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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.
A Gunter's chain showing the individual links. 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.
The only exceptions to this rule are special requirements for measurement in feet in mineral surveys and townsite surveys. [13] Linear Measurement 1 Chain = 100 links or 66 feet 1 Mile = 80 chains or 5,280 feet. Area Measurement 1 Acre = 10 square chains or 43,560 square feet 1 square mile = 640 acres
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 length of the chain chosen, 66 feet (20 m), being called a chain gives a unit easily converted to area. [9] Therefore, a parcel of 10 square chains gives 1 acre. The area of any parcel measured in chains will thereby be easily calculated. Table of Trigonometry, from the 1728 Cyclopaedia, Volume 2 featuring a Gunter's scale
The practice of using surveyor's chains, and perch-length rods made into a detachable stiff chain, came about a century later when iron was a more plentiful and common material. A chain is a larger unit of length measuring 66 feet (20.1168 m ), or 22 yards , or 100 links , [ 11 ] or 4 rods (20.1168 meters ).
Drawing of a circumferentor from the Cyclopaedia Circumferentor with Gunter's chain at Campus Martius Museum in Marietta, Ohio. A circumferentor, or surveyor's compass, is an instrument used in surveying to measure horizontal angles. It was superseded by the theodolite in the early 19th century. [1]
One of the earliest decimal measuring devices, developed in 1620 by the English clergyman and mathematician Edmund Gunter, introduced two new units of measure – the chain and the link – and a new measuring device: Gunter's chain. Gunter's chain was 66 feet, or one chain (20.1 metres), in length (i.e. one tenth of a furlong) and consisted of ...