Patent ID: 6892468

Claim:
A retractable rule assembly comprising: a housing having a blade opening, the blade opening having two lateral sides provided by a plastics material having a hardness; a reel rotatably mounted in the housing; an elongated blade formed of a ribbon of metal having a pair of opposing lateral side edges, the blade being wound on the reel, the blade being extendable outwardly through the blade opening with the lateral side edges thereof adjacent the lateral sides of the opening, the blade having a concavo-convex cross-sectional configuration when extended from the housing and having measuring indicia on the concave side thereof; a spring constructed to rotate the reel in the housing in a direction to wind up the elongated blade onto the reel in a flattened cross-sectional configuration; and wear resistant structure comprising a wear resistant material having a hardness greater than the hardness of the plastics material, the wear resistant structure being located at least at each of the lateral sides of the blade opening to substantially protect the plastics material at the lateral sides of the opening from wear by the lateral side edges of the blade, wherein the wear resistant structure is fixedly mounted upon the housing to prevent said wear resistant structure from movement away from the blade opening.