Rod (unit)
rod | ||
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US units | ||
Unit of | length | |
Conversions | ||
1 rod in ... | ... is equal to ... | |
Imperial/US units | 16+1⁄2 SI ) units | 5.0292 m |
The rod, perch, or pole (sometimes also lug) is a
The name perch derives from the Ancient Roman unit, the pertica. The measure also has a relationship with the military pike of about the same size. Both measures[1] date from the sixteenth century,[3] when the pike was still utilized in national armies. The tool has largely been supplanted by electronic tools such as surveyor lasers (lidar) and optical target devices for surveying lands. Surveyors rods and chains are still used in rough terrains with heavy overgrowth where laser or other optical measurements are difficult or impossible. In dialectal English the term lug has also been used, although the Oxford English Dictionary states that this unit, while usually of 16+1⁄2 feet, may also be of 15, 18, 20, or 21 feet.[4][5][6]
In the United States until 1 January 2023, the rod was often defined as 16.5 US survey feet, or approximately 5.029 210 058 m.[7]
History
In England, the perch was officially discouraged in favour of the rod as early as the 15th century;
Until English King
an acre bothe of woodlande, also of fyldlande [heath] is always forty perches in length, and four perches in breadth, though an acre of woodlande be more in quantitie [value, i.e. was more valued commercially] than an acre of fyldelande
The practice of using surveyor's chains, and perch-length rods made into a detachable stiff chain, came about a century later when iron was a more plentiful and common material. A
An acre is defined as the area of 10 square chains (that is, an area of one chain by one furlong), and derives from the shapes of new-tech plows[2] and the desire to quickly survey seized church lands into a quantity of squares for quick sales[3] by Henry VIII's agents; buyers simply wanted to know what they were buying whereas Henry was raising cash for wars against Scotland and France.[3] Consequently, the surveyor's chain and surveyor rods or poles (the perch) have been used for several centuries in Britain and in many other countries influenced by British practices such as North America and Australia. By the time of the industrial revolution and the quickening of land sales, canal and railway surveys, et al. Surveyor rods such as used by George Washington were generally made of dimensionally stable metal—semi-flexible drawn wrought iron linkable bar stock (not steel), such that the four folded elements of a chain were easily transportable through brush and branches when carried by a single man of a surveyor's crew. With a direct ratio to the length of a surveyor's chain and the sides of both an acre and a square (mile), they were common tools used by surveyors, if only to lay out a known plottable baseline in rough terrain thereafter serving as the reference line for instrumental (theodolite) triangulations.
The rod as a survey measure was standardized by Edmund Gunter in England in 1607 as a quarter of a chain (of 66 feet (20.12 m)), or 16+1⁄2 feet (5.03 m) long.
In ancient cultures
The perch (pertica) as a lineal measure in Rome (also decempeda) was 10 Roman feet (2.96 metres), and in France varied from 10 feet (perche romanie) to 22 feet (perche d'arpent—apparently 1⁄10 of "the range of an arrow"—about 220 feet). To confuse matters further, by ancient Roman definition, an arpent equalled 120 Roman feet. The related unit of square measure was the scrupulum or decempeda quadrata, equivalent to about 8.76 m2 (94.3 sq ft).[13]
In continental Europe
Units comparable to the perch, pole or rod were used in many European countries, with names that include French: perche and canne, German: Ruthe, Italian: canna and pertica, Polish: pręt and Spanish: canna. They were subdivided in many different ways, and were of many different lengths.
