Merchandise Spotlight-Leatherman Tool (664 words)

According to the interview, this engineering graduate from Oregon State kept jotting down ideas about what to do with the rest of his life. "One of them was building that dream tool, which would look like a kind of Swiss Army knife with pliers and slide into a pouch worn on a belt."

For years, Leatherman worked on the design of his tool, getting his first patent in 1980. The New York Times reported its entrance into the world: