Coilable tape rule

Abstract From the Canadian patent

A coilable tape rule having a slotted casing and a removable tape blade adapted to be coiled therein. A resiliently mounted, longitudinally slidable arcuate shoe is mounted within the casing to guide the inner end of the measuring tape for coiling on itself to form a plurality of stacked convolutions of generally elliptical shape having its major axis in a direction which is generally perpendicular to the extending portion of the tape blade when the coiling begins. As successive convolutions are formed the, shape of the stacked convolutions will gradually change to a circle and finally change back to an elliptical shape with its major axis parallel to the previously extended tape.