Combination tools can be found all around the Hammer Museum. This highly sought after tool appeals to efficiency and ease. Combination tools reflected society’s focus on productivity during the Industrial revolution, in the late half of the 19th century.
This particular combination tool was patented in 1866 by J. C. Longshore. The inventor acknowledged that there were already several different combination tools on the market, but argued that his was superior in a few ways. His tool was specifically intended for use in the kitchen, furthermore his tool boasted the ability to lift “all kinds of stove lids.” Most kitchen combination tools were designed for a singular type of stove and unable to lift the stove lids of other stove brands. This tool features a stove-lid lifter, pliers, pinchers, pot, dish, and sad-iron lifters, tack-pullers, and, of course, a hammer.