Surveyor's Chain
name: label: owner
content: Johnson, John
label: originator
content: Gunter, Edmund
notes: label: Description
content: In 1620 an English mathematician and astronomer named Edmund Gunter described a surveyor's chain with 100 links, measuring 66 feet (22 yards or 4 poles) overall. By this design, one square chain equals 484 square yards, ten square chains equal an acre, and eighty chains equal a mile. Gunther's design proved extremely popular, especially in English lands. This example belonged to John Johnson (1771-1841), the Surveyor General of Vermont. It is made of steel, with round handles at either end, brass tallies every 10 links, and swivels every 25 links. Each link is joined to the next by three rings, and each unit (link and three rings) is 7.92 inches long.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Physical Sciences
label: See more items in
content: Surveying and Geodesy
label: See more items in
content: Measuring & Mapping
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: John Johnson Allen
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: PH.309548
label: accession number
content: 95588
label: catalog number
content: 309548
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Surveyor's Chain (Gunter)
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall length: 66 ft; 20.1168 m
label: Measurements
content: overall, bundled: 3 1/2 in x 10 in x 6 1/2 in; 8.89 cm x 25.4 cm x 16.51 cm