User:Milton Beychok/Sandbox

At one time, the volume of a gallon depended on what was being measured, and where it was being measured. But during the 18th century, three definitions were in common use throughout the British Empire:

• The ale gallon, used for measuring beer was defined in England, during the reign (1558 – 1603) of Queen Elizabeth I, as having 282 cubic inches (≈ 4.62115 L).

• The Winchester gallon, or corn gallon, used for measuring dry materials was defined by England's Parliament in 1696 as one-eighth of a Winchester bushel having a volume of a cylinder 18.5 inches in diameter and 8 inches deep. Thus, the Winchester gallon was approximately 268.80252 cubic inches (≈ 4.40488 L).

• The wine gallon, or Queen Anne's gallon, used for measuring wine was defined in England, in 1706 during the reign of Queen Anne, as having a volume of 231 cubic inches (≈ 3.78541 L).

After the American colonies revolted and and became independent of the British Empire in 1776, the United States subsequently adopted the Queen Anne gallon of 231 cubic inches (≈ 3.78541 L) for measuring liquids which is now known as the U.S. liquid gallon. The United States also adopted the Winchester gallon of 268.80252 cubic inches (≈ 4.40488 L) for measuring dry materials and it is now known as the U.S. dry gallon.

England made a different decision and, in 1824, the British defined the Imperial gallon as the volume of 10 pounds of water at 62 °F and essentially atmospheric pressure (30 inches of mercury), and chose to use it for measuring both liquids and dry materials. That gave the Imperial gallon a volume of 277.42 cubic inches (4.54610 L) which is approximately 20 percent larger than the U.S. liquid gallon.