Klafter

1

In Lower Austria, ? – late 19th century, a unit of length. The Klafter of Vienna = 6 Fuss. Article 4 of the 1871 law¹ establishing the metric system in Austria specified that the Wiener Klafter was equivalent to 1.896 484 meters (about 2.074 yards).

The term survived metrification as a measure of capacity for firewood, a pile 6 Fuss square and, depending on locality, 2, 2½ or 3 Fuss high.²

1. Gesetz of 23 July 1871, R.G.B 1872, No. 16. The law is reproduced in
Georg Thaa.
Das Mass- und Gewichtwesen und der Richdienst in �sterreich.
Volume 13 of Taschenausgabe de �sterreichischen Gesetze.
Vienna: Munz'sche k. u. k. Hof- Verlags- und Universitats-Buchhandlung, 1900.

2. Arthur E. Kennelly.
Vestiges of Pre-Metric Weights and Measures Persisting in Metric-System Europe, 1926-1927.
New York: The Macmillan Company, 1928.

Page 97.

2

In Bavaria, Germany, 20^th century, a unit of capacity for firewood, = 3 steres.

Arthur E. Kennelly.
Vestiges of Pre-Metric Weights and Measures Persisting in Metric-System Europe, 1926-1927.
New York: The Macmillan Company, 1928.

Page 90.

3

In Prussia, a unit of length, about 1.883 meters (about 2.06 yards).

4

In Switzerland, a unit of length, after metrification = 1.8 meters (about 1.97 yards).

5

In Bohemia, a unit of length = 3 ells, about 1.778130 meters (about 1.945 yards).