Abstract
A pneumatic cylinder type retraction mechanism includes a cylinder and a piston movable back and forth inside the cylinder, and causes the piston to move back and forth using an air pressure. In this retraction mechanism, sealing means is provided as stationary sealing means on an inner periphery of the cylinder facing an outer periphery of the piston. The sealing means suppresses leakage of pressurized air for actuating the piston from within the cylinder. The retraction mechanism having this characteristic is capable of achieving at least one of effects including reduction in starting resistance, improvement of measurement accuracy of a measuring device or shortening of measurement time.