something a little different.

[navihawk]

I wonder if Tim didn't get his idea from this. Its old

[J-sews]

An oldie but goody Navihawk. Fine example of a late 1800's multitool you have there.

I've often wondered whether Tim Leatherman was aware of these folding scissors BEFORE he came up with his PST design, or AFTER. One thing can be certain, these old scissors played an important role in Leatherman history. Here is an excerpt from an article about Tim from ten years ago:

 
.......Leatherman ended up finding the wider market he had hoped for. After it appeared in a Seattle mail order catalog in 1983, the device became an overnight success. The first model sold more than one million units a year at about $45 apiece, making Leatherman instantly rich. His tool showed up on all sorts of belts, from NASA astronauts on three space shuttle flights to Hells Angels bikers.
Leatherman Tool Group Inc. has sold 35.2 million pocket tools worldwide since incorporation on July 5, 1983, about 26 million in the United States.
Some 90 percent of the owners are men. Yet about half the tools are bought by women as gifts for men, according to company spokesman Mark Baker.
With success came imitators, many from companies that initially rejected the idea.
As a young inventor, Leatherman lacked money to hire a lawyer to patent the folding handles. The patent was complicated because somebody had already patented a folding scissors in the 1800s, he said.
Lacking a patent, Leatherman lost a trademark case against tool giant Cooper's ToolzAll multi-tool in appeals that went to the U.S. Supreme Court. Other manufacturers now had an open door to copy the design....


So, an interesting bit of history you've got there sir.

[american lockpicker]

"Leatherman lost a trademark case against tool giant Cooper's ToolzAll multi-tool in appeals that went to the U.S. Supreme Court."

I wonder why they didn't sue Bear & Son?

[Magnus]

and, what has a trademark got to do with a design patent anyway?

[J-sews]

As I understand it, Tim Leatherman was unable to patent a folding handles plier (because of the earlier folding scissor patent). So therefore when Cooper/ToolzAll came out with a tool that was virtually identical to the PST, Leatherman was unable to claim patent infringement. Instead they attempted to convince the court that the basic appearance of the PST was a Leatherman trademark, and the Cooper/ToolZall tool was in violation of that.

The courts apparently did not agree.




(by the way, I'm no lawyer, the above is simply my limited understanding of what happened)  

[DaveK]

That's probably about right Bob. To the uneducated, any butterfly folding pliers design is often referred to as "a Leatherman". I bet LTG were trying to play on that. Not the most convincing argument if the patent had been denied though.

[Zed]

Thats a very interesting bit of history, that old one kind of looks like a butterfly knife ,i would love to pick up one of those i guess there pretty rare ?

paul

[J-sews]

Happily they do seem to show up regularly on ebay. There are loads of different handle styles, and at least three types of spring mechanism.


Here are a few pics I posted a long long time ago, in a different forum far far away....

























The "series 1, 2 and 3" refer to the different types of spring methods.

[DaveK]

The Micra's great grandaddy

[Zed]

thanks for posting that J-sews  love the mother of pearl handled series #2  i bet hard to get here in the uk, what do they come under on ebay ? Mt 

paul

[navihawk]

Great pics J-sews. Any idea who made mine? I saw some names on some of the ones you showed. What were the brands and country of origin? Any idea the age?
Thanks,
steve

[J-sews]

Navi, yours is what I call a series 2, because of the little leaf springs. Earlier series 1 versions used "pusher bars" which pushed against brass leafs, while later series 3 versions used a hidden "clothes pin" type spring at the scissor pivot itself. (look closely at my pictures above to see the differences in the spring mechanisms)

Based on that, yours was probably made in Germany in the 1930's. Many from this era were exported to England, although it seems some also came directly to the U.S. Logos and brand names stamped on the scissor were generally that of the importer company, not the original maker.

(Incidentally, I've seen literally dozens like yours that have either one or both of the little leaf springs broken. They are quite fragile. You may want to consider storing yours in the unfolded position, so there is not a continuous stress on these springs)


More:
Here is the U.S. patent on these scissors from 1907. The German patent is even earlier. Notice how even back then they thought of using the handles as a measuring ruler.

[ringzero]

Thanks for posting the pics and patent, J-sews.  Very interesting to see the 1907 patent.

Do you have or have you seen an example with detatchable knife blade, saw, etc. as shown in the patent?

Did anyone think to fit pliers into one of these back in that era?  Was Leatherman actually the first to do that?

.
 

[J-sews]

I've never seen the detachable blades on an old folding tool.

As regards folding pliers though, there was this one made in Solingen and imported by ABCo in the 1960's.











Funny that it took so long - 1900's to 1960's - for someone to apply the same principle to pliers that the scissors used over half a century earlier.

[J-sews]

I even did a video about the ABCo a couple years ago. (WARNING: extremely boring narrator)