Toybox Corporation

Nobuo Sano

Hajime Matsumoto

Kouji Okada

A digital measuring device having a relatively rigid slide and a flexible, substantially transparent band with opaque indicia placed thereon, the band being capable of being pulled centrally through an opening in the slide. The slide houses a plurality of optic fibers with one end of each fiber terminating at a light-receiving panel and the other end of each fiber terminating at a digital read-out panel. The ends of the fibers at the digital read-out panel are arranged to form, e.g., a generic '88' configuration, from which the digits 0-99 may be formed. In operation, the band is pulled through the opening in the slide and light passes through the transparent areas of the band and into the light receiving panel. The light continues through the optic fibers and lights up a particular digital configuration at the digital read-out panel. The slide and band may be useful e.g., as a belt-like device for measuring one's waist, or as a carpenter's tape measure.

Growing community of inventors

Tokyo, Japan

Nobuo Sano