CHAIN TRAVERSING

A chain is a unit of length; it measures 66 feet or 22 yards or 100

links[1] (20.1168m). There are 10 chains in a furlong, and 80 chains in
one statute mile. An acre is the area of 10 square chains (that is, an
area of one chain by one furlong). The chain has been used for several
centuries in Britain and in some other countries influenced by British
practice.

Origin

A map of Aurora, Ontario, Canada from 1878, indicating a scale of 10

chains to one inch.

The chain was commonly used with the mile to indicate land distances
and in particular in surveying land for legal and commercial purposes. In
medieval times, local measures were commonly used, and many units
were adopted that gave manageable units; for example the distance
from London to York could be quoted in inches, but the resulting huge
number would be unmemorable. The locally used units were often
inconsistent from place to place.

In 1620, the clergyman Edmund Gunter developed a method of

surveying land accurately with low technology equipment, using what
became known as Gunter's chain; this was 66 feet long and from the
practice of using his chain, the word transferred to the actual
measured unit. His chain had 100 links, and the link is used as a
subdivision of the chain as a unit of length.

In countries influenced by English practice, land plans prepared before

about 1960 associated with the sale of land usually have lengths
marked in chains and links, and the areas of land parcels are indicated
in acres. A rectangle of land one furlong in length and one chain in
width has an area of one acre. It is sometimes suggested that this was
a medieval parcel of land capable of being worked by one man and
supporting one family, but there is no documentary support for this
assertion, and it would in any case have predated Gunter's work.

Contemporary use

Location designator painted on a British railway bridge, showing miles

and chains; photograph taken August 2007

In Britain, the chain is no longer used for practical survey work.

However it survives on the railways of the United Kingdom as a location
identifier. When railways were designed the location of features such
as bridges and stations was indicated by a cumulative longitudinal
"mileage", using miles and chains, from a zero point at the origin or
headquarters of the railway, or the originating junction of a new
branch line. Since railways are entirely linear in topography, the
"mileage" is sufficient to identify a place uniquely on any given route.
Thus a certain bridge may be said to be "at" 112m 63ch, meaning that
it is at the location 112 miles and 63 chains (181.51 km) from the origin.
In the case of the photograph the bridge is near Keynsham, that
distance from Paddington station. The indication "MLN" after the
mileage is the Engineers line reference describing the route as the
Great Western Main Line, so that a visiting engineer can uniquely
describe the bridge he may be inspecting, as there may be bridges at
112m 63ch on other routes.

The chain is not taught in British schools, but it has survived for these
reasons:

 Railways need to keep permanent records of as-built drawings of

structures, and of the topography of routes and junctions;
 Chains and links are in many survey and real estate records;
 Miles and chains remain, for the time being, values familiar to
many people.

Cricket pitches

The chain also survives as the length of a cricket pitch, being the
distance between the wickets.

Texas chain

In Texas and elsewhere in the Southwestern United States, the vara

chain of 20 varas (16.93 m, or ~55½ ft.) was used in surveying Spanish
land grants.

Australian and New Zealand use

In Australia and New Zealand, most building lots in the past were a
quarter of an acre, measuring one chain by two and a half chains, and
other lots would be multiples or fractions of a chain. The city of
Melbourne is a classic example: surveyor Robert Hoddle divided the
city into 24 ten-chain blocks, which still serve as the basic grid of the
city. The street frontages of many houses in these countries are one
chain wide—roads were almost always one chain wide (20.117 m) in
urban areas, sometimes one and a half or two chains (30.2 m or 40.2 m).
Laneways would be half a chain (10.1 m). In rural areas the roads were
wider, up to ten chains (201 m) where a stock route was required. Five
chain (100 m) roads were surveyed as major roads or highways between
larger towns, three chain (60 m) roads between smaller localities, and
two chain (40 m) roads were local roads in farming communities. Roads
named Three Chain Road etc. persist until today, particularly in
Victoria, Australia. An acre is nominally the area within a rectangle 1
chain by 10 chains, and a chain equals 20.1168 metres.

Chainage (running distance) is the distance along a curved or straight

survey line from a fixed commencing point, similar to mileage.

North American agriculture

In North America the chain is still used in agriculture: measuring

wheels with a circumference of 0.1 chain (Ø ≈ 2.1 ft / 64 cm) are still
common and readily available in the United States and Canada. For a
rectangular tract, multiply the number of turns of one of these wheels
for each of two adjacent sides, then divide by 1000 to get the area in
acres.

Also in the United States the chain is normally used as the measure of
the rate of spread of wildfires (chains per hour), both in the predictive
National Fire Danger Rating Systems as well as in after-action reports.

Under the U.S. Public Land Survey System, parcels of land are often
described in terms of the section (640 acres / ~259 hectare), quarter-
section (160 acres / ~65 ha), and quarter-quarter-section (40 acres /
~16 ha). Respectively, these square divisions of land are approximately
80 chains (one mile / 1.6 km), 40 chains (one half-mile / 805 m), and 20
chains (one quarter-mile / 402 m) on a side.
The use of the chain was once very common in laying out townships and
mapping the U.S. along the train routes in the 19th century. In the U.S.
a federal law was passed in 1785 (the Public Land Survey Ordinance)
that all official government surveys must be done with a Gunter's chain
(also referred to as the "surveyor's chain"). Distances on township
plats made by the U.S. General Land Office are shown in chains.

