A multi-tool, or multitool, is a hand tool that combines several individual functions in a single unit, ranging in size from a small unit meant to sit in a wallet or on a keyring to a larger pocket or belt-mounted tool. The idea has old roots: silver folding implements combining a spoon, fork and spatula are known from the reign of the Roman emperor Trajan, and nineteenth century Sheffield, England became a center for multi-blade folding pocketknives. Karl Elsener founded the Swiss company Victorinox in 1891 to supply the Swiss army with a soldier's knife, and Victorinox patented its officer's and sports knife, with a second blade and a corkscrew, in 1897; the modern heavy-duty pocket multitool, built around folding pliers rather than a knife blade, dates to 1983, when Tim Leatherman introduced his Pocket Survival Tool. The hand-held folding multi-tool described here is a distinct tool from the oscillating multi-tool, a power tool that oscillates a set of interchangeable attachments for sawing, sanding and similar jobs.
Facts
Introduced When (Circa) OriginFolding multi-function implements have an ancient precedent in Roman folding eating sets combining a spoon, fork and spatula, but the modern folding-pliers multi-tool traces to a 1983 design by Tim Leatherman in the United States, building on nineteenth-century Sheffield multi-blade pocket knives and the Swiss Army knife tradition that Karl Elsener founded with Victorinox in 1891. 1 Introduced era (class) In the Other Atlases
Sources
1. Multi-tool (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia Foundationen.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-tool, Modern evolution and the pliers revolution sectionQuote, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-tool, Modern evolution and the pliers revolution section
The industry underwent its most recent paradigm shift in 1983 when Tim Leatherman introduced a design in the United States centred on folding pliers.
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