US991103A - Tape-measure attachment. - Google Patents

Description

J. TITCHELL.

TAPE MEASURE ATTACHMENT.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 12, 1910.

Patented May 2,1911

JOSEPH TITGI-IELL, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

TAPE-MEASURE ATTACHMENT.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 2, 1911.

Application filed September 12, 1919. Serial No. 581,561.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOSEPH TITOHELL, a citizen of the United States of America, and a resident of Chicago, county of Cook, State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Tape-Measure Attachments, of which the following is a specification.

The main objects of this invention are to provide an improved form of tape measure for use in fitting garments, and provided with an improved form of handle piece adapted for use in making measurements from crotch or arm pits, and in making accurate circumferential measurements; and to provide an improved construction whereby the handle piece may be detached or slid along the tape so as to be out of the way in making certain measurements for which it is not needed, and whereb the structure will be such that it will not e possible for a user to make the mistake of sliding the handle piece toward the wrong end of the tape and thereby making an inaccurate measurement.

An illustrative embodiment of this invention is shown in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a view showing the tape measure in use for the purpose of making a breast measurement. Fig. 2 is an enlarged detail of the same in perspective, illustrating the manner in which the tape may be threaded through an eye in the handle plate for making a circumferential measurement. Fig. 3 is a section of the attachment on the line A-A of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a fragmentary section similar to Fig. 2, but showing a modified form in which the plate is provided with an anti-friction roller at the point where the tape is threaded through it. Fig. 5 is an enlarged detail, illustrating the manner in which the tape is connected to the plate.

In the form shown, the tape 1 is a flexible strip of cloth, such as is used by tailors and garment makers, and is correspondingly graduated on both sides in such manner that each set of gracluations will have its zero point at the same end of the tape. The zero end of the tape is provided with a metal reinforcement 2, on which is formed a stop shoulder 3. The opposite end of the tape may be finished in any desirable way, but should preferably be without a stop shoulder. A plate a is provided to serve as a handle when the user is making measurements from the crotch, or under the arm pits, and is preferably formed with dissimilar ends, so that there will be no confusion as to which end should be used as a gage in making a measurement. The measuring end 5 is preferably of slightly concave curvature, and the opposite end 6 is of reduced width and conveXly rounded. A series of tongues 7 are struck up from the material of the plate, so as to stand slightly outward from one face thereof, and are disposed so as to extend across the middle line of the plate from opposite sides of the tape, and thus secure the tape along the center line of the plate. The free ends of the tongues 7 are rounded and curled slightly outward so as to permit the tape to be easily slid under them.

In applying the tape to the plate, it is first slid sidewise under one of the tongues 7, and is then swung from side to side so as to be successively slid under the remaining tongues one at a time, as will be understood from Fig. 5. When the plate is now slid as far as it will go toward the zero end of the tape, the stop shoulder 3 will engage the first of the tongues 7 and prevent the movement of the plate beyond a position in which the zero end of the tape will register accurately with the measuring end 5 of the plate. Thus, whenever there is a strain upon the tape during the act of measuring, the user may feel safe in considering the end 5 of the plate as the zero end of the tape. In addition to having the tongues 7 struck up from it, the plate has an eye in the form of a transverse slot 8 cut into it between the first tongue 7 and the end 5. In cutting the aperture 8, the material is out along three sides only and is curled back upon itself to form a smooth, rounded front edge 9 for the aperture. This rounded edge may, if desired, be formed of a separate piece of metal 10 wrapped around the narrow part of the plate a between the slot 8 and the edge 5 to form an anti-friction roller. In making circumferential measurements, the end of the tape which is distant from its zero end is threaded through the aperture 8 in the manner illustrated in Fig. 1, thus forming a slip noose and enabling the operator to draw the loop of the tape tightly around the part which is being measured, and make an accurate reading of the measurement in an easy manner.

The operation of the device shown will be readily understood from the drawings and the foregoing description. It may be noted that the tongues 7, while permitting the handle plate to be readily attached or detached from the tape, will also serve to hold it securely upon the tape and permit it to be slid back along the tape where it will be out of the way when it is not needed.

Although but one specific embodiment of this invention is herein shown and described, it will be understood that numerous details of the construction shown may be altered or omitted without departing from the spirit of this invention, as defined by the following claims.

I claim 1. In a tape measure, the combination of a flexible tape, a plate of comparatively rigid material having struck up from the body of the plate a series of transversely extending tongues adapted to secure the tape along the plate and adapted to overlap the tape from opposite sides so that the tape may be slid sidewise into or out of engagement with successive tongues, and a stop on the tape for limiting the sliding of the plate along the tape and insuring accurate registration of the zero end of the tape with the measuring end of the plate, said plate having therein a transverse slot extending along and located between the measuring end of said plate and said tongues.

2. A flexible tape measure and a comparatively rigid plate slidably mounted on said tape measure, a stop on said tape measure adapted to engage said plate when it is slid toward one end thereof and limit the movement of said plate to such position that one edge of the plate registers with the zero end of the tape in making a measurement, said plate having thereon means for slidably engaging the tape at a point distant from said zero end to form a loop for making circumferential measurements.

The combination with a tape measure, of a plate having thereon means for detachably engaging the tape, said means being adapted to permit the plate to be slid along the tape, a stop adjacent to the zero end of the tape and adapted when the tape is drawn back along the plate to limit its movement so as to bring its zero end into accurate registration with the corresponding end of the plate, a transverse slit in said plate adjacent to said zero end of the tape and adapted to permit the opposite end of the tape to be passed through it, the metal at the front of said slit being struck up and curled forward toward said end of the plate to provide a smooth edge around which the tape may be drawn in making a circumferential measurement.

Signed at Chicago this 10th day of Sep tember 1910.

JOSEPH TITGI-IELL.

WVitnesses EUGENE A. RUMMLER, EDWIN PHELPS.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. 0.

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