Convert Span (Cloth) (span) to Rod (rd) instantly.
About these units
Span (Cloth) (span)
The span is a unit traditionally used in textile measurement, equal to the distance between the tip of the thumb and the tip of the little finger when the hand is fully extended, approximately 22.86 cm (9 inches). This anthropometric unit was widely used by weavers and cloth merchants to measure lengths of fabric quickly and intuitively. Its small scale made it convenient for practical applications where tape measures or rulers were unavailable. The span also appears in cultural and historical texts as a natural unit of human proportion. While largely obsolete today, it offers insight into pre-industrial textile practices and the anthropometric basis of early measurement systems.
Rod (rd)
A rod, equal to 16½ feet (or 5.0292 meters), is a historic English unit that dates back to agricultural practices and land surveying in medieval Europe. Originally based on the length of a stiff pole used by farmers to control oxen, the rod became standardized and deeply embedded in systems of land division. Surveyors valued rods because they integrate neatly with other land-measurement units: 4 rods make a chain, and 160 square rods make an acre. These relationships simplified calculations when establishing property boundaries or mapping rural land parcels. Although no longer widely used for modern surveying—supplanted by meters or feet—the rod lives on in historical land deeds, mining claims, and older legal documents. Understanding rods can be essential for interpreting pre-modern land descriptions that still influence property law today.