Rule assembly with improved blade hook

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;
• said blade having an end hook member on the free end thereof;
• said end hook member being formed of sheet metal of a predetermined thickness to include a concavo-convex mounting portion and a U-shaped hook portion bent at a generally right angle from an end of said mounting portion,
• said end hook member being mounted on the free end of said blade with the mounting portion thereof secured in limited sliding engagement with a concave side of the free end of said blade so that said blade can be measured externally from an exterior surface of said U-shaped hook portion or internally from an interior surface of said U-shaped hook portion,
• said U-shaped hook portion including a bight section extending from a convex side of the free end of said blade and spaced leg sections extending outwardly and upwardly at respective acute angles with respect to a line bisecting said blade such that said leg sections extend both laterally beyond transversely spaced corners of the free end of said blade and upwardly above both said mounting portion and the spaced corners of the free end of said blade, said leg sections presenting a structure engaging surface that enables said hook member to engage and releasably maintain engagement with a structure disposed laterally with respect to said edges of said blade as said blade is retracted.