Switchblade

 ( Edged And Bladed Weapons ) 

In Italy, increased production of automatic knives resulted from the actions of German businessman Albert Marx, who owned two cutlery manufacturing concerns in Solingen, Germany. After a trip to Maniago in 1907, Marx was convinced of the appeal of Italian style automatic knives, and duly took note of attempts by Maniago knifemakers to increase productivity using powered cutting tools. Marx promptly introduced the Solingen methods of semi-mass production to the Maniago knife industry, increasing output and lowering individual costs. While Italian automatic knives would remain hand-assembled and to some extent hand-crafted products, Marx's innovations did increase production, enabling exports to other parts of Italy and eventually throughout Europe and abroad. History of Maniago, Italy, antiqueswitchbladeknives.com [128], retrieved 28 March 2022 Over time, Maniago became the central hub of automatic knife production in Italy.

In the United States, commercial development of the switchblade knife was primarily dominated by the inventions of George Schrade and his New York Press Button Knife Company, though W.R. Case, KA-BAR, Camillus Cutlery, and other U.S. knife manufacturers also marketed automatic knives of their own design. Most of Schrade's switchblade patterns were automatic versions of utilitarian jackknives and pocket knives, as well as smaller penknife models designed to appeal to women buyers. In 1903, Schrade sold his interest in the New York Press Button Knife Co. to the Walden Knife Co., and moved to Walden, New York, where he opened a new factory. There Schrade became the company's production superintendent, establishing a production line to manufacture several patterns of Schrade-designed switchblade knives, ranging from a large folding hunter to a small pocket knife. Walden Knife Co. would go on to sell thousands of copies of Schrade's original bolster button design.

The advertising campaigns of the day by Schrade and other automatic knife manufacturers focused on marketing to farmers, ranchers, hunters, or outdoors men who needed a compact pocket knife that could be quickly brought into action when needed. In rural areas of America, these campaigns were partially successful, particularly with younger buyers, who aspired to own the most modern tools at a time when new labor-saving inventions were constantly appearing on the market. Most American-made switchblades made after 1900 were patterned after standard utilitarian pocketknives, though a few larger Bowie or Folding Hunter patterns were produced with blade shapes and lengths that could be considered useful as knife fight. Most had flat or sabre-ground clip or spear-point blade profiles and single-sharpened edges. Blade lengths rarely exceeded . A few manufacturers introduced the double switchblade, featuring two blades that could be automatically opened and locked with the push of a button.

At the low end of the market, Shapleigh Hardware Company of St. Louis, Missouri contracted thousands of switchblades under the trademark Diamond Edge for distribution to dealers across the United States and Canada. Most of these knives were novelty items, assembled at the lowest possible cost. Sold off display cards in countless hardware and general stores, many low-end Diamond Edge switchblades failed to last more than a few months in actual use.Shackleford, p. 152: The name Diamond Edge would live on after Shapleigh Hardware went into bankruptcy in 1960. Its trademarks were purchased by Imperial Cutlery Company, who used the Diamond Edge trademark on a variety of knives. Other companies such as Imperial Knife and Remington Arms paid royalties to Schrade in order to produce automatic "contract knives" for rebranding and sale by large mail-order catalog retailers such as Sears, Roebuck & Co.

In 1904, in combination with his brothers Louis and William, George Schrade formed the Schrade Cutlery Co. in Walden, and began developing a new series of switchblades, which he patented in 1906–07. Schrade's new Safety Pushbutton Knives incorporated several design improvements over his earlier work, and featured a handle-mounted operating button with a sliding safety switch. A multi-blade operating button allowed the knife to operate with up to four automatic blades. In successive patents from 1906 through 1916 Schrade would steadily improve this design, which would later become known as the Presto series. With the Presto line, Schrade would largely dominate the automatic knife market in the United States for the next forty years. Schrade would go on to manufacture thousands of contract switchblade knives under several trademarks and brands, including E. Weck, Wade & Butcher, and Case XX, while other companies used Schrade's patent as the basis for their own switchblade patterns. Among these were pocket and folding hunter pattern switchblades bearing the name Keen Kutter, a trademark owned by E.C. Simmons Hardware Co. (later purchased by the Shapleigh Hardware Co.).

Having earned a handsome return from his work, Schrade traveled to Europe in 1911, first to Sheffield, England, where he assisted Thomas Turner & Company in expediting a wartime order from the British Navy. He next moved to the knifemaking center of Solingen, Germany. Schrade was aware of Solingen's reputation for having the best cutlery steel in Europe, and he opened a factory to produce his safety pushbutton switchblade knife there. In 1915 or 1916 Schrade sold his Solingen holdings (some sources state they were seized by the German government) and returned to the United States.

