Did You Know: The history of the tape measure

Almost every home has at least one. They can be made out of cloth, plastic, or metal. Seamstresses and tailors use them, as do professional craftsmen and weekend do-it-yourselfers. It's the tape measure, patented on this date in 1868 by Alvin J. Fellows of New Haven, Connecticut. His version had a feature still used today — a spring click lock to hold the tape at any desired point. One notable tape measure was 600 feet long and gold plated. It was presented to New York Yankees slugger Mickey Mantle in 1956 to honor his longest home run. Tape measures are sure to be found at the nation's more than 15,000 hardware stores, which employ more than 130,000 American workers. You can find more facts about America from the U.S. Census Bureau, online at www.census.gov.