ReleaseWire Connect

The Cole-Bar Hammer, a patented multi-tool created by an Indianapolis inventor and his late son, has attracted over $131,000 in manufacturing support via the crowd-funding site Kickstarter.com, making it the most funded hand tool ever via the site. Over 1,800 individual donors have backed the project on Kickstarter since it launched on April 24, 2013. Donors who have pledged at least $65 will receive a Cole-Bar of their own from among the first few thousand manufactured. The Cole-Bar combines a hammer, a crow bar, a demolition tool, angle measurement tool, ruler, a socket wrench and nail pliers.

Nearly 1,700 individual donors have found the idea of a combination crow bar and hammer so compelling that they’ve pledged over $123,000 on Kickstarter.com toward manufacturing and marketing the Cole-Bar Hammer, a patented multi-tool created by an Indianapolis inventor, Lance Hyde, and his late son Cole.

The Cole-Bar Hammer is a patented multi-tool that combines a hammer, crow bar, a demolition tool, angle measurement tool, ruler, a socket wrench and nail pliers. Over 1,600 individual donors have found the invention so compelling that they’ve pledged over $118,000 on Kickstarter.com toward manufacturing and marketing the tool. Donors who’ve chipped in at least $65 will get a Cole-Bar of their own from among the first few thousand made.

Indiana resident Cole Hyde, 11, was helping his father, Lance Hyde, build a pole barn. While putting tools away at the end of the day, Cole laid a crow-bar down on top of a hammer. The pair both had the same thought — “Wouldn’t it be nice if you had a hammer and crow bar in the same tool?” Just a few months later, before Lance Hyde could pursue their idea, Cole died in a tragic accident on their property. He was just twelve years old.

A multifunction tool based on a combination hammer and crowbar has met its $100,000 Kickstarter goal with 30 days to spare. The crowd-funded campaign launched April 24 and ends June 24, 2013. “We are all amazed at the overwhelming positive response to the Cole-Bar and we are very excited about making the best tool that we can,” said the Cole-Bar team’s spokesperson, Brandon Hyde.

A Kickstarter campaign to fund commercial production of a new multifunction demolition and construction tool, the Cole-Bar Hammer, has achieved 96% funding after just 22 days. Over 1,351 backers had pledged $96,853 of the project’s $100,000 goal, according to the project leader, Brandon Hyde and the tool’s inventor, Lance Hyde. The project had already proven popular on the funding platform—it had raised over $30,000 before the campaign was officially launched at the 2013 National Hardware Show on May 7.

Fundraising to launch commercial production of a new multifunction demolition and construction tool, the Cole-Bar Hammer, will be officially kicked off at the 2013 National Hardware Show, scheduled for May 7 - 9 in Las Vegas, Nevada. A combination hammer, crow bar, a demolition tool, angle measurement tool, ruler, a socket wrench and nail pliers, the Cole-Bar Hammer was a finalist in a DIY Network inventors competition. Popular Mechanics has called the tool,“The leatherman of hammers.”