Someone recently edited the Wikipedia entry for Gunter's Chain
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunte r's_chain
to say: ?ÿ "The chain usually ends in a handle which is not part of the measurement, an inner loop (visible in the NMAH photograph) is the correct place to put the pin"
I'm pretty sure this is not true of all chains, but haven't seen enough chains to know how common it is.?ÿ Comments?
In the case of the pictured chain, it looks to me like the handle is needed to make full size on the last link.
I recall that Jerry Penry built his chain including the handles in the length.
http://www.penryfamily.com/surveying/images/surveychain.pdf
I'm not positive, but I will say that the first link of that chain appears to be shorter than the second link. This would imply that the handle was part of the first link...
I reverted that edit, but that person put it back with a reference citation.?ÿ I still doubt his conclusion is generally true.?ÿ
Does anyone have more information on this?
?ÿ
I reworded it to allow for either and added 2 cites to including the handles.?ÿ I'd still like to find a better citation.