Item SUR9 - W. & L. E. Gurley Surveyor’s ½ Chain.  50 feet, 33 links

With the advent of  electronic transits and modern GPS, surveyors now eschew the older means of linear measurement that involved chains of specified lengths and numbers of links that, in the case of “Gunter’s Chains, facilitated the conversion of linear measurement to area measures (acres, hectares, etc).  So today the old chains are sought after by those interested in the “old ways” as well as museum pieces for collectors.  The connoisseur is particularly interested in American-made examples.  These have become very scarce, and I can attest that you are likely to find many English, and European metric examples before turning up one made by an American Company.  The chain offered here is an American one, produced by the W. & L.E. Gurley Company of Troy, New York in the early 1900s.  While the typical Gurley surveyor’s Gunter’s Chain contained 100 links having a total length of 66 feet, some old time surveyors preferred a smaller chain that was half the length(50 feet), with half the number of links (33).  These were usually made of lighter gauge steel or iron wire, and were less cumbersome to work with in the field,  But not being universally desired, the “half” chain is even more rarely found than the normal Gunter’s chain, and much less often found than “engineer’s,  or metric chains.  This chain is 33 feet long with 50 links made of No. 12 gauge steel wire.  The chain is marked every ten links with distinctive brass tags.  The brass D-shaped handles are marked, W & LE Gurley, Troy, NY on one, and ’66 feet, Steel, No. 12”  The “66 links” is a misnomer, for the chain has 33 links.  With only some light storage rust, the chain is in Fine Condition.

    

  Price -  $300.00

To order, email sushandel@msn.com

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