In the mid 1970s Tim Leatherman and his wife Chau were young travellers touring around Europe and the Middle East. After buying a less-than-reliable car in Amsterdam, and finding faulty plumbing in cheap accommodation, he thought a single tool that could be used to fix all the problems would be great. It took seven years to come up with the tool that combines a knife, screwdrivers, wire cutters, scissors and pliers.