The Cole-Bar Hammer makes the Swiss Army knife look like a can opener. The seven-in-one tool combines a claw hammer with a full crowbar, ruler, measuring square, ½-in. socket wrench, demolition device and nail pliers. To finance production, inventor Lance Hyde and his son, Barton, launched a $100,000 Kickstarter crowd-source funding campaign during the National Hardware Show in Las Vegas on May 7-9.
The duo raised $65,000 in two weeks, and a production run is planned for the fall. The 43-oz., nickel-plated Cole-Bar is named after another son, Cole, who died in 1998 at age 12. Cole and Lance were building a pole barn near Akron, Ind., when the pair struck upon the idea of combining a crowbar and hammer to save ladder trips.