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Timothy S. Leatherman is the founder, chairman and chief executive of Leatherman Tool Group, Inc.


Biography

Leatherman graduated from
Oregon State University Oregon State University (OSU) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degree ...
in 1970 with a bachelor's degree in
mechanical engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and mathematics principles with materials science, to design, analyze, manufacture, ...
. According to an article in ''
The Oregonian ''The Oregonian'' is a daily newspaper based in Portland, Oregon, United States, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the U.S. west coast, founded as a weekly by Thomas J. Dryer on December 4, 18 ...
'', "Leatherman came up with the idea of a 'Boy Scout knife with pliers' during a 1975 driving tour of Europe with his wife, when he was unable to use his pocket knife to fix his repeatedly malfunctioning car." It took him several months afterwards to refine his idea, and he was granted a patent on the first Leatherman tool in 1980. Leatherman spent the next few years attempting to market his product to large companies with technical staff, such as
AT&T AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile tel ...
, but this was largely unsuccessful. The tool eventually gained popularity through mail order catalogues.


See also

*
List of Oregon State University alumni This is a list of notable alumni of Oregon State University, a university in Corvallis, Oregon in the United States. The university traces its roots back to 1856 when Corvallis Academy was founded. It wasn't formally incorporated until 1858 when ...


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leatherman, Timothy S. Living people American inventors Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) Oregon State University alumni Businesspeople from Oregon