Patent ID: 7284339

Claim:
A power operated tape measure comprising: a housing shell; a tape cartridge assembly mounted within the housing shell and including: a rotatable annular reel; and an elongate tape wound onto the annular reel, the tape having a bottom surface; a drive mechanism mounted within the housing shell and being engageable with the bottom surface of the tape to at least extend the tape out of the housing shell; a power source electrically coupled with the drive mechanism; at least one switch electrically coupled with the drive mechanism to control the flow of electrical power from the power source to the drive mechanism; and an actuator pivotably mounted within the housing shell and having a body extending over a portion of the tape cartridge and an arm extending from the periphery of the body through an opening in the housing shell, wherein application of a force on the arm pivots the actuator to selectively initiate input on the at least one switch to enable or disable drive mechanism activity, the arm being moveable in opposed first and second directions such that sufficient arm movement in the first direction causes the drive mechanism to extend the tape out of the housing shell and sufficient arm movement in the second direction causes the tape to retract into the housing shell.