crazy combination tools by Foote Mfg

[Plyerman]

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 ad:


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. Haha, seems like whichever end a person uses simply puts them in grave 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)

[rusty]

>only in existence from 1908 until 1917


Once you bought one of these things, you owned virtually every tool they made, not good for repeat business. LOL

[geneg]

Look how square the jaws on the monkey wrenches are.  Its pretty obvious that they weren't overused.  Still nice additions to any collection.

[oldtools]

When your out in the boonies or covered wagon, that tool would come in handy...

[johnsironsanctuary]

The ad is intended to sell to potential salesmen. No one is interested in how well it works. It is about how many you(they) can sell per day.

[keykeeper]

I can see the humor in this post, but the pictures are too big, so I have to scroll(by going to bottom of page) to see the whole picture, then scroll back up to where I left off, rinse, lather, repeat.....kind of takes away from the storyline. I've been guilty of it myself.

Cool old tools, though.

Thanks for showing them.

[Plyerman]

I can see the humor in this post, but the pictures are too big, so I have to scroll(by going to bottom of page) to see the whole picture, then scroll back up to where I left off, rinse, lather, repeat.....kind of takes away from the storyline. I've been guilty of it myself.

Cool old tools, though.

Thanks for showing them.

Oop, I hadn't realized that Aaron. My monitor must be wide enough to view the photos without scrolling? In any case, I have gone back and edited the post with smaller photos. Is that better, or should they be made smaller yet?

And thanks for the feedback by the way!
Bob

[DM11]

Bob, those are some pretty wild looking tools.

[Bill Houghton]

Oop, I hadn't realized that Aaron. My monitor must be wide enough to view the photos without scrolling? In any case, I have gone back and edited the post with smaller photos. Is that better, or should they be made smaller yet?

And thanks for the feedback by the way!
Bob

Can't speak for Aaron's computer, but the current size works fine on mine.  Those are sure interesting tools.  I'd hate to have to try to repair my car or motorcycle in the dark, in the rain, with that thing.  Heck, I'd hate to try it on a pleasant Spring morning!

[Lewill2]

This combo tool made by Model Mfg Co Phila, Pa brought a lot of intrest this week on ebay. Sold for $335.00

[johnsironsanctuary]

Keykeeper, try going to the view button at the top of your screen and click zoom out a few times. Makes the print smaller too, but you can quit clicking before it becomes a vision test.

[keykeeper]

John,

If I zoom out one click and make the print smaller, I can barely read the words, they are about like reading the print in one of those tiny little Bible's the Gideon's leave places. I mean small print.

Good view size for me right now is about 1/8 inch for a capital I (at least that's how I measure it with my ruler). And I sit over two feet away and read all the print fine at this size. I have good vision, just must be my monitor resolution isn't like all these newer monitors. Too big of a picture, and it just won't all fit.