Surveyors Chain - Steel Band

Historical information

A chain is a unit of length equal to 66 feet or 22 yards. This is a statute measure in the United Kingdom. One link is 100th part of a chain, which is 7.92 inches (20.1 cm). The chain and link became standard surveyors' units of length and crossed to the colonies from the United Kingdom. The chain is the unit of linear measurement for the survey of the public lands as prescribed by law. In Australia most building lots in the past were a quarter of an acre, measuring one chain by two and a half chains. Also street frontages, roads, laneways. The chain also survives as the length of a cricket pitch, being the distance between the stumps.

Significance

Surveyors and residents of the Kiewa Valley used the Steel Band Surveyors Chain to measure distances when developing the land.

Physical description

Surveyors' steel band measuring tape, known as a 'standard band', or a 'steel band chain'.This chain consists of a long narrow strip of steel of uniform width of 3 mm and thickness of 0.3 to 0.6 mm. The chain itself is between 20 m and
30 m long.

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