My hubby has one of these folding rulers, and uses it constantly! He will grab that before a tape measure any time the distance to be measured is 6 feet or less. I looked at his for a name. It is USA made by Columbia and is called an "Eagle Ruler", although I think that is their name for it, not the general populations. I googled it a bit and found a nice picture of one if you aren't sure what we are all talking about. WARNING The purpose that this site shares for needing one is quite gruesome. Don't read the discription if you don't want to be upset.
http://www.csigizmos.com/products/measuringdevices/foldingruler.html

OOPS! Sorry