lazy tongs

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun plural Tongs having a jointed extensible framework operated by scissorslike handles, used for grasping an object at a distance.

from The Century Dictionary.

• A kind of tongs or pincers consisting of a number of pairs of levers pivoted together at the middle and hinged to one another at the ends, the extension of which, produced by bringing together the scissors-like handles, enables one without change of position to pick up an object at a considerable distance (whence the name).