<P> Substitution as makeshift is when human ingenuity comes into play and a tool is used for its unintended purpose such as a mechanic using a long screw driver to separate a cars control arm from a ball joint instead of using a tuning fork . In many cases, the designed secondary functions of tools are not widely known . As an example of the former, many wood - cutting hand saws integrate a carpenter's square by incorporating a specially shaped handle that allows 90 ° and 45 ° angles to be marked by aligning the appropriate part of the handle with an edge and scribing along the back edge of the saw . The latter is illustrated by the saying "All tools can be used as hammers ." Nearly all tools can be used to function as a hammer, even though very few tools are intentionally designed for it and even fewer work as well as the original . </P> <P> Tools are also often used to substitute for many mechanical apparatuses, especially in older mechanical devices . In many cases a cheap tool could be used to occupy the place of a missing mechanical part . A window roller in a car could easily be replaced with a pair of vise - grips or regular pliers . A transmission shifter or ignition switch would be able to be replaced with a screw - driver . Again, these would be considered tools that are being used for their unintended purposes, substitution as makeshift . Tools such as a rotary tool would be considered the substitution "by - design", or "multi-purpose". This class of tools allows the use of one tool that has at least two different capabilities . "Multi-purpose" tools are basically multiple tools in one device / tool . Tools such as this are often power tools that come with many different attachments like a rotary tool does, so you could say that a power drill is a "multi-purpose" tool because you can do more than just one thing with a power drill . </P> <P> A multi-tool is a hand tool that incorporates several tools into a single, portable device; the Swiss army knife represents one of the earliest examples . Other tools have a primary purpose but also incorporate other functionality - for example, lineman's pliers incorporate a gripper and cutter, and are often used as a hammer; and some hand saws incorporate a carpenter's square in the right - angle between the blade's dull edge and the saw's handle . This would also be the category in which the "multi-purpose" tools since they are also multiple tools in one (multi-use and multi-purpose can be used interchangeably). These types of tools were specifically made to catch the eye of many different craftsman who traveled to do their work . To these workers these types of tools were revolutionary because they were one tool or one device that could do several different things . With this new revolution of tools the traveling craftsman would not have to carry so many tools with them to job sites, being that their space would be limited to the vehicle they were driving . The problem of having to deal with so many different tools was solved with the overtaking of multi-use tools . </P> <P> Observation has confirmed that a number of species can use tools including monkeys, apes, elephants, several birds, and sea otters . Philosophers originally thought that only humans had the ability to make tools, until zoologists observed birds and monkeys making tools . Now the unique relationship of humans with tools is considered to be that we are the only species that uses tools to make other tools . </P>

What is the difference between tool and utensils