The Swiss Army Knife
There’s definitely one thing to admire about the Swiss Army knife: you to carry a lot of tools, they are all in one small knife. Maybe you own one yourself you are planning to buy one in the near future. But how much do you really know about this famous knife?
In the 1880s, the Swiss Army wanted to give its soldiers a tool could be used for most of the soldiers’ needs – something that they could use to repair their guns, open cans and bottles and cut various materials. However, in Switzerland, there were factories that could produce such a tool, so the Swiss Army German experts for help. But in the end, a talented Swiss inventor, Karl Elsener, made something that was exactly what the army .
The invention, which Elsener offered to the army, was a special pocket knife with various functions. Elsener paid attention every detail of the knife and the result was amazing. The main difference his pocket knife and an ordinary knife was its original design.
When Elsener started producing them for the Swiss Army in 1891, the knives to lieutenants and captains first. they soon became popular with most of them, some captains still weren’t satisfied. So Elsener decided back to his workshop and added a corkscrew, a thing used to open bottles of wine, to the knife. Everybody liked the idea. Since then, the knives popular with Swiss Army soldiers. Today, every Swiss Army soldier gets one.
The knives didn’t become famous around the world until World War II, when American soldiers in love with them. After World War II, the soldiers brought them back to America. As it was difficult for the Americans to the original name of the knife, Schweizer Offiziersmesser, they called it simply the Swiss Army knife. Very soon after the war, the Swiss Army knife became one of the symbols of Switzerland just like Swiss chocolate.
Today, the Swiss Army knife is available in over 100 different models and in many colours. However, red is common than other colours. Besides traditional tools, modern Swiss Army knives include things such as USB flash drives or laser pointers.