Gunter's surveying chain
Cadena de agrimensor de Gunter
- Date
- 1620 · confidence high
- Place
- London, England, United Kingdom
- Credited to
- Edmund Gunter
- People
- 👤 Edmund Gunter1581–1626
- Field
- Knowledge & symbols
What it is
An iron chain of 22 yards (66 feet) and 100 links, with the relation 10 square chains = 1 acre, which gave surveyors a convenient standardised unit. It became the field measure of the English-speaking world for over three centuries.
The 66-foot chain remains the unit in terms of which the acre and the mile (80 chains) are defined in the Anglo-American system.
What it led to
- land surveys in England and in the American colonies
- the township grid of the United States (public land survey)
- surveying chains persisting into the 20th century