Possibly the 1 st leatherman working tool?

[268bull]

Since this had a knife blade on it I felt that it qualified to be shown. This Seaboard multitool was advertised in the April, 1951 Field & Stream. It appears as though the concept of a multi - tool came around long before the Leatherman did! Dale

[RobesonsRme.com]

Those Seaboard pliers/knives show up on Ebay every once in a while. I think there has been one within the last month.

Charlie Noyes

[Bootclad]

This one dosen't have pliers but a multi tool never the less. Whittingslowe Engineering, Adelaide, Australia c1945.

Product_43_1.JPG (35.48 KiB) Viewed 2606 times

[philco]

Leatherman didn't come up with the concept.

Here's a link to a website that has info on several predecessors of the venerable Leatherman Tool.

http://www.multi-tool.org/vintagepliers


Phil

[268bull]

Phil, That is an excellent web sight you referenced to on early multi-tools. I do realize that there were other multi - tools long before Leatherman arrived on the scene. It was late and I was being sarcastic when I typed that in. That's not an excuse, just my frame of mind at mid - night. Heck, I have a pair of Model T pliers that one handle end was designed to be used as a screwdriver if needed. I guess theoretically, that makes it a multi - tool. Kind of, sort of, maybe, aaaaaahum? Dale

[knife7knut]

Here's a few:
Valley Forge plier knife.
Oscar Barnett plier knife.
A group of plier knives made in France and Germany.
Some newer ones(SOG;unmarked)
Slightly different;Fred MacOverland Fisherman's Friend.Two different styles.
An unmarked pliers that functions as a knife when closed as well as a fish scaler.

[Ballenxj]

Since this had a knife blade on it I felt that it qualified to be shown. This Seaboard multitool was advertised in the April, 1951 Field & Stream. It appears as though the concept of a multi - tool came around long before the Leatherman did! Dale

COOL article, "and" price.
-Bruce

[268bull]

Thanks Bruce for the comments ! I picked these magazines at an estate sale, they had been stored in the attic of the home for years. They're for the most part, in excellent condition, but even in dry storage they become brittle, so I had to be careful scanning the ads. The stories in them are great also. Writing from these journalist's was way different from what it is now. A lot of the stories go for 5, 6, somtimes more pages. And there's one phrase that they all seemed to use. " Okay, so here's the straight dope " or "the dope is this ". But it's allways about the dope. Dale