unit when having small objects? And 90% of world uses it as measurement?
 
I have heard tell from some of my elder statesmen friends that tip diameters used to be referred to in fractions of an inch, like 11mm = 7/16" or 12.7mm = 1/2" back in the day. Pretty neat.

BTW a 13mm tip is also 1.008684e-8 Acres

Lesh
 
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It's because cues, and cue tips, originated in Europe where they use the metric system. It's also easier to say thirteen millimeters than zero point five one inches, for a standard size tip.
If I'm not right, I ought to be. :smile:
 
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Tramp Steamer said:
It's because cues, and cue tips, originated in Europe where they use the metric system. It's also easier to thirteen millimeters than zero point five one inches, for a standard size tip.
If I'm not right, I ought to be. :smile:
Click to expand...

You got the right area, Tramp.

IMG_2498.JPG

This is Captain Mingaud, the Frenchman who first thought of the leather tip....
...in the 1700s......France use the metric system....therefore...millimeters for tips.

For most of last century, the French tip was the state of the art.....
...the pre-war French tips were known as the best....but the family that produced them
was wiped out when their farm house was demolished by a bomb in WW11....
...and their secret died with them.

I used to ask, when I was a kid, why I knew how heavy my cue was...in ounces..
...and why I knew how long my cue was...in inches...
....but I knew how big my tip was....in millimeters.

Now you know the rest of the story.
 
Barry13 said:
I did a quick search on AZB & the net and couldn't find an answer to why Tip diameters are referred to & measured in millimeters. All the other dimensions of a cue are normally in inches. So why is the Tip diameter the exception? I can only guess it's because the Tip diameters are easier to say and remember; that is: 11.75, 12, 12.5, 13, etc. vs. .462", .472", .492", .512", etc. So does anyone know why millimeters are used for the Tip diameter? Thank you in advance.
Click to expand...

It's basically embodied in your original post.

Very few can use calipers, let alone remember measurements to the thousandth of an inch.

The difference between 477 thousandths of an inch, and 482 thousands of an inch wouldn't mean much to anyone. But, there are a lot who swear there is a lot of difference between 12 1/8 mm and 12 1/4 mm. Certainly the good players can feel it.

All the best,
WW
 
Barry13 said:
... So does anyone know why millimeters are used for the Tip diameter? ...
Click to expand...
Because, as stated above, all the good tips came from Europe at one time and they didn't use British units in Europe. Here is a page from an 1891 Brunswick-Balke-Collender Co. catalog. Note the sizes available. Tips were about a dollar for a hundred, or two dollars for the high-quality ones.

bbcco tips 001.jpg
 
pt109 said:
You got the right area, Tramp.

View attachment 439911

This is Captain Mingaud, the Frenchman who first thought of the leather tip....
...in the 1700s......France use the metric system....therefore...millimeters for tips.

For most of last century, the French tip was the state of the art.....
...the pre-war French tips were known as the best....but the family that produced them
was wiped out when their farm house was demolished by a bomb in WW11....
...and their secret died with them.

I used to ask, when I was a kid, why I knew how heavy my cue was...in ounces..
...and why I knew how long my cue was...in inches...
....but I knew how big my tip was....in millimeters.

Now you know the rest of the story.
Click to expand...

Yes indeed. Thanks, pt.
I can attest to the French tips being state of the art. I bought a pack from a machine in the men's room at the State Line Tavern, just the other day, and was pleasantly surprised. They were both delicate, and strong, with a very pleasing aroma.
Although one of them split down the side, I doubt if I'll be going back there again, anyway. :eek:
 
Tramp Steamer said:
It's because cues, and cue tips, originated in Europe where they use the metric system. It's also easier to say thirteen millimeters than zero point five one inches, for a standard size tip.
If I'm not right, I ought to be. :smile:
Click to expand...

What he said!
I also heard, don't know if there is any truth to it, that the leather tip came about from a prisoner in a French prison wrapped a piece of leather around the end of the stick they were using. Like I say don't really know, but its a good story.---Smitty
 
Harold Smith said:
What he said!
I also heard, don't know if there is any truth to it, that the leather tip came about from a prisoner in a French prison wrapped a piece of leather around the end of the stick they were using. Like I say don't really know, but its a good story.---Smitty
Click to expand...

his name was Francois Mingaud . He was a french military officer, and there was a billard table reserved to the officers in the military jail where he was detained , during the 1820's ... he lost a lot money ,gambling, until he tried to put a piece of leather on a cue ...
 
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Barry13 said:
I did a quick search on AZB & the net and couldn't find an answer to why Tip diameters are referred to & measured in millimeters. All the other dimensions of a cue are normally in inches. So why is the Tip diameter the exception? I can only guess it's because the Tip diameters are easier to say and remember; that is: 11.75, 12, 12.5, 13, etc. vs. .462", .472", .492", .512", etc. So does anyone know why millimeters are used for the Tip diameter? Thank you in advance.
Click to expand...

Easy... the leather tip was developed in France... more or less.

Dale
 
And yet, joint sizes are those used for USA (SAE) bolt measurements. Go figure...
 
That story is true, and the story was told already in an above post. Here's what the rest of the story is...Mingaud was a political prisoner put in the Bastille by Louis XVI. As such Mingaud spent his time in prison on a pool table. The table had pocket openings but no rubber cushions (vulcanized rubber would not be invented for another 50+ years). The rails were covered with cloth, sometimes stuffed with cotton or wool. Cues at the time had no tips, just a rounded wooden end (some had the flat 'mace' end too). Mingaud figured out how to attach a small piece of leather to the end of a cue he had sanded flat on the prison wall. He had not quite perfected his 'leather tip' when his sentence was completed, so he stayed another year to get it right (that tells you that he was not one of those being tortured). When he got of prison he discovered that you could put white chalk found on the ground on the leather tip, and cause the CB to spin and curve. He became the first trick shot artist, and did command performances for kings and queens all over Europe. :D

Scott Lee
http://poolknowledge.com

Harold Smith said:
What he said!
I also heard, don't know if there is any truth to it, that the leather tip came about from a prisoner in a French prison wrapped a piece of leather around the end of the stick they were using. Like I say don't really know, but its a good story.---Smitty
Click to expand...
 
Tramp Steamer said:
Yes indeed. Thanks, pt.
I can attest to the French tips being state of the art. I bought a pack from a machine in the men's room at the State Line Tavern, just the other day, and was pleasantly surprised. They were both delicate, and strong, with a very pleasing aroma.
Although one of them split down the side, I doubt if I'll be going back there again, anyway. :eek:
Click to expand...

Thats a helluva boyfriend you got there! Enjoy......:yikes:
Jason
 
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