1868: Alvin J. Fellows of New Haven, Connecticut, receives a patent for a spring-click tape measure. His improved design creates a useful and enduring tool. The invention originated in Sheffield, ...

Tape measures typically consist of a long flexible steel blade (the tape) coiled inside a plastic or metal case with a spring mechanism to retract the tape after being extended. While the markings can ...

In the nineteenth century, new technologies allowed skirts to blossom as never before–which in turn sparked other innovations, not always expected. The first patent for a steel tape measure was ...

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