The Leatherman phenomenon
by Julie Carter
Back in l975 a man named Tim Leatherman was traveling
through Europe on a shoestring budget in a cranky car with leaky pipes. It
was during this trying time he birthed the idea of a pocket survival tool. That
tool today is known simply as a “Leatherman.”
By 1977, the tool had taken on a rough form and in 1980 “Mr.
Crunch” was patented. In 1985, a full ten years after the first occurrence
of the idea came the founding of Leatherman Tool. By 1994 the company
employed over 200 people. Through the ’90s new and better designs were released
setting the standard in the all-purpose pocket tool industry.
For those of you that may be in the dark ages, the
Leatherman tool is a fold up tool that incorporates all the following tools in
one handy frame: Needle nose Pliers, regular pliers, wire cutters,
hard-wire cutters, clip-point knife, serrated knife, diamond-coated file, wood
saw, scissors, extra small screwdriver, small screwdriver, medium screwdriver,
large screwdriver, Phillips screwdriver, can / bottle opener, wire stripper and
lanyard attachment
Out here in “real men carry pocket knives” country, the
Leatherman phenomenon was at first a little slow to catch on. A Leatherman was
seen as quite pricey for a pair of pliers, and “I already have a good knife”
made it easy to blow off the multipurpose handy for anything tool. Soon
they were showing as Christmas gifts and would then promptly end up in the
dresser drawer next to the initial embroidered hankies and ugly boxers.
In the meantime, the world knew something we didn’t. Other
tool companies began manufacturing acceptable affordable imitations of the
revered original. Gerber, Seber, Sears and an assortment of companies not proud
enough to even put their name on the tool, flooded the market in every shape
size and color. Someone even put a teensy version on a key chain, handy for
nose picking and nail cleaning.
Then it happened. Some “real” man dared to show up in the
branding corral with one of the versions of that “fad” on his belt, neatly snapped
in a little case. He used it to pull some cactus out of a horse’s leg and
change the needles on a vaccine gun. He loaned it to a kid to use for a cooking
utensil while they cooked calf fries on the branding iron burner. He
twisted and tightened the wire on a gate that was doubling as a hinge. He
tightened a screw in the emasculators and popped open the lids on an assortment
of things.
That amazing day of demonstration opened the eyes and the
dresser drawers of those “real men with pocket knives.” No longer did they
break the good blades on their high dollar pocket knives prying and digging
with them. No longer did they have to stick their heads under the seat of the
pickup breathing unmentionable kinds of dust to find that pair of pliers or a
wrench they knew was there somewhere.
Today it’s standard equipment on more belts than not. The
women wear them or carry them in their purse. You will see the daintiest and
most delicate of well-coiffed, finely garbed ladies slip a Leatherman from
their fine leather purse and go to work with the tool like she’d been doing it
forever.
The list of uses is as varied as the number of tools all
hooked up into that one handy dandy tool. There are stories of lives
being saved, babies being birthed and legendary feats all because of a
Leatherman. Tomorrow when you strap yours on your hip, know it just might
go down in history next to Colt and Smith and Wesson.
Julie, who should have bought stock in the Leatherman
Company, can be reached for comment at jcarternm@gmail.com.
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