question re links
by Laurence Begley on 07/31/02 at 10:11:24

Hi, could someone explain what the unit of measurement called "links" is used for?

Many thanks,
Laurence

Re: question re links
by Robert Fogt on 07/31/02 at 13:06:05

A link is an old unit of distance used by surveyors. It is from 1620, and is sometimes still seen today, often in old land deeds.

There are 100 links in a chain.

The British surveyor's chain (called Gunter's chain) is 4 rods long (66 feet). The length of a cricket pitch is 1 chain. It also turns out that an acre is exactly 10 square chains.

In the U.S. we sometimes used a long chain of 100 feet. Called an engineer's chain or Ramsden's chain. With the long chain, a link was exactly 1 foot.  Though both chains were used in the U.S. so it is important to distinguish between the two types of chains.

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