Brake

Abstract

A brake for a steel tape wound on a drum in a casing includes an elongate resilient brake member 12 pivotally mounted at one end in the casing. When the brake is in its curved rest condition it defines with a backing member 8 a gap through which the tape can pass when being wound on or unwound from the drum. A control knob 22 is slidably mounted in the casing to move the brake member 12 between its rest condition and a straightened operational condition in which the other end 16 of the brake member clamps the tape against the backing member 8. In one construction, a cam 26 on the control knob 22 can be located in one or more recesses 28 in the brake member 12 to effect positive locking of the brake member. In another construction, a cam 32 on the control knob 22 is locatable in an aperture 34 in the brake member 12 when the brake member is in its rest condition, and the cam 32 is arranged to ride over a front face 36 of the aperture 34 to reduce the movement of the control knob 22 required to move the brake member 12 between its rest and operational conditions.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.