A ranging rod, or range rod, is a

surveying Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the land, terrestrial Plane (mathematics), two-dimensional or Three-dimensional space#In Euclidean geometry, three-dimensional positions of Point (geom ...

instrument used for marking the position of stations, and for sightings of those stations, as well as for ranging

straight line In geometry, a straight line, usually abbreviated line, is an infinitely long object with no width, depth, or curvature, an idealization of such physical objects as a straightedge, a taut string, or a ray of light. Lines are spaces of dimens ...

s. Initially these were made of light, thin, and straight

bamboo Bamboos are a diverse group of mostly evergreen perennial plant, perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily (biology), subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family, in th ...

, or of well seasoned wood such as

teak Teak (''Tectona grandis'') is a tropical hardwood tree species in the family Lamiaceae. It is a large, deciduous tree that occurs in mixed hardwood forests. ''Tectona grandis'' has small, fragrant white flowers arranged in dense clusters (panic ...

pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. ''World Flora Online'' accepts 134 species-rank taxa (119 species and 15 nothospecies) of pines as cu ...

, or deodar. They were shod with iron at the bottom and surmounted with a

flag A flag is a piece of textile, fabric (most often rectangular) with distinctive colours and design. It is used as a symbol, a signalling device, or for decoration. The term ''flag'' is also used to refer to the graphic design employed, and fla ...

about 250 mm² in size. Nowadays they are made of wood, metal, or

fibreglass Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass ( Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass c ...

. The rods are usually about 30 mm in diameter and 2 or 3 m long, painted with alternating bands, such as red and white, red and yellow, or black and white, in lengths of 200 mm (i.e. one link length of metric chain), 500 mm, or 1 foot. These colours are used so that the rod can be properly sighted in case of long distance or bad weather. Ranging rods of greater length, e.g. 3 to 6 m, are called ranging or range poles, and are used for very long survey lines. Another type of ranging rod is known as an offset rod, which has no flag at the top. It is used for measuring small offsets from the survey line when the work is of an ordinary nature.Surveying by prof. Cl Kocher, page 20

Notes

When the ranging rods are limited, thin sticks 400 mm to 1 m length with white

paper Paper is a thin sheet material produced by mechanically or chemically processing cellulose fibres derived from wood, Textile, rags, poaceae, grasses, Feces#Other uses, herbivore dung, or other vegetable sources in water. Once the water is dra ...

s in the cuts at tops can serve their purpose. Such sticks are pointed at the bottom and are cut from wood. These are called as whites.

References

{{reflist Surveying instruments Civil engineering

Notes

See also

References