Place | Local name | Local equivalent | Metric equivalent (meters) |
---|---|---|---|
Aachen | Feldmeßruthe | 16 Fuß | 4.512[14] |
Amsterdam | Roede | 13 Voet | 3.681[15] |
Aubenas, Ardèche | canne | 8 pans | 1.985[14] |
Baden, Grand Duchy of | Ruthe | 10 Fuß | 3.0[14] |
Basel, Canton of | Ruthe | 16 Fuß | 4.864[14] |
Bern, Canton of | Ruthe | 10 Fuß | 2.932[14] |
Barcelona | canna | 8 palmos | 1.581[14] |
Braunschweig | Ruthe | 16 Fuß | 4.565[14] |
Bremen | Ruthe | 8 Ellen or 16 Fuß | 4.626[14] |
Brussels | Ruthe | 20 Fuß | 4.654[14] |
Cagliari, Sardinia | canna | 10 palmi | 2.322[14] |
Calenberg Land | Ruthe | 16 Fuß | 4.677[14] |
Hessen
|
Ruthe | 14 Fuß | 4.026[14] |
Denmark | Ruthe | 10 Fuß | 3.138[14] |
Canton of Geneva | Ruthe | 8 Fuß | 2.598[14] |
Hamburg | Geestruthe | 16 Fuß | 4.583[14] |
Hamburg | Marschruthe | 14 Fuß | 4.010[14] |
Hannover
|
Ruthe | 16 Fuß | 4.671[14] |
France | Perche | 3 toises | 5.847[14] |
France | Perche (for woodland) | 3+2⁄3 toises | 7.145[14] |
Genoa | canna | 10 palmi | 2.5[14] |
Jever, Oldenburg | Ruthe | 20 Fuß | 4.377[14] |
Mallorca | canna | 8 palmos | 1.714[14] |
Malta | canna | 8 palmi | 2.08[14] |
Mecklenburg | Ruthe | 16 Fuß | 4.655[14] |
Menorca, but not Mahón | canna | 1.599[14] | |
Menorca, city of Mahon | canna | 8 palmos | 1.714[14] |
Messina, Sicily | canna | 8 palmi | 2.113[14] |
Montauban, Tarn-et-Garonne | canne | 8 pans | 1.783[14] |
Morocco | canna | 8 palmos | 1.714[14] |
Naples | canna (for cloth) | 8 palmi | |
Naples, Kingdom of: Apulia, Calabria, Eboli, Foggia, Lucera | percha | 7 palmi | 1.838[14] |
Naples, Kingdom of: Capua | percha | 7+1⁄5 palmi | 1.892[14] |
Naples, Kingdom of: Fiano, Naples | percha | 7+1⁄2 palmi | 2.014[14] |
Naples, Kingdom of: Caggiano, Cava, Nocera, Rocce, Salerno | percha | 7+2⁄3 palmi | 1.971[14] |
Nuremberg, Bavaria | Ruthe | 16 Fuß | 4.861[14] |
Oldenburg | Ruthe | 20 Fuß | 5.927[14] |
Palermo, Sicily | canna | 8 palmi | 1.942[14] |
Parma | Pertica | 6 bracci
|
3.25[14] |
Poland | Pręt | 7+1⁄2 łokci or 10 pręcików | 4.320[14] |
Prussia, Rheinland | Ruthe | 12 Fuß | 3.766[14] |
Rijnland | Roede | 12 Voet | 3.767[15] |
Rome | canna (for cloth) | 2[14] | |
Rome | canna (for building) | 2.234[14] | |
Saragoza | canna | 2.043[14] | |
Saxony | Ruthe | 16 Leipziger Fuß | 4.512[14] |
Sweden | Ruthe | 16 Fuß | 4.748[14] |
Tortosa | canna | 1.7[14] | |
Tuscany, Grand-Duchy of (Florence, Pisa) | canna | 5 bracci | 2.918[14] |
Uzès, Gard | canne | 8 pans | 1.98[14] |
Waadt, Canton of | Ruthe or toise courante | 10 Fuß | 3[14] |
Württemberg | Reichsruthe | 10 Fuß | 2.865[14] |
Württemberg | old Ruthe | 16 Fuß | 4.583[14] |
Venice, Republic of | Pertica | 6 piedi | 2.084[14] |
Zürich, Canton of
|
Ruthe | 10 Fuß | 3.009[14] |
In Britain and Ireland
In England, the rod or perch was first defined in law by the Composition of Yards and Perches, one of the statutes of uncertain date from the late 13th to early 14th centuries: tres pedes faciunt ulnam, quinque ulne & dimidia faciunt perticam (three feet make a yard, five and a half yards make a perch).[16]
The length of the
Bars of metal one rod long were used as standards of length when surveying land. The rod was still in use as a common unit of measurement in the mid-19th century, when Henry David Thoreau used it frequently when describing distances in his work, Walden.[20]
In traditional
Modern use
The rod was phased out as a legal unit of measurement in the United Kingdom as part of a ten-year metrication process that began on 24 May 1965.[22]
