#HTE

Yea or Nay? Tool Storage System Hidden in an Oil Drum

Whenever we see something invented by someone who uses tools for a living, it’s usually a clever jig or storage device that increases efficiency. Oftentimes the invention is borne from decades of shop experience, which explains why they, and not an industrial designer sitting in a studio, came up with it.

This following invention, however, has us puzzled:

That’s called The Ultimate Toolbox, and an inventor in the UK is trying to get it to market. Since launching a Facebook page for it last month, said inventor has racked up 70,000-plus “likes” and the video has garnered nearly a quarter of a million views. Comments and feedback call the design “amazing,” “awesome” and “absolutely brilliant.” But to our eyes, beyond the initial “Ooh” factor the demerits of the design outweigh the benefits.

The Demerits:

A cylinder seems a poor choice of shape for a storage object, and as designed the bulk of the interior volume is wasted space.

The need to rotate the internals to access one of three sections seems time-consuming.

The height of it is only convenient for someone who is working from a kneeling position. While the top provides a worksurface, the tools are not all visible from a standing position.

Assuming overhead lighting, having tools recessed within a cove rather than face-up in a drawer seems they’d be ill-lit for identification—think wrench/socket sizes—and in the photo below, you can see what I mean, with the tools up top obscured in shadow.

The Benefits

One benefit is that the inventor has placed the object on casters, so it can be brought to the work.

And one good thing about the cylindrical shape is that there are no corners or protrusions to catch your hip on in a crowded shop. However, there isn’t even a handle to open the door, or maneuver the thing closer if in a kneeling position, and I imagine one would want handles when doing work that renders your mitts greasy.

Protruding handles would be easy enough to add, but then sacrifices the smooth sides of the cylinder.

Conclusion

The problem with my take on this may be that I can’t imagine the intended applications—I am closer to that “industrial designer sitting in a studio” than I am an auto mechanic. In my own limited experience working on my own car, the only time I ever knelt beside it was to get a jack and jackstands under it, which did not require any of the tools shown in the video above; the rest of the time I was lying on a skateboard beneath the thing, or bent over under the hood and reaching into the engine bay. In my limited observation of professional shops, everything is done with the car up on a lift or with the mechanic standing in a sunken pit beneath it.

Your Opinion?

Just because I cannot see the need for a kneeling-height tool organizer does not mean it doesn’t exist. This object was invented by a UK auto mechanic who’s been running his own shop for 30 years, and wrenching for nearly 40. Those of you with more automotive repair experience, can you explain why you would (or wouldn’t) prefer a design like this?