AN IMPROVED COM BINATION IMPLEMENT CONSISTING CHIEFLY OF A HAMMER, SCREWDRIVER, NAIL- PULLER, AND RULE
Year: 1870

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PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Frank Theophilus Ferguson at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 14th February 1870.
I, FRANK THEOPHILUS FERGUSON, of Boston, Massachusetts, United
States of America, now of No. 8, Southampton Buildings, London, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED COM
BINATION IMPLEMENT CONSISTING CHIEFLY OF A HAMMER, SCREWDRIVER, NAIL-
PULLER, AND RULE," to be as follows:-
The said Invention relates to an implement in which are combined in
an advantageous and novel manner a hammer, a screwdriver, a nail
puller, and rule, some of which parts may without altering the general
character of the implement also be modified to perform the functions of
other tools used in the arts of carpentry, upholstery, and the like.
In its general appearance my said improved implement resembles an
ordinary hammer. The head may be of any desired form and size, and
I may provide a number of heads of various forms adapted to the
different purposes for which the hammer may be required. For general
use I prefer that the head should be like that of an ordinary tack
hammer with claws of the usual form for drawing tacks and small nails.
The shank of the hammer is a flat bar of iron or other metal, and forms

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the rule, which is divided into inches and parts thereof, or into other
divisions and figured in the usual manner. The said bar is fitted to enter
and slide through a socket in the neck of the hammer head, and the
socket is provided with a pinching screw whereby the shank is firmly
⚫ secured in the head. The shank is also fitted to pass through a handle
of convenient shape, which may be of hard wood or other suitable
material, and which is also provided with a pinching screw, whereby the
shank may be secured or released as desired. A small recess or cavity
formed to receive the point of-the-set-screw-in-the-edge-of_the_shank
allows the same to be secured with certainty in the proper position in the
handle and head when the implement is to be used as a hammer.
end of the flat bar or shank is sharpened to form the screwdriver, and
when the implement is to be used for this purpose the set screw in the
handle is slackened and the sharpened end of the bar is pushed through
the handle for a convenient distance, and the set screw is again tightened.
Then by taking hold of the hammer head the implement may be readily
placed in the groove or notch in the head of a screw and turned in either
direction. To form the nail puller the end of the flat bar which lics
within the hammer head is forked. When the implement is to be used
for this purpose the hammer head is released by slackening the said
screw which secures the same on the shank, and the forked end of the
said shank is pushed forward through the head and the set screw is again
tightened. The hammer head then forms the fulcrum of the nail puller and
by varying the distance of it claws from the fulcrum the implement may
be conveniently adapted to the extraction of nails of various sizes. When
it is desired to use the rule both set screws are slackened and the head
and handle are both removed from the flat bar or shank, which will be
found in all respects as convenient to use as an ordinary rule or scale.
In some cases I may combine a gimlet or other additional tool or
instrument with those above described, but such additional instruments
will not in any way materially change the construction, manipulation, or
appearance of the said implement.