Surveyor's Chain (Vara)
name: label: maker
content: W. & L. E. Gurley
notes: label: Description
content: Surveyor's chain with 100 links made of No. 12 steel wire, brass handles and tallies, and measures 20 varas overall. The links and rings are brazed shut. The inscription reads "W. & L. E. GURLEY" and "20 VARA STEEL No. 12." Gurley began offering vara chains in 1874, noting that the Spanish or Mexican vara "is in very general use in Texas, Mexico, Cuba, and South America." The vara is roughly equivalent to 33 inches, but was never standardized as were the yard and the meter.
label: Description
content: Ref: W. & L. E. Gurley, <i>Manual of the Principal Instrument Used in American Engineering and Surveying</i> (Troy, N.Y., 1874), p. 44.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: New York, Troy
topic: label: Subject
content: Latino
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Physical Sciences
label: See more items in
content: Surveying and Geodesy
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content: Measuring & Mapping
publisher: label: Related Publication
content: W. & L. E. Gurley. Manual of the Prinicipal Instruments Used in American Engineering and Surveying; 21st Edition
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gurley Historical Services
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1994.0280.01
label: catalog number
content: 1994.0280.01
label: accession number
content: 1994.0280
objectType: label: Object Name
content: chain (vara)
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 4 in x 8 in x 7 in; 10.16 cm x 20.32 cm x 17.78 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall, bundled: 3 in x 10 in x 6 in; 7.62 cm x 25.4 cm x 15.24 cm