In the United States, the rod, along with the chain, furlong, and statute mile (as well as the survey inch and survey foot) were based on the pre-1959 values for United States customary units of linear measurement until 1 January 2023. The Mendenhall Order of 1893 defined the yard as exactly 3600⁄3937 meters, with all other units of linear measurement, including the rod, based on the yard. In 1959, an international agreement (the international yard and pound agreement), defined the yard as the fundamental unit of length in the Imperial/USCU system, defined as exactly 0.9144 metres. However, the above-noted units, when used in surveying, may retain their pre-1959 values, depending on the legislation in each state. The U.S. National Geodetic Survey and National Institute of Standards and Technology have replaced the definition for the above-mentioned units by the international 1959 definition of the foot, being exactly 0.3048 meters.[23][24]
Despite no longer being in widespread use, the rod is still employed in certain specialized fields. In recreational
In the United Kingdom, the sizes of allotment gardens continue to be measured in square poles in some areas, sometimes being referred to simply as poles rather than square poles.[27]
In
LEGAL DESCRIPTION: Commencing 45 rods East and 44 rods North of Southwest corner of Southwest 1/4 of Southwest 1/4; thence North 36 rods; thence East 35 rods; thence South 36 rods; thence West 35 rods to the place of beginning, Manistique Township, Schoolcraft County, Michigan.[30]
Area and volume
The terms pole, perch, rod and rood have been used as units of area, and perch is also used as a unit of volume. As a unit of
However, in the traditional French-based system in some countries, 1 square perche is 42.21 square metres.
As of August 2013, perches and roods are used as government survey units in Jamaica. They appear on most property title documents. The perch is also in extensive use in Sri Lanka, being favored even over the rood and acre in real estate listings there.[31] Perches were informally used as a measure in Queensland real estate until the early 21st century, mostly for historical gazetted properties in older suburbs.[32]
Volume
A traditional unit of volume for stone and other masonry. A perch of masonry is the volume of a stone wall one perch (16+1⁄2 feet or 5.03 metres) long, 18 inches (45.7 cm) high, and 12 inches (30.5 cm) thick. This is equivalent to exactly 24+3⁄4 cubic feet (0.92 cubic yards; 0.70 cubic metres; 700 litres).
There are two different measurements for a perch depending on the type of masonry that is being built:
- A dressed stone work is measured by the 24+3⁄4-cubic foot perch (16+1⁄2 feet or 5.03 metres) long, 18 inches (45.7 cm) high, and 12 inches (30.5 cm) thick. This is equivalent to exactly 24+3⁄4 cubic feet (0.916667 cubic yards; 0.700842 cubic metres).
- a brick work or rubble wall made of broken stone of irregular size, shape and texture, made of undressed stone, is measured by the (16+1⁄2 feet or 5.03 metres) long, 12 inches (30.5 cm) high, and 12 inches (30.5 cm) thick. This is equivalent to exactly 16+1⁄2 cubic feet (0.611111 cubic yards; 0.467228 cubic metres).[33]
See also
References
- ^ ISBN 978-0-333-29066-8.
- ^ a b Connections, pbk. p.63
- ^ a b c d Connections, pbk. p.263
- ^ Bonten, JHM (19 January 2007). "Anglo-Saxon and Biblical to Metrics Conversions". Surveyor + Chain + British-Nautical. Retrieved 1 November 2010.
- ^ Rowlett, Russ (15 December 2008). "lug [1]". How Many? A Dictionary of Units of Measurement. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Retrieved 1 November 2010.
