The first commercial laser rangefinder was the Barr & Stroud LF1, developed in association with Hughes Aircraft, which became available in 1965.

The very first rangefinder was developed by a Scottish company called Barr and Stroud in the 1880's. It wasn't until World War II when the first electronic rangefinder was used. But you can go back much, much further than that to see proof of other devices being used to tell the distance between two objects.

Laser rangefinders can be used to monitor or measure distances or object lengths. They can also provide positional locations over long distances, e.g. several kilometers, without physically touching the observed object. The laser range finders are regularly used in geodesy, sports, hunting or military.

range finder, any of several instruments used to measure the distance from the instrument to a selected point or object. One basic type is the optical range finder modeled after a ranging device developed by the Scottish firm of Barr and Stroud in the 1880s.

The first laser rangefinders appeared in the Soviet Union between 1963 and 1964, developed by specialists of the Vavilov's Institute of Optics located in Leningrad, USSR (Molebny, McManamon, Steinvall, Kobayashi, & Chen, 2016) .

Laser rangefinders let you take measurements both indoors and outdoors with 1 mm per kilometre accuracy. Professional construction laser rangefinders can measure distance of up to approximately 150 metres. Long-range rangefinders can measure distance of up to 1500 metres.

Applications

• Golf. Laser rangefinders are used in golf to measure the yardage of a particular shot but also to gauge slope and wind as well.
• Ballistics. Rangefinders may be used by users of firearms over long distances, to measure the distance to a target to allow for projectile drop.
• Forestry.
• Virtual reality.

The first rangefinder telemeter was invented by James Watt in 1769 and put to use in 1771 in surveying canals. Watt called his instrument a micrometer, a term now used with a different meaning in engineering (the micrometer screw gauge).

Theodore Maiman made the first laser operate on 16 May 1960 at the Hughes Research Laboratory in California, by shining a high-power flash lamp on a ruby rod with silver-coated surfaces. He promptly submitted a short report of the work to the journal Physical Review Letters, but the editors turned it down.

Barr and Stroud The very first rangefinder was developed by a Scottish company called Barr and Stroud in the 1880's. It wasn't until World War II when the first electronic rangefinder was used. But you can go back much, much further than that to see proof of other devices being used to tell the distance between two objects.

100 to 1,000 feet The maximum measurable distance of laser measurers ranges from 100 to 1,000 feet, depending on the exact model. For residential and indoor use, the 50-foot to 100-foot range accommodates most houses, offices and apartments. Commercial and outdoor laser measurers are designed to measure longer distances.

Laser Distance Measurers Whether your measurement requirements span an arm's length or an acre, Hilti laser distance measurer tools are the most convenient and reliable way to cover the distance between two points - ranging from one foot up to 650 feet.