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James Chesterman made the first tape measure in England, selling it as a "Steel measuring chain" using "flat wire" that was popular for making hoop skirts -
William H. Paine was the first to patent the tape measure to the United States. Although, it didn't have any measurement points on it -
William H. Bangs gets a patent for Chesterman's design
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Alvin J. Fellows updated the design by adding a "spring click" that allowed the tape to lock in place -
Justus Roe changed the design to have rivets to attach small brass washers to the tape so he could mark inches and feet. -
Hiram A. Farrand patented his concave-convex tape. The concave nature of his design allowed the tape to stay rigid, even when extended. Their product was later sold to Stanley Black Decker. -
Ture Anders Ljungberg created the TALmeter -
The company Stanley Tools introduced the PowerLock, which has become one of the most used tape measure lines -
Starrett released DigiTape, which was the first commercialized digital tape measure. -
Hultafors buys TALmeter