Gallon
Volume · Also called: wine gallon, ale gallon, corn gallon, Winchester gallon
That is
4.546 l
1 gallon (imperial)
The other way round: 1 m³ is 219.9692 gallons.
- Period: 1826 to today
- Region: the UK and the Empire
- The 1824 Act stated 277.274 cubic inches, an error later corrected to about 277.421. The modern definition of 4.54609 cubic decimetres works out at 277.419433 cubic inches.
Values
| Value | That is | Period | Used for |
|---|---|---|---|
| imperialThe 1824 Act stated 277.274 cubic inches, an error later corrected to about 277.421. The modern definition of 4.54609 cubic decimetres works out at 277.419433 cubic inches. | 4.546 l | 1826 to today | the UK and the Empire |
| wine gallon (Queen Anne)231 cubic inches. It survives unchanged as the US gallon. | 3.785 l | 1707 to 1826 | wine, spirits, oil · England |
| ale gallon282 cubic inches. | 4.621 l | 1688 to 1826 | ale and beer · England |
| corn gallon (Winchester)Approximate: 268.8025 cubic inches, one eighth of the Winchester bushel. | 4.405 l | 1697 to 1826 | grain and dry goods · England |
What the unit was used for
Before 1826 England had three legal gallons at once: the wine gallon of 231 cubic inches confirmed by statute under Queen Anne in 1707, the ale gallon of 282, and the corn or Winchester gallon of about 268.8.
A gallon of beer was therefore a fifth larger than a gallon of wine, and the size of the measure depended on what was poured into it.
The Weights and Measures Act 1824 abolished all three and created one imperial gallon for liquid and dry goods alike, defined as the volume of ten avoirdupois pounds of distilled water under stated conditions of pressure and temperature.
The Act was to take effect on 1 May 1825, but the new standards could not be made and distributed in time, so it was postponed to 1 January 1826.
The abolished wine gallon did not disappear: the United States had already adopted it and uses it still, which is why an imperial gallon is 1.2009 US gallons.
In the system
1 imperial gallon = 4 quarts = 8 pints = 32 gills = 160 fluid ounces