Abstract: In order to simplify and improve the fly-back suppressor in a roll tape measure having a box-shaped housing 1, serving as a handle and made up of two rigidly interconnected halves 2, 3 of elastic plastic, an approximately dish-shaped drum 5 subjected to the force of a tension spring and mounted on a shaft 4 or a bolt 15, a measuring tape 9 wound onto the drum and a manually operable fly-back suppressor for the said tension spring. The housing 1 contains a brake body 12, 17 which rests against the drum under the effect of spring pressure and which can be operated from the outside.