Railroads in the United States have long since used decimal fractions
of a mile, but the New York City Subway continues to use a chaining
system using the 100 foot engineer's chain.

Ramsden's chain

American surveyors sometimes used a longer chain of 100 feet (30.48

m), known as the engineer's chain or Ramsden's chain. The term chain
in this case usually refers to the measuring instrument rather than a
unit of length; the distances measured with such an instrument are
normally measured in feet (and usually decimal fractions of a foot, not
inches).

Other instruments

Also in North America a modern variant of the chain as a tool is used in

forestry for traverse surveys. This modern chain is a static cord (thin
rope), 50 metres long, marked with a small tag at each metre, and also
marked in the first metre every decimetre. When working in dense
bush, a short axe or hatchet is commonly tied to the end of the chain,
and thrown through the bush in the direction of the traverse, to ease
working in dense forest.

THE SURVEYOR'S CHAIN

To surveyors and collectors alike, the link chain symbolizes a rugged

era, when surveying tools and techniques were literally defining
America.  The chain was a precision part of a surveyor's equipment and,
as such, had to be calibrated and adjusted frequently, yet was sturdy
enough to be dragged through rough terrain for years.

Owning a link chain now captures a bit of this glorious past; to heft it
enhances the kinship one feels with the surveyor who toiled in the field
long ago.  As collectors, we need to identify the type of chain we own,
in order to understand its history.  Each chain bears the clues of its
use, such as the wire gauge used, the materials and design used, the
lengths of the whole and of each link, the manufacturer's stamps, the
presence or absence of brazing, the tally-tags, and the presence or
absence of linking rings.  Noting these components will make it possible
to approximate the date and purpose of your link chain with the aid of
period manufacturer's catalogs.  The following is a nicely detailed
account from the 1910 Manual of the Principal Instruments used in
American Engineering and Surveying, published by the W. & L. E. Gurley
Company of Troy, New York.

Sizes of Wire - The sizes and diameters of iron and steel wire
commonly used in making surveyor's and engineer's chains are as
follows:  No. 8, .162 inch;   No. 10, .135 inch;   No. 12, .105 inch;  No.
15, .072 inch; and  No. 18, .047 inch.

Land Surveyor's Chain - The ordinary Gunter's or surveyor's chain is

sixty-six feet or four poles long, and is composed of one hundred links,
connected each to each by two rings, and furnished with a tally mark at
the end of every ten links.  A link in measurement includes a ring at
each end, and is seven and ninety two one hundredths inches long.  In
all the chains which we make the rings are oval and are sawed and well
closed, the ends of the wore forming the hook being also filed and bent
close to the link, to avoid kinking.  The oval rings are about one third
stronger than round ones.
Handles - The handles are of brass and form part of the end links, to
which they are connected by a short link and jam nuts, by which the
length of the chain is adjusted.

Tallies - The tallies are of brass, and have one, two, three or four
notches, as they mark ten, twenty, thirty or forty links from either
end.  The fiftieth link is marked by a rounded tally to distinguish it
from the others.

Half Chains - In place of the four pole chain just described, many
surveyors prefer a chain two rods or thirty three feet long, having only
fifty links, which are counted by tallies from one end in a single
direction.

Iron and Steel Wire - Our surveyors' chains are made of Nos. 8 and
10 refined iron wire, and of Nos. 8, 10, 12 and 15 best steel wire.  Steel
chains are preferred on account of their greater strength, although
they are more expensive than those of iron.

Engineers' Chains - Engineers' chains differ from surveyors' chains, in

that a link including a ring at each end is one foot long, and the wire is
of steel Nos. 8, 10 and 12.  They are either fifty or one hundred feet
long, and are furnished with swivel handles and tallies like those just
described.

Brazed Steel Chains - A very light and strong chain is made of No. 12
steel wire, the links and rings of which are securely brazed.  The wire
is of a low spring temper, and the chain, though light, is almost
incapable of being broken or stretched in careful use.

Our brazed steel chains have been found exceedingly desirable for all
kinds of measurement, and for the use of engineers upon railroads and
canals have very generally superseded the heavier chains.
Vara Chains - The meter is used as a standard measure of length in
many countries, and chains of ten and twenty meters are often
ordered.  The chains are made of iron or steel wire, each meter being
divided into five links.  As a meter is 39.371 inches long, a link,
including a ring at each end, measures 7.874 inches.

A ten meter chain has fifty links and a twenty meter chain one hundred
links.  Each meter is marked with a round brass tally numbered from
one to nine in the ten meter chain, and from one to nineteen in the
twenty meter chain.

Marking Pins - In chaining, eleven marking pins are needed, made either
of iron, steel or brass wire, as preferred.  They are about fourteen
inches long, pointed at one end to enter the ground, and formed into a
ring at the other end for convenience in handling.

Marking pins are sometimes loaded with a little mass of lead around
the lower end, to serve as a plumb when the pin is dropped to the
ground from the suspended end of the chain.