Surveyor's Chain
notes: label: Description
content: In 1620, an English mathematician named Edmund Gunter introduced a chain with 100 links that measured 66 feet (4 poles) overall. In time, some surveyors began favoring 50-link half-Gunter chains that measured 33 feet (2 poles) overall. This example is of that sort. The chains are iron; the handles are brass. The inscription on one handle reads "33 FT IRON No 8."
label: Description
content: This chain belonged to David Newton Ellis (1850-1926), the County Surveyor of Monroe County, West Virginia.
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: Measuring & Mapping
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Mr. & Mrs. J. Vance Miller
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1981.0648.01
label: catalog number
content: 1981.0648.01
label: accession number
content: 1981.0648
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Surveyor's Chain
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: wire (average): 5/32 in; .381 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall: 33 27/32 in; 85.93666 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall, bundled: 3 in x 10 in x 4 in; 7.62 cm x 25.4 cm x 10.16 cm