Patent ID: 8607465

Claim:
A digital T-bevel comprising: an elongated blade having a slot along a part of its length; a handle having a housing with an end that is mounted to said blade both to move along the length of the slot and to pivot to an angle relative to the blade longitudinal axis, said handle housing also having; (a) a guide member that slides in said blade slot and rotates relative to said handle; (b) an encoder to produce electrical signals corresponding directly to the angle of the handle relative to the blade longitudinal axis, said encoder having first and second parts that rotate relative to each other, said guide member being connected to said encoder first part and said handle being connected to said encoder second part so that rotation of the blade with respect to the handle causes the encoder first and second parts to rotate relative to each other, while still allowing the blade to slide with respect to the handle; (c) electronic circuitry to convert the electrical signals produced by said encoder into digital signals; and (d) a display responsive to said digital signals to visually display the numerical value of the measured angle.