Surveyor tape measure: If your measuring needs exceed the ranges afforded by standard measures, then a surveyor tape is the way to go. With lengths of 30m and beyond, these flexible tapes excel at measuring long distances, especially outdoors, where you may struggle to bounce a laser measure. Short tapes are very versatile and can be used in the home for DIY and in the construction and engineering industries amongst others.

Later, by the early 1870s, Justus Roe of Patchogue, New York added rivets attaching small brass washers to the tape to mark inches and feet. They were attached every inch in the first and last foot and every foot from one to the end of the last foot. A small brass tag, marked with a number indicating the number of feet to that point, was attached every five feet. This feature was never patented, but Justus Roe and Sons produced tape measures, "Roe Electric Reel Tape Measures", with this feature during the 1890s and early 1900s when they started etching or stamping increments and numbers on the tapes. (The "electric" part of the name was purely an affectation; there was nothing electrical about it.)

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With the mass production of the integrated circuit (IC) the tape measure has also entered into the digital age with the digital tape measure. Some incorporate a digital screen to give measurement readouts in multiple formats. An early patent for this type of measure was published in 1977. [14] He adds, "For most people, a 25-foot option is great because it’s easy to store and long enough to handle most measuring tasks around the house. But if your space is small, a 16-foot tape measure is sufficient for most projects you’d need it for.” The sale of dual Metric/US Customary scale measuring tapes is slowly becoming common in the United States. For example, in some Walmarts there are Hyper Tough brand tapes available in both US customary units and Metric units. Unlike US rulers, of which an overwhelming majority contain both centimeter and inch scales, tape measures are longer and thus traditionally have had scales in both inches and feet & inches. So, the inclusion of a metric scale requires the measuring device either to contain 3 scales of measurement or the elimination of one of the US Customary scales. I Never Thought I'd Have Gadget Lust for a Tape Measure, but Here We Are". Gizmodo. 23 March 2022 . Retrieved 15 March 2023. The metal tip of a cased tape measure is called the hook or the tang. The hook lets you “catch” the end of the tape measure in place to keep it steady while you extend it. A good hook is large enough to hold in place when required, but not so large that it catches where you don’t want it to. Additionally, hooks with upright points are more likely to catch on items other than what you are measuring.

Some tape measures have a magnetic hook, which is useful when measuring steel or other magnetic metal items but can potentially be a nuisance, as the magnet can attach itself to various nearby metal items other than what you want to measure. The DEWALT Tough Series has a removable magnetic tip, so you can take it off when not needed. Aird, Forbes (1999). Mechanic's guide to precision measuring tools. Osceola, WI: MBI Pub. Co. p.18. ISBN 9780760305454. [ dead link] Fibreglass long tapes, however, usually come in an 'open reel' design where the blade is wound around a reel held together by an open frame. Closed Reel Tape Measures – Advantages

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Most open reel tape measures feature an integral handle allowing them to be carried and wound out with more ease than a closed reel tape. The measurements on the bottom of the image given below are in centimeters and millimeters. 10 millimeters make 1 cm, so there are 10 divisions between each centimeter. Each small division is equivalent to 1 mm. When looking at the given image, the first small mark after the 5 cm marking denotes a measurement of 51 mm which can also be referred to as 5.1 cm. The building industry was the first major industry grouping in Australia to complete its change to metric, being completed by January 1976. [19] Australian 5 Metre measuring tape, with the markings entirely in millimetres. Solution:The tip of the pencil is at the fifth marking after the 9 cm mark. So, the length of the pencil is 9.5 cm.