In 1620 an English mathematician named Edmund Gunter described a surveyor's chain with 100 links, measuring 66 feet (22 yards or 4 poles) overall. By this design, one square chain equals 484 square yards, ten square chains equal an acre, and eighty chains equal a mile. Building on this work, an English mathematician named Vincent Wing (1619-1668) introduced a 2 pole chain with 40 links. This example is of that sort. It is, moreover, associated with the vernier compass marked "F. Heiseley Fredk: town" in the Museum collection.
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