Rule assembly with hook bend protection

A rule assembly comprising

• a housing assembly;
• a reel rotatably mounted in said housing assembly;
• an elongated blade formed of a ribbon of metal having one end connected to said reel constructed and arranged with respect to said housing assembly to extend from a position tangential to said reel outwardly through a spaced opening in said housing assembly in a normal concavo-convex cross-sectional configuration and to wind onto said reel in an abutting volute coil formation in a flattened cross-sectional configuration;
• a coil spring formed of a ribbon of metal having a construction and arrangement between said housing assembly and said reel to rotate said reel in said housing assembly in a direction to wind up the elongated blade when extending outwardly of said housing assembly opening in a normal concavo-convex cross-sectional configuration onto said reel in an abutting volute coil formation in a flattened cross-sectional configuration;
• an arcuate locking member movable along an arcuate path between a normal inoperative position and a blade locking position;
• said housing including a pair of cooperating housing members movable toward one another in an axial direction into cooperating relation to define said housing assembly;
• said arcuate path defining the interior of the bottom corner of said housing;
• an axially extending fastener within said bottom corner above said opening constructed and arranged to hold the portions of said housing members defining said bottom corner together in cooperating relation;
• said blade having an end hook member on the free end thereof, said end hook member including a hook portion and a mounting portion extending generally perpendicular from said hook portion connected with the free end of the blade for limited relative movement along said blade in an amount generally equal to thickness of said hook portion,
• said hook portion being constructed and arranged to extend downwardly below a bottom surface of said housing assembly when at said housing opening;
• and
• said housing opening having a height dimension which exceeds the height dimension of said hook member mounting portion and its connection with the free end of said blade an amount which is at least approximately equal to the amount said hook portion extends below said bottom end surface of said housing assembly when at said housing opening.