Level staff

Graduated rod used to measure differences between heights A level staff, also called levelling rod, is a graduated wooden or aluminium rod, used with a levelling instrument to determine the difference in height between points or heights of points above a vertical datum. When used for stadiametric rangefinding, the level staff is called a stadia rod. Rod construction and materials Two sides of a modern surveyor's levelling rod.Metric graduations are on the left, imperial on the right. Levelling rods can be one piece, but many are sectional and can be shortened for storage and transport or lengthened for use. Aluminum rods may be shortened by telescoping sections inside each other, while wooden rod sections can be attached to each other with sliding connections or slip joints, or hinged to fold when not in use. There are many types of rods, with names that identify the form of the graduations and other characteristics. Markings can be in imperial or metric units. Some rods are graduated on one side only while others are marked on both sides. If marked on both sides, the markings can be identical or can have imperial units on one side and metric on the other. Reading a rod In the phot