Idea to prototype to tool: how a Leatherman comes to be


Popular Mechanics has a great little slideshow showing the various intermediate steps that went into designing the original Leatherman tool, taking it from napkin doodle to TSA confiscata: "The prototype that Leatherman patented combined his dual-action pliers with an integrated locking-clamp feature. Every knife- and tool-maker he approached rejected it."

The Invention of the Leatherman: Patent Gallery

(via Make)