crazy old combination tools by Foote Mfg

[J-sews]

Why do a job easily with several tools, when you can make a complete nightmare out of it with one combination tool?

That should have been the motto of Foote Manufacturing Company of Dayton Ohio. But of course they don't mention anything like that in their magazine ad:


from Popular Mechanics, Feb 1911




But take my word for it, its true. Cool as this old crazy contraption is, I wouldn't want to actually try doing any work with it. Ha, seems like whichever end a person uses simply puts them in mortal danger of being pinched or poked by the other end.





But wait, that's not all. If you order before midnight tonight, we'll throw in the claw hammer version too. (that way you can maim any of your remaining appendages that the hatchet head version hasn't already chopped off)





Think I'll work on making a nice display cabinet for these two, so I'll never be tempted to actually try using them.




From what I gather after an hour of internetting, the Foote Mfg Co was only in existence from 1908 until 1917. (which is pretty good considering all the potential product liability lawsuits they had set themselves up for, heh heh)

[Grant Lamontagne]

That looks like something left over from the Inquisition!

The only question is, who gets tortured more- the user or the guy it's being used on?

Def

Sent from a digital multitool

[Syph007]

I love seeing these crazy old tools. 

[PTRSAK]

  you can't call them "Crazy Old Tools" just because they both have post counts in the tens of thousands.

[enki_ck]

you can't call them "Crazy Old Tools" just because they both have post counts in the tens of thousands.

If they ban you, I'll unban you.




And you actually got two, Bob. Is there a old crazy tool auction site too?

Do any of them show signs of use, dried blood, ...? 

[J-sews]

you can't call them "Crazy Old Tools" just because they both have post counts in the tens of thousands.

Hehehe...




....heeeey!




 

[J-sews]

you can't call them "Crazy Old Tools" just because they both have post counts in the tens of thousands.

If they ban you, I'll unban you.




And you actually got two, Bob. Is there a old crazy tool auction site too?

Do any of them show signs of use, dried blood, ...? 

Errr, now that you mention it, the hatchet DOES have some suspicious stains on it...

[gregozedobe]

It's great to see the odd, whacky and just plain weird tools that some "genius" has managed to get into some kind of production.  Keep 'em coming Bob.

Did anyone notice that the sales pitch for the sales agents for this tool used words remarkably similar to those used by modern day scammers on-line  ?  Promises of great earnings without skill or much effort 

[dks]

It would have been a lot better, I think, if the monkey wrench was facing outside instead of inside the tool.

[Steinar]

My wife made a very funny face when I showed her therse.   

[Zed]

I love seeing these crazy old tools. 

Me too  cheers bob 

[AHB]

Amazing.. Thanks for sharing Bob. 

[Ray S]

I just joined this site tonight and was going to post a question about a very similar item I acquired today.On mine the pliers jaws look like they were designed to hold pipe about an inch in diameter.It has the hammer;the hatchet;wire cutters and nippers on the ends of the jaws;a screwdriver and a tack puller on the other handle.Stamped,"Gussstahl" which i believe is German for Cast Steel.I'll try and post a picture here if I may.

[enki_ck]

Nice one Ray, I see yours has the wire cutters too. And yes, guss is cast.

Welcome to the forum.

[four.cycle]

I had initially thought the applicable patent on Foote's "Farmer's Ever-Ready Tool Kit" might have been Louis Bruni's patent 733366 issued Jul 14 1903, but having no assignee and nothing that connects Bruni to Foote, that's just conjecture.

It was suggested to me that the applicable patent might instead be Don Modrall's patent 977672 issued Dec 6 1910. Unfortunately there is no assignee on the patent and thus far nothing has been found connecting Modrall to Foote.

It is also possible the applicable patent might instead be any of these three, notwithstanding some design features (shown in the drawings but not necessarily part of the finished product, as is so common.)
874409 Dec 24 1907 J.L. Knight
832814 Oct 9 1906 C.E. Roth
836075 Nov 13 1906 L.S. Loudon

This is a genre of hand tool several of us have been trying to sort out for some time now. Most of them remain unsolved puzzles.

I use the same "handle" on all the tool websites and ebay. I'm fairly easy to find.

[IMR4198]

      I see some of the cheap import tools with a built in hammer.  Mostly useless.  This old tool looks like it would have been usable around a farm.  Wagons, horse drawn implements, plows, fencing.  I like the alligator wrench.  Nice post.  Best wishes.  Gary (IMR)
 

[four.cycle]

My post above was something of a fishing expedition. I've hit a wall at my end and I posted that here with hopes somebody might be able to shed a bit of light on the subject.
Since posting, I got a reply back from a fellow collector, who is far more well-versed on all things "tool" than I am.

* edited for brevity *

BK,
Re "hatchet combination tools" ---
Given the broad claims in J.R. Morris patent 607,444 (1898), and the fact  that Morris moved on, possibly opened the field to the competing "hatchet combination tools" a decade later.  The Missouri Valley Wrench Club Newsletter had a four-page study of these in 2016 with a follow-up page in 2018, and could not come up with a definitive answer for the FARMER'S EVERREADY TOOL KIT, other than to observe there are four possible combinations when one factors in the version with the adjustable wrench on one handle end.  What I found interesting in many of those ads was the ads were selling "income possibility" rather than the tool.  There were even law suits filed by people who relied on those "income" assertions & found they could not realize any meaningful income no matter how hard they worked trying to peddle the tools.
Regards, Stan S.

to which I responded with:

I had a feeling prior to my sending you this that there was NOT going to be a definitive answer, because of the number of various designs on these things - all apparently created by different inventors.
Kind of sounds like:
We have a bunch of different "windmill tools" for which we have clear, color photos -
We have a bunch of different patents - none of which have assignees -
... and no way to connect the dots!

to which Stan followed up with:

BK,
And if one goes to hammer / hatchet, etc. combination tools, [ https://datamp.org/patents/displayPatent.php?number=86048&typeCode=0 ] from 1868  is really deep background.
Regards, Stan S.