TODAY’S PATENT – MEASURING DEVICE

The measuring tape was invented by William W. Hoffman which was filed on Jul 8, 1996 and was later granted patent on April 20, 1999 by the USPTO bearing the patent grant number US5894677A .

The object of this invention is measuring the distance between a first point and a second point. The tape has a flexible elongated blade with a tab fixed to free end of the blade for temporarily and removably hooking the free end of the blade to the first point. The tab extends in at least two directions transverse to a lengthwise edge of the blade at the free end of the blade. The blade has two sets of numbers imprinted thereon which correspond to units of measure. The first set of numbers is imprinted along a first lengthwise edge portion of the blade and is positioned on the blade such that the numbers are arranged in upright position one after the other and increase in value when read from the free end of the blade toward the fixed end of the blade.

The second set of numbers is imprinted along a second lengthwise edge portion of the blade and is positioned on the blade such that the numbers are arranged in upside-down position one after the other, relative to the first set of numbers, and increase in value when read from the free end of the blade toward the fixed end of the blade, resulting in one of the sets of numbers being legible right-side-up whether the free end of the blade is positioned at the first point or the second point.