The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Mar. 02, 2004
Filed:
Mar. 06, 2003
James M. Critelli, Fuquay-Varina, NC (US);
Stephen E. Donelson, Raleigh, NC (US);
Abstract
A manually wound tape measure includes a housing with a mouth, with the flexible tape extending through the mouth. A resilient grip element is slidably mounted on the tape for movement relative thereto. The grip element includes an internal passage through which the tape extends and is resiliently deformable between an uncompressed state and a compressed state. The exterior of the grip element may be tapered. Manually powered retraction of the tape into the housing causes the grip element to be urged into the mouth portion of the housing such that the grip element is, by interaction with the housing, deformed against and compressively grips the tape. The tape measure may include a manually powered retraction mechanism having a drive ratio of greater than 1:1. The tape measure is manually changeable from a deployed configuration to a retracted configuration wherein the grip element deforms against and compressively grips the tape.