Editing Yard (section)

===Physical standards===
One of the oldest yard-rods in existence is the clothyard of the [[Worshipful Company of Merchant Taylors]]. It consists of a hexagonal iron rod {{cvt|5/8|in}} in diameter and {{cvt|1/100|in}} short of a yard, encased within a silver rod bearing the hallmark 1445.{{sfnp|Connor|1987}}<ref name="(sir.)museum1863">{{cite book|last1= Robinson|first1=Sir John Charles|author2=Victoria and Albert museum|author-link2=Victoria and Albert Museum|title=Catalogue of the special exhibition of works of art of the mediæval, Renaissance, and more recent periods, on loan at the South Kensington museum, June 1862|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c_cGAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA452|year=1863|publisher=Printed by George E. Eyre and William Spottiswoode, printers to the Queen's most excellent Majesty. For Her Majesty's Stationery Office|page=452}}</ref> In the early 15th century, the Merchant Taylors Company was authorized to "make search" at the opening of the annual [[Bartholomew Fair|St. Bartholomew's Day Cloth Fair]].<ref name="Hazlitt1892">{{cite book|author=William Carew Hazlitt|author-link=William Carew Hazlitt|title=The livery companies of the city of London: their origin, character, development, and social and political importance|url=https://archive.org/details/liverycompanieso00hazl|year=1892|publisher=S. Sonnenschein & co.|page=[https://archive.org/details/liverycompanieso00hazl/page/280 280]}}</ref><ref name="Clode1888">{{cite book|last=Clode|first=Charles Mathew|title=The early history of the Guild of merchant taylors of the fraternity of St. John the Baptist, London: with notices of the lives of some of its eminent members|url=https://archive.org/details/earlyhistorygui02clodgoog|year=1888|publisher=Harrison|page=[https://archive.org/details/earlyhistorygui02clodgoog/page/n147 128]}}</ref> In the mid-18th century, Graham{{who|date=September 2021}} compared the standard yard of the Royal Society to other existing standards. These were a "long-disused" standard made in 1490 during the reign of [[Henry VII of England|Henry VII]],<ref name="Commons1873-34">{{cite book|author=Warden of the Standards|title=Seventh annual report of the Warden of the Standards, on the proceedings and business of the standard weights and measures department of the Board of Trade, for 1872–73, Appendix III |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eCtcAAAAQAAJ&pg=RA1-PA34|volume=38|year=1873|publisher=House of Commons|page=34}} (pp 374 of book)</ref> and a brass yard and a brass [[ell]] from 1588 in the time of [[Elizabeth I of England|Queen Elizabeth]] and still in use at the time, held at the [[Exchequer]];<ref name="Commons1873-25">{{cite book|author=Warden of the Standards|title=Seventh annual report of the Warden of the Standards, on the proceedings and business of the standard weights and measures department of the Board of Trade, for 1872–73, Appendix III |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eCtcAAAAQAAJ&pg=RA1-PA34|volume=38|year=1873|publisher=House of Commons|page=25,26}} (pp 364,365 of book)</ref> a brass yard and a brass ell at the [[Guildhall, London|Guildhall]]; and a brass yard presented to the [[Worshipful Company of Clockmakers|Clock-Makers' Company]] by the Exchequer in 1671.<ref name=knight /> The Exchequer yard was taken as "true"; the variation was found to be +{{frac|20}} to −{{frac|15}} of an inch, and an additional graduation for the Exchequer yard was made on the Royal Society's standard.<ref name=knight /> In 1758 the legislature required the construction of a standard yard, which was made from the Royal Society's standard and was deposited with the clerk of the [[House of Commons of England|House of Commons]]; it was divided into feet, one of the feet into inches, and one of the inches into tenths.<ref name=knight /> A copy of it, but with upright cheeks between which other measuring rods could be placed, was made for the Exchequer for commercial use.<ref name=knight>{{cite book|last=Knight|first=Charles|title=The Penny magazine of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, Volume 9|year=1840|publisher=Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge|location=London|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-BHnAAAAMAAJ|pages=221–2|quote=In 1758 the legislature turned attention to this subject; and after some investigations on the comparative lengths of the various standards, ordered a rod to be made of brass, about 38 or 39 inches long, and graduated from the Royal Society's yard: this was marked "Standard Yard, 1758," and was laid by in the care of the clerk of the House of Commons. For commercial purposes another bar was made, with the yard marked off from the same standard; but it had two upright fixed cheeks, placed exactly a yard asunder, between which any commercial yard measures might be placed, in order to have their accuracy tested: it was graduated into feet, one of the feet into inches, and one of the inches into ten parts. This standard was to be kept at the Exchequer. In 1760, a copy of Bird's standard, made two years before, was constructed.}}</ref><ref name="Wade1905">{{cite book|author=Herbert Treadwell Wade|title=The New international encyclopaedia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O4RRAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA405|year=1905|publisher=Dodd, Mead and company|page=405}}</ref>