the giveaway that it is an engineer's chain was the four pointed tally = 66' which obviously would not be on a surveyors chain
disregard above. I just checked two of my chains and both have tallies after 10 links
Found this with my googlefu which shed some light on my office decoration. I know a bit more now than when I pulled it down from the ceiling. I think I will put it back up in the new office as a nod to my mentor who left it to me.
http://www.dehilster.info/geodetic_instruments/20th_century_chesterman_imperial_chain.php
Eng. I believe would be England, since Sheffield is in England.
A surveyors chain would have 100 0.66' links, it appears that a 66' chain was modified to 100' by adding 100 0.34' links into the mix. Those smaller links can be seen to be all bundled at one end. Quite interesting as I have never seen one before. Probably way cheaper to add links than actually buy a 100' steel tape. Most likely it was used for railroad construction.
Paul in PA
PS, Do I get any points for imagination as I posted before seeing the second page post above?
I remember in college dragging a two chain steel tape through the woods and learning to "throw" it
down here they are known as a "Gunter's Chain"
old technology
used before steel bands which was before edm which was before gps
should be 100 links of 0.201188 metres each
Edmund Gunter was an English astronomer. I seem to remember hearing that he invented the chain named for him in 1763, that being the 66-foot one that was used in the PLSS.
66 feet is four rods and an acre is 160 square rods or 10 square chains. Measuring in chains and links made it easy for the PLSS draftsmen to compute areas.
NZ's survey system went from chains & links to metric.
The 0.201168 conversion factor is engraved deep in every kiwi surveyor's brain
