Though it doesn’t say in their official websites whether
Angus MacGyver or the TV series creator Lee David Zlotoff had a beef with
inventor Tim Leatherman, but why does MacGyver prefer to use the Swiss Army
Knife instead of the Leatherman Tool?
By: Ringo Bones
After checking out their official website, it seems that
MacGyver TV series creator Lee David Zlotoff doesn’t have a beef with inventor
Timothy S. Leatherman and his invention the Leatherman Tool in the hopes of
finding out the reason why Angus MacGyver preferred using the Swiss Army Knife
instead of the Leatherman Tool. But first and as a benefit to those unfamiliar
with both tools that are both worthily capable to be used in any form of
“MacGyverism” in bailing one out of a sticky situation.
The Swiss Army Knife is known in various names in various
languages of the countries using it as a standard toolkit of their military.
The Swiss Army Knife is called “cocteu Suisse” in French, Schweizer
Offiziersmesser (Swiss officer’s knife) in German, Sackmesser in colloquial
Swiss German and Coltellino Swizzero in Italian is a brand of pocketknife or
multi tool manufactured by Victorinox AG and Wenger SA. The term “Swiss Army
Knife” was coined by US soldiers after World War II due to the difficulty they
have of pronouncing the tool by its German name. Originating in Ibach,
Switzerland, the Swiss Army Knife was first produced in 1891 after the company
Karl Elsnor which later became Victorinox – the company that won the contest to
produce the Swiss Army’s Model 1890 knife from the previous German
manufacturers.
In the various scenes of the TV series, MacGyver’s most
commonly used variant of the Swiss Army Knife was a “Tinker” model from
Victorinox but throughout the show, he used several different models of both
Victorinox and Wenger brands to match particular tools used in the episodes. Or
what Swiss Army Knife variant was in “vogue” during that season of the episode?
In one episode, MacGyver uses an Orange Peele blade;
probably from a Victorinox “Executive.” He may have used an older model
“Explorer” from Victorinox later in the series. MacGyver also used the
Sportsman variant of the Swiss Army Knife in the episode “Lost Love parts 1 and
2”, the Recruit in the “GX-1” episode and the Climber model in the “Three for
the Road” episode. In the episode “Tough Boys”, he uses a Tinker - with the
key-ring removed – to unlock a large padlock.
MacGyver also had a couple of non-production Swiss Army
Knife models that were obviously modified specifically for the TV series. In
the Wild West era episode “Serenity”, he has a knife with wood panels to stay
in setting with that period of the episode. In the “Strictly Business” episode,
MacGyver used a knife with the Victorinox shield on the back handle of the
knife instead of the front. But the knife seen in the opening of each MacGyver
episode is a Wenger as noted by its long keychain. And even though the
Leatherman Tool was probably widely available via mail-order catalogues when
the first MacGyver TV series aired back in 1985, it is somewhat inextricable
why MacGyver chose the Swiss Army Knife over the Leatherman Tool.
The Leatherman Tool was invented by Timothy S. Leatherman –
who later founded and became the chairman and chief executive of the Leatherman
Tool Group, Inc. Tim Leatherman came up with the idea of a Boy Scout knife with
pliers during a 1975 driving tour in Europe with his wife when he was unable to
use his trusty pocket knife (a Victorinox Swiss Army Knife?) to fix his
repeatedly malfunctioning car. It took Tim Leatherman several months afterwards
to refine his idea and was then granted a patent on his first Leatherman Tool
in 1980. Leatherman spent the next few years attempting to market his product
to large companies with technical stall such as AT&T but was largely
unsuccessful. The tool eventually gained popularity through mail order
catalogues by the mid 1980s. Leatherman Tools have a 25-year no questions asked
warranty and legend has it that Tim Leatherman was actually saved by his own
invention back in 1989 when he used his tool to single-handedly fix his
single-engine seaplane after it got damaged while performing an emergency
landing in a remote part of Alaska.
As a MacGyver fan, I find it easier to perform
“MacGyverisms” via the Leatherman Tool than the Swiss Army Knife. Although the
kind of Swiss Army Knives most MacGyver fans here in the Philippines can afford
during the mid to late 1980s are Chinese knock-offs that easily break. Genuine
Victorinox and Wenger Swiss Army Knives are far more expensive to own by the
average Filipino MacGyver fan and explains why genuine Swiss Army Knives here
in the Philippines during the mid 1980s are sold and displayed in business
establishments that also sell genuine up-market Swiss watches like Tag Heuer,
etc. Though somewhat an unfair comparison, the original genuine Leatherman Tool
I got at the time was something I won for free from a radio station contest.
But – after all these years - I am still dying to know why Angus MacGyver chose
the Swiss Army Knife as his trusty “tool” instead of the Leatherman Tool?
