Patent ID: 8191278

Claim:
A combination retractable tape measure assembly with folding or pivoting front sections comprising a housing assembly; a reel rotatably mounted in said housing assembly; an elongated blade formed of a ribbon of metal having one end connected to said reel constructed and arranged with respect to said housing assembly to extend from a position tangential to said reel outwardly through a spaced opening in said housing assembly; and a free end of the blade comprises a plurality of folding sections having length indicating indicia thereon, including a first end section and second end section and a plurality of similar sections, sections being made of the same metal ribbon and comprising of a first hole disposed toward a first end thereof and a second hole disposed toward a second opposite end thereof; the sections pivotally connected together at respective pivot joints via a plurality of posts each extending through the first hole of one of the plurality of sections and the second hole of an adjacent section of the plurality of sections; wherein the sections forming at each pivot joint are biased toward one another; the sections pivotally moveable between a collapsed configuration wherein the sections are stacked and an extended configuration wherein the sections are linearly aligned along a measurement axis, wherein at least one section rotates by any degree or angle with respects to an adjacent section to move between the collapsed configuration and the extended configuration; the sections each further comprising a plurality of protrusions extending normal to the measurement axis and disposed proximate the first hole and a plurality of recesses extending normal to the measurement axis and disposed proximate the second hole; wherein the protrusions and the recesses are complementarily formed; a locking system comprising a lever provided adjacent at least one of the pivot joints which positively holds a desired angle between sections with a pinching pressure; a coil spring formed of a ribbon or blade of metal having a construction and arrangement between said housing assembly and said reel to rotate said reel in said housing assembly in a direction to wind up the elongated blade when extending outwardly of said housing assembly opening in a normal concavo-convex cross-sectional configuration onto said reel in a abutting volute coil formation in a flattened cross-sectional configuration; and a blade holding assembly constructed and arranged to be manually actuated to hold the blade in any position of extension outwardly of said housing assembly opening and to release the blade from any position in which the blade is held.