Features
Some of the various designs produced by Victorinox.
Various designs and types of Swiss Army knives exist, with different tool
combinations for specific tasks. The version supplied to the Swiss Army has
a knurled metal surface with a red emblem, and includes a blade, a reamer, a
bottle-opener/screwdriver/wire stripper, and a can-opener/screwdriver
(smaller).
The simplest model sold includes only a single blade. The most popular
models typically include some combination of the tools included in the
official army model, a second blade, tweezers, toothpick, corkscrew,
phillips-head screwdriver, nail file, and/or scissors. Other models include
a saw, hook, magnifying glass, ballpoint pen, fish scaler which doubles as a
7 cm (3 inch) ruler, pliers/wire cutters, and/or key chain. Recent
technological features include USB flash storage, digital clock, digital
altimeter, LED light, laser pointer, and MP3 player.
The official army model also contains a brass spacer, which allows the
knife, with the screwdriver and the reamer extended at the same time, to be
used to assemble the Swiss Army assault rifles, both the SIG 550 and the
older SIG 510: the knife serves as a restraint to the firing pin during
assembly of the lock.
The standard full-size SAK is approximately 3.5 in. (9 cm) long and 0.75 in.
(2 cm) wide; smaller models are typically about 2.25 in. (6 cm) long and 0.5
in. (1.5 cm) wide. Thickness varies depending on the number of tools
included. A flat version with somewhat fewer tools (but still retaining a
knife) the size and shape of a credit card, known as a SwissCard, can be
stored in a typical wallet. Although red SAKs are most common, black, blue,
white, phosphorescent yellow, camouflage (types of camo may include: Mossy
oak, shadowgrass, winter camo, black forest camo) patterns, and other colors
are available. The plastic cladding is usually opaque but may be
transparent; metal- and wood-clad models are available. Many textures colors
and in fact shapes are now popping up in the Swiss Army Knife.
History
A Victorinox Swiss Army knife
Enlarge
A Victorinox Swiss Army knife
Origins
In 1891, Carl Elsener, then owner of a company that made surgical equipment
discovered (to his dismay) that the pocket knives supplied to the Swiss Army
were in fact made in Germany. Outraged, he founded the Association of Swiss
Master Cutlers. Its goal was simple: Swiss knives for the Swiss Army.
Elsener began working on what was the predecessor to the modern Swiss Army
knife, called the "Soldier's Knife". The original had a wooden handle (as
opposed to the plastic and metal seen today), and featured a blade, a
screwdriver, a can opener, and a punch. This knife was sold to the Swiss
army, but Elsener was not satisfied with its first incarnation. In 1896,
after 5 years of hard work, Elsener managed to put blades on both sides of
the handle using a special spring mechanism, allowing him to use the same
spring to hold them in place, an innovation at the time. This allowed
Elsener to put twice as many features on the knife; he added a second blade
and a corkscrew.
Victorinox and Wenger
Elsener, through his company Victorinox, managed to have the market
completely for himself until 1893, when the second industrial cutlery of
Switzerland, Paul Boechat & Cie headquartered in Delémont in the
French-speaking canton of Jura, started selling a similar product. This
company was later acquired by its then General Manager, Theodore Wenger and
renamed the Wenger Company. In 1908 the Swiss government, wanting to prevent
an issue over regional favouritism but perhaps wanting a bit of competition
in hopes of lowering prices, split the contract with Victorinox and Wenger
each getting half of the orders placed. By mutual agreement, Wenger
advertises as the Genuine Swiss Army Knife and Victorinox uses the slogan
the Original Swiss Army Knife. However, on 26 April, 2005 Victorinox
acquired Wenger, thus once again becoming the sole supplier of knives to the
Swiss Army. However, on the consumer side Victorinox has stated that it
intends to keep both brands intact.
Manufacturers
Main articles: Victorinox and Wenger
The two Swiss Army knife manufacturers, Victorinox and Wenger, together
supply about 50,000 knives to the Swiss army each year. The rest of
production is devoted to exports, mostly to the United States. Commercial
Victorinox and Wenger SAKs can be immediately distinguished by their logos;
the Victorinox cross is surrounded by a shield with bilateral symmetry,
while the Wenger cross is surrounded by a slightly rounded square with
quadrilateral symmetry. The knives supplied to the Swiss Army bear a simpler
bilaterally-symmetric shield.
At this time, the most sophisticated knives include a Wenger model with a
laser pointer (using AAAA batteries), and a Victorinox model with a 2 GB
detachable USB flash drive. Wenger has even manufactured a $1200 swiss army
knife that has all of the implements of the other knives in it[1].
Victorinox is located in the Swiss town of Ibach with a show room. Wenger is
located in the Swiss town of Delémont (no show room).
There are also many other manufacturers of similar-looking multi-tool
folding knives, at a wide range of price/quality points.
Fame
The Swiss Army Knife is a signature of the American TV show MacGyver,
wherein MacGyver often improvises tools that are needed to solve problems.
He often uses his SAK to help build mechanisms out of common items, which
led to sayings such as "making a rocket out of a match box". In fact, this
has led to many discussions to attempt to list the variants that were used.
Current lists show nearly every model available in the US during filming
(see: List of problems solved by MacGyver).
The Swiss Army knife has also been parodied in animated TV shows such as The
Simpsons and the animated version of The Tick, in which a fictional
Swiss
Army squad carries backpack-sized versions of the knife.
In Eddie Izzard's performance of Glorious, he portrays the Pope's Swiss
guards as being armed with SAKs, and proceeds to highlight the perceived
uselessness of some of the tools commonly featured on them: "I don't know
what this one is for. I can open a can of beans with this one...in a week."
In his 2002 HBO special , Robin Williams asks in regard to the Swiss Army,
"How can you trust an army that has a wine opener on its knife?" then
impersonates a Swiss Officer briefing his men before battle: "Many of you
men have never opened a Chardonnay under fire. You take out the wine bottle,
pull out the cork and throw."
In the movie Naked Gun, the character Ted Olsen shows Frank Drebin an
invention of his, the "Swiss Army Shoe". The shoe has a spring-loaded knife
that can come out of the front, plus various other tools that can be pivoted
off the sides of the shoe.