Very old multi-tool

Bruceter

Bruceter

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Found this when I was helping my mom clean up some of my dad's stuff. I think it was my grandfathers.


Bruceter
 
Looks like an old fencing tool for putting up barb wire. Was your grandfather a cowboy/rancher?
 
Bruceter said:
Found this when I was helping my mom clean up some of my dad's stuff. I think it was my grandfathers.


Bruceter
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Man oh man! That is an I.C.I. Handy Tool No. 3!

I think it was your grandmother's.

Half way down this page: http://www.multi-tool.org/vintage-combination-tools

handy-tool-no-3.jpg


A Tool of 100 Uses

10 Inches Long and Weights only 12 Ounces

It is the most complete and handiest tool ever invented for the housewife in the kitchen. Any tool that can be put to over 100 uses, and take the place of dozens of other articles, is a labor saver and a money maker. This fact is true of our Handy Tool No. 3.

A Recent Invention

The Handy Tool is a recent invention, yet the degree of perfection embodied in the little wonder, took years of study and hard work, so as to bring it to that point where it would be practical, and make this tool, a real tool of worth, and not a toy. It is a wonder of inventive genius, and sells for a price that is not prohibitive. No one regrets paying 50¢ for a tool of 100 uses, and we could not offer it at so low a figure, if we did not sell thousands upon thousands every month.

What It Really Is

It is a stove lid lifter.
It is a hook to carry hot kettles.
It is a wrench.
It is a wire stretcher.
It is a screw driver.
It is a hammer.
It is a nail puller and box opener.
It is a rule and measure.
It is an ice splitter.
It is a small rod or pipe holder.
It is a wire nipper.
It is a hot pan or dish carrier.

We might enumerate a hundred more uses to where the Handy Tool could be put to, but we will let these cuts and illustrations show you the many ways it can be used.

The Handy Tool is nicely finished and not rough like most tools. It is finished in silver gold and blue enamel tool paint and really is handsome. It is made of best malleable steel casting, making it light and strong, durable and lasting.

If you have one of these Handy Combination Tools, you avoid all risk of dropping hot lids, kettles, pans, etc., and you do your work with more ease and pleasure. In fact, you cannot get along without one if you once give it a trial.

Price only — — — 50¢
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... it's only cincuenta centavos, barbed wire not included, and not a substitute for a proper mop to deal with wet floors.

"Wet floor on aisle 3..."
 
Holy multitools Batman - I've never seen anything like that.

And I've thought I've seen it all dragged home in the boxes of "junk" my Dad used to get at the auctions. :)
 
Dang, that's not bad. 50 cents, adjusted for inflation - the price of a Mora today.
 
Bo T said:
Dang, that's not bad. 50 cents, adjusted for inflation - the price of a Mora today.
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It depends on how you do the adjustment. The Bureau of Labor Statistics has a CPI inflation calculator which goes back to 1913, but the Handy Tool catalog price is from 1910. Consumer price index is not the only way to look at value, but let's start there.

Using CPI, 50¢ in 1910 is $12.60 in 2013. We're measuring using a fixed bundle of goods and services which an "average" household would buy. But what is an average household? And has this changed since 1910?

The Handy Tool was not produced for society's elite. Measured by the relative wage an unskilled worker would use to buy a Handy Tool, 50¢ in 1910 is $51.80 in 2013. But there is a statistical problem: in most 1910 surveys, "unskilled" meant laborers only and only males were counted. If we include skilled and semi-skilled wage workers and women workers and child workers under 15, 10¢ in 1910 is $79.80 in 2013.

Or you could measure the price of a Handy Tool relative to "average" income, using the GDP per capita. Measured that way, 10¢ in 1910 is $72.70 in 2013 — not too different from the figure above.
 
For working folks, $0.50 was a a siginficant purchase back in those days just to let lie around the kitchen/house. $0.50/day was not an uncommon wage as I recall. My Dad used to dig ditches by hand for $0.50 a day. Wow... hard work.

But I do think it is a pretty cool item to find.
 
I recently found and restored one of these, then chance upon this thread while researching it. Here is a shot of mine:

Y0OBudU.jpg
 
"It is the most complete and handiest tool ever invented for the housewife in the kitchen."

LOL. I just had to laugh at that. How different times are now. I'm pretty sure that thing would end up lodged halfway in to my cranium if I tried giving it to my wife as a birthday/Christmas/anniversary gift ha ha.
 
Found me a Victorinox Ranger the other day while out walking the pooch. Haven't owned an SAK since before no one called them SAKs when I was a kid.

Brought back a flood memories immediately when my buddies and I would head out for a weekend overnight into the National Forest we lived by always on some grand adventure like in the movie Stand by Me as kids. It was like I could hear Roland and Brad telling me what a lucky SOB I was for finding it.

Carry on.
 
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