i did not know that leatherman is a man, that it's you?t leatherman isn't a 100-year-old company that was originally started in the leather working business. >> reporter: in 1975, tim leatherman was driving across europe with his wife in a $300 fooe fiat that needed frequent repairs. >> i was carrying a pocket knife but there are oftentimes i needed a pair of pliers. particularly with we stayed in a cheap hotel and the bathroom plumbing needed fixing. >> reporter: once the leathermans returned to the u.s., tim decided put his engineering degree to use and see if he could somehow combine a pocket knife with pliers. with his wife's blessing, he started tinkering. >> she went to work to support us and i went to the garage and picked up a file and a hacksaw and started trying to build what was in my mind. >> reporter: after several iterations, leatherman eventually came up with something that looked like this. >> you have a pair of needle-nosed pliers. >> reporter: turned out the real challenge was getting other people to buy into his idea. >>

i'm in debt, i don't work, so you don't want to treat the leatherman like a human being, yeah, you'llburg in his pandas to beat, and this is my territory, yeah, i 'll raze your barn to the ground tomorrow if i need to, and you, too, freak, blacksmith, nastya, what do you think? maybe we'll treat uncle kuznets to a chocolate bar, and he helped us so much, we'll thank a good man, okay? i agree, well, okay, then let's drink tea, and i'll i'll quickly run to him, give him the chocolate and come back, quickly, quickly, but carefully, while it's hot, okay. consider yourself a death sentence, a big man from the district administration, a dissatisfied customer. thank you very much for your help, well, and in general, thank you, you should have served the line, altalina, how long will we have to stand, but... they're not government-owned, i'm listening, i don't have any cheese, they've taken it all apart, cereals, semolina, the delivery is finished tomorrow, hello, so, break, 5 minutes everyone out, out, break, out, out. there's business, aunt klav, i understand, i understand, our you can't st