Surveyor's chain

This coiled up inter-linked object is also known as a Gunter's chain. It was named after its inventor, Reverend Edmund Gunter (1581-1626), who was a professor of astronomy at Gresham College, London. This example has 100 jointed steel rods with twenty-two brass marker tags at regular intervals and brass handles at each end.

Chains
Chains are used to survey land, and to measure and mark out property boundaries. A chain is also an Imperial unit of measure equivalent to twenty-two yards (approximately twenty metres). All surveyors' chains are a chain long; so are cricket pitches!