Once upon a time, there was this man named
Timothy S.Leatherman.
Timothy S.Leatherman.
Source: http://bit.ly/11A5QFD
Timothy S. Leatherman graduated in mechanical engineering from Oregon State
University in 1970. He was married in 1975 and spent ten months touring Europe with his
wife. It was during his honeymoon that inspired him to design a “Boy Scout knife with
pliers” after frequently working on his sometimes temperamental car & repairing the leaky
hotel plumping.
In the hotel. Tim designed the very first cardboard prototype of a tool, what later known as
the Pocket Survival Tool.
"At times the faucets didn't have handles and there was no way to turn the water on with
the Boy Scout knife I carried," Leatherman was quoted in a 1985 Oregonian article.
Here’s how the cardboard model prototype look like:
Tim at work & his original concept for the PST multi-tool.
Images from http://bit.ly/197ANr8
After progressing from cardboard & wooden prototypes, Tim spent a couple of years
perfecting the “ Mr. Crunch prototype. He received his first U.S. patent in 1980.
In 1983, after additional refinement, Tim Leatherman an his business partner, Steve
Berliner, formed Leatherman Tool Group. They started to sell their first patented multitool
prototype, called “Mr. Crunch” while in development.
Later on, the Pocket Survival Tool (PST) were introduced sold in mail order catalogues
after additional refinement.
Today, the Leatherman products are not only popular in the United States but it is also in
more than 80 countries world wide.
However, it didn’t start off that way. Do you know that there was actually a time whereby
no one was interested in the Leatherman’s multitools?
With his prototypes, Tim sold the concept to the highest bidder with a million dollar but
there were no takers to carry his products. In the end, Tim had to sell it on his own.
Until finally, a company finally agree to sell his product in 1893. They expected 400 tools
to be sold but in more than 30 000 orders were placed just for the first year. This helped
fuel the rapid company growth.
In 2007, the Leatherman firm opened its first retail store in Portland & Tim Leatherman
was also inducted into the Blade Magazine Cutlery Hall of Fame to regconise his design
impact on the cutlery history.
All the innovative product for consumers of Leatherman, the folding knives, gardening
pruner tools, LED lights and even the multi tools designed specially for military & law
enforcement personnel all originated from a simple innovative idea from Timothy S.
Leatherman.
View the Leatherman’s history in their official video here:
