The Soul of a New Hand Tool
Hand levels are one of the standard tools in the kits of house builders, plumbers, and many other tradespeople. Until 1990, all levels were bubble-type spirit levels. But in that year, a California carpenter, Andy Butler, and some Silicon Valley engineers patented a new level that depended on high-tech electronics to show digitally the precise angle of the surface being checked. The "SmartLevel," as the new tool was named, found a market among users of traditional levels who needed precise degree measurements. Butler and his colleagues, more interested in developing a new idea than amassing a fortune, sold the SmartLevel line and moved onto new projects. In 1995, the Lemelson Center supported oral history interviews with Andy Butler and other key individuals involved with the development, manufacture, and marketing of this new generation of digital hand tool. Additional interviews with SmartLevel principles outside California are forthcoming. At the conclusion of the project, the interviews, an archive of original documents, drawings, photographs, and other records, several generations of SmartLevels, hardware store display elements, and sales training videotapes will be preserved in the Archives Center of the National Museum of American History. For more information on this collection, email the Archives Center. Originally published in Fall 1995.
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