- ^ "lug, n.1". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
- ^ "U.S. Survey Foot: Revised Unit Conversion Factors". National Institute of Standards and Technology. 23 September 2019. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
- ^ Encyclopædia Britannica, English measure
- ^ House of Commons Report (Second) of Commissioners to Consider the Subject of Weights and Measures. Parliamentary Papers. Vol. HC314. 13 July 1820. pp. 473–512.
- ^ "Units: P". unc.edu.
- ISBN 0-304-34003-0.)
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link - ^ "Connections", pbk. p.265
- ^ Smith, Sir William & Anthon, Charles (1851). A new classical dictionary of Greek and Roman biography, mythology, and geography partly based upon the Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. New York: Harper & Bros. pp. 1024–1030.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an ao ap aq ar as at au av aw ax ay az Niemann, Friedrich (1830). Vollständiges Handbuch der Münzen, Masse, und Gewichte aller Länder der Erde fur Kaufleute, Banquiers ... in alphabetischer Ordnung [Complete handbook of coins, measures and weights of all countries in the world for merchants, bankers ... in alphabetical order] (in German). Quedlinburg und Leipzig: Gottfr. Basse. pp. 231–232, 286.
- ^ a b de Gelder, Jacob (1824). Allereerste Gronden der Cijferkunst [Introduction to Arithmetic] (in Dutch). ’s-Gravenhage (The Hague) and Amsterdam: de Gebroeders van Cleef. pp. 163–176. Retrieved 13 June 2017.
- ^ The statutes at large (in Latin). London: Charles Eyre & Andrew Strahan. 1794. p. 200.
- ^ Taylor, Thomas Ulvan (1908). "Chapter 1". Surveyor's hand book. McGraw-Hill. p. 1. Retrieved 28 November 2011.
- ISBN 978-0-7844-0686-1. Retrieved 28 November 2011.
- ^ Rowlett, Russ (3 December 2008). "acre (ac or A)". How Many? A Dictionary of Units of Measurement. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Archived from the original on 20 December 2008. Retrieved 1 November 2010.
- ^ Thoreau, Henry David (1899). Walden: or, Life in the woods. H. Altemus. pp. 67, 113, 203, 204, 208, 290, 300, 309, 319, 339, 341, 356. Retrieved 27 November 2011.
- ^ ""fall, faw"". Dictionary of the Scottish Language – Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue.
- ^ Consumer and Competition Policy Directorate (1968). Report (1968) by the Standing Joint Committee on Metrication (PDF) (Report). Department of Trade and Industry. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 June 2008. Retrieved 1 November 2010.
{{cite report}}
:|author=
has generic name (help) - ^ "NGS and NIST to Retire U.S. Survey Foot after 2022". National Geodetic Survey. 31 October 2019. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
- ^ "U.S. Survey Foot: Revised Unit Conversion Factors". NIST. 16 October 2019. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
- ^ "Canoe Glossary and Clickable Canoe". OutdoorPlaces.com. Michael Thiessen. Retrieved 1 November 2010.
- ^ "Pipeline Terms and Addendum". The Clark Law Firm. Archived from the original on 8 March 2015. Retrieved 24 October 2012.
- ^ "Allotments". Watford Borough Council. Archived from the original on 14 August 2009. Retrieved 5 October 2009.
- ^ "19 V.S.A. § 702: Width of highways and trails". The Vermont Statutes Online. Vermont General Assembly.
- ^ Shelton, Neil. "How to Read Land Descriptions". homestead.org. p. 5. Retrieved 7 May 2008.
- ^ "Lake View Parcel $198 Down $198 Month Incredible 8 Acre Parcel!". EagleStar. American Eagle Star. Retrieved 1 November 2010.
- ^ "Land For Sale". Sri Lanka Property Market. Archived from the original on 24 January 2018.
- ^ "Dutton Park real estate agent Archives". Bees Nees.
- ^ See McClurg, William M. & Shoemaker, Morrell M. (1970). The Building Estimator's Reference Handbook (17th ed.). Chicago: Frank R. Walker Company. p. 1644.