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A quarter chain, or 25 links, measures 16 feet 6 inches (5.03 m) and thus measures a rod (or pole). Ten chains measure a furlong and 80 chains measure a statute mile. [1] Gunter's chain reconciled two seemingly incompatible systems: the traditional English land measurements, based on the number four, and decimals based on the number 10.
This law defined a survey grid system of 6–mile–square townships divided into 1–mile–square sections, with the defining unit being the chain, specifically Gunter's chain. This was the first unit of measurement designated into law by Congress. This law and the way it defined the survey grid ended debate over Jefferson's decimal system. [2]
The UK statute chain is 22 yards, which is 66 feet (20.1168 m). This unit is a statute measure in the United Kingdom, defined in the Weights and Measures Act 1985. [6] One link is a hundredth part of a chain, which is 7.92 inches (20.1168 cm).
Distances were always measured in chains and links, based on Edmund Gunter's 66-foot measuring chain. The chain – an actual metal chain – was made up of 100 links, each being 7.92 inches (201 mm) long. Eighty chains constitute one U.S. survey mile (which differs from the international mile by a few millimeters).
The link (usually abbreviated as "l.", "li." or "lnk."), sometimes called a Gunter’s link, is a unit of length formerly used in many English-speaking countries. In US customary units modern definition, the link is exactly 66 ⁄ 100 of a US survey foot , [ 1 ] or exactly 7.92 inches or 20.1168 cm.
Gunter's chain, introduced in the 17th century, is 66 feet (20.1 metres). Furlong: 201.168 m: Notionally the distance a plough team could furrow without rest, but actually a measure of 40 rods or 600 feet prior to the Composition of Yards and Perches; 40 rods or 660 feet since then. (See also the Ancient Greek stadion or 'stade'.) Mile: 1.61 km
Later, even more precise measurements showed that the accuracy of Ramsden's 100-foot (30 m) chain was within about 3 inches in 5 miles. In actual use the chain was supported throughout its length by wooden trestles, and tensioned with a known constant weight.
American surveyors use a decimal-based system of measurement devised by Edmund Gunter in 1620. The base unit is Gunter's chain of 66 feet (20 m) which is subdivided into 4 rods, each of 16.5 ft or 100 links of 0.66 feet. A link is abbreviated "lk", and links "lks", in old deeds and land surveys done for the government.