Surveyor’s Chain
notes: label: Description
content: In the colonial period and throughout the nineteenth century, most American surveyors measured distances with chains. The favored form was the Gunter, introduced by the English mathematician, Edmund Gunter, in 1620. The standard Gunter chain has 100 links and measures 66 feet (or 4 poles) overall. Thus 80 chains equal a mile, and 10 square chains equal an acre. This example is a half-Gunter, with 50 links measuring 33 feet overall. It is one of several instruments that James Griswold used to lay out the New York and Erie Canal.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: associated place
content: United States: Connecticut, Ridgefield
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Physical Sciences
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content: Natural Resources
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content: Measuring & Mapping
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content: Artifact Walls exhibit
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Preston R. Bassett
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: PH.319344
label: accession number
content: 236805
label: catalog number
content: 319344
objectType: label: Object Name
content: surveyor's chain (half-Gunter)
label: Object Name
content: surveyor's chain
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: iron (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: brass (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 10.06 m; 33 ft
label: Measurements
content: overall; folded: 2 in x 10 in x 5 3/4 in; 5.08 cm x 25.4 cm x 14.605 cm