Old measure established by British inventor (4)
I believe the answer is:
bell
'inventor' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'old measure established by british' is the wordplay.
'old measure' becomes 'ell' (unit historically used for measuring fabrics**).
'established by' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'british' becomes 'b' (abbreviation e.g. in 'BBC').
'ell' after 'b' is 'BELL'.
(Other definitions for bell that I've seen before include "kind of curve" , "It rings when struck" , "Scottish-born inventor of the telephone, d. 1922" , "Instrument making ringing sound" , "Boxing match signal" .)