Not mine, spotted at the swap meet yesterday. I almost bought it, almost. Maybe I will, just because.
Lenker rod, genuine, looks new. But this one is Metric! He wants 400 pesos for it, a bargain I think. 18 pesos for one dollar, so that would be about $22 USD.
I haven't used on in over 40 years, but remember them well. I always thought that they were pretty cool.
Loyal
For stakeout in flat areas they were awesome, less booking errors, accurate, and fast.
I have a "new in box" 10' refill in the foot locker. But 10' is not exactly 3 meters... hmmm
man cave
I started out at a firm that had tried Lenker rods before I got there but had gone back to Philly's when someone set a Lenker wrong by a foot and then staked a bunch of curb and gutter, so I learned how to add and subtract in my head quickly.?ÿ A few years later I worked briefly at a company that used Lenkers, and while I found them interesting I didn't really see any advantage to them.?ÿ
Nowadays the only thing I use a non-geodetic leveling rod for is dipping manholes.
Lenker rods are?ÿwere great for chasing contours on flat surfaces with a plane table.
I started out at a firm that had tried Lenker rods before I got there but had gone back to Philly's when someone set a Lenker wrong by a foot and then staked a bunch of curb and gutter, so I learned how to add and subtract in my head quickly.?ÿ A few years later I worked briefly at a company that used Lenkers, and while I found them interesting I didn't really see any advantage to them.?ÿ
Nowadays the only thing I use a non-geodetic leveling rod for is dipping manholes.
Lenker rods were extremely common in Sonoma County 1970-1995 more or less, we all used them. The advent of direct reading total stations capable of 0.01' real world accuracy made them obsolete.
Jim: In your case the same human error could be made picking the wrong bench, or transposing a number in the elevation... it is all a matter of simple basic practices. We "always" checked to a second known point before we started screwing things up. 😉
The advantage is that you see the actual elevation in the scope, Zero math. Book the elevation, subtract the design grade, then mark the cut. Saves a few steps, less time and less math errors. Production and Quailty, win-win.
The Down Side is that you only have about 8.5 feet to work with before you have to turn. Not good if you are on a site with lots of relief, no problem when you are doing miles and miles of 2% C&G or sewer. Nobody had just a Lenker without a Frisco or a Philly also in the pickup.
$400 pesos. Swap meet is open again on Thursday, I think I am gonna go buy it, for the man cave 😉
?ÿ
chasing contours on flat surfaces
I understand what you mean, but still have to chuckle at the wording.
?ÿ
Ive set probably 100 miles of blue tops using Lenker Rods.?ÿ?ÿ Used to put a rodman and hub driver in each lane of I-24 and swap back and forth, reading one lane while the other was driving.?ÿ 6 hubs every 50', 8 in the curves.?ÿ Only had to read the figured grade in the book, not figure a bunch of rod readings.?ÿ Always wondered how a metric one would work.
Ive set probably 100 miles of blue tops using Lenker Rods.?ÿ?ÿ Used to put a rodman and hub driver in each lane of I-24 and swap back and forth, reading one lane while the other was driving.?ÿ 6 hubs every 50', 8 in the curves.?ÿ Only had to read the figured grade in the book, not figure a bunch of rod readings.?ÿ Always wondered how a metric one would work.
Assuming that the grades were metric, I would think that a metric rod would work the same as a "foot" rod.
?
I will have to inspect but I think the tape is 3 meters rather than 10 feet, so the meter change needs a tiny bit more thought. Hard to jump 10 feet and not notice, 3 meters would be the same.
I didn't look at the rod carefully to see the meter markings. I will inspect on the weekend.
Lenker roads are great for bluetopping highways and runways. The metric ones are commonly a 3 meter tape which you can still purchase. Although it is rare to use one this day and age we have a pile of them in the supply closet from the years of mandated metric highway surveys.?ÿ