In 1918, Captain Rupert Hughes of the U.S. Army submitted a patent application for a specialized automatic-opening trench knife of his own design, the Hughes Trench Knife.Hughes, Rupert. Letters Patent No. 1,315,503 issued September 9, 1919 , Washington, D.C.: United States Patent Office This was a curious device consisting of a folding spring-loaded knife blade attached to a handle which fastened to the back of the hand and was secured by a leather strap, leaving the palm and fingers free for grasping other objects.Hughes, Rupert, Letters Patent No. 1,315,503 issued September 9, 1919, Washington, D.C.: United States Patent Office Pressing a button on the handle automatically extended a knife blade into an open position and locked position, allowing the knife to be used as a stabbing weapon. The Hughes Trench Knife was evaluated as a potential military arm by a panel of U.S. Army officers from the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) in June 1918.Crowell, Benedict (1919), America's Munitions 1917–1918, Report of Benedict Crowell, Assistant Secretary of War (Director of Munitions), U.S. War Department, Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, pp. 88, 228 After testing the board found the Hughes design to be of no value, and it was never adopted. Military affairs: journal of the American Military Institute, American Military History Foundation, American Military Institute, Kansas State University, Dept. of History (1937) Vol. I, p. 153 Hughes went on to patent his automatic trench knife in 1919, though Hughes appears to have been unsuccessful in persuading a knife manufacturing company to produce his design.

From 1923 to 1951, the Union Cutlery Co. of Olean, New York produced a series of lever-operated switchblades designed for the mid and upper end of the market, featuring celluloid, stag, or jigged bone handles, a bolster-mounted push-button, all featuring the company's KA-BAR trademark on the blade tang. The line included the KA-BAR Grizzly, KA-BAR Baby Grizzly, and KA-BAR Model 6110 Lever Release knives.Erickson, Mark, Antique American Switchblades, Chapter 22: KA-BAR, a trademark of Union Cutlery Co., Olean, NY, Krause Publications, (2004) The largest model was KA-BAR Grizzly, a folding hunter pattern with a broad bowie-type clip point blade.

Upon returning to the United States, Schrade made a final improvement to his Presto series of switchblades, filing his patent application on June 6, 1916. The next year, Schrade licensed a new flylock switchblade design to the Challenge Cutlery Company, which he then joined. Under the trademark of Flylock Knife Co., Challenge made several patterns of the flylock switchblade, including a large folding hunter model with hinged floating guard and a small pen knife model designed to appeal to women buyers. A Challenge Cutlery advertisement of the day depicted a female hand operating a fly-lock automatic pen knife, accompanied by a caption urging women to buy one for their sewing kit so as not to break a nail while attempting to open a normal pen knife. Schrade pursued his knifemaking interests at both Challenge and at Schrade, where his brother George now managed one of the company's factories.

With a few ex-Challenge employees Schrade formed a second company, the Geo. Schrade Knife Company, primarily to manufacture his Presto series of switchblade knives. In 1937, Schrade came out with two more low-cost switchblade knives designed to appeal to youth, the Flying Jack and the Pull-Ball Knife. The Flying Jack had a sliding operating latch and could be produced with one or more automatically opening blades. The Pull-Ball opened by pulling a ball located on the butt end of the handle.Benson, pp. 49-50 Schrade would later manufacture alternative configurations to the ball operating handle, including dice, rings, eight balls, or different colors. The Pull-Ball required two hands to open, removing much of the switchblade's utility as a one-handed knife. As the blade catch mechanism required a good deal of space within the handle, the knife's blade length was short relative to its handle length. Schrade manufactured many pull-ball knives for sale under other brands, including Remington, Case, and the "J.C.N. Co." ( Jewelry Cutlery Novelty Company of North Attleboro, Massachusetts) Always looking for a new way to appeal to customers, Schrade continued to experiment with new forms of switchblade designs up to the time of his death in 1940.

In the late 1930s the German Luftwaffe began training a Fallschirmjäger or paratroop force, and as part of this effort developed specialized equipment for the airborne soldier, including the Gravity knife (paratrooper's knife), which used a gravity-operated mechanism to deploy its sliding spearpoint blade from the handle. The German paratrooper knife, which featured a marlinspike in addition to the cutting blade, was used to cut rigging and unknot lines, though it could be employed as a weapon in an emergency. The U.S. Army in 1940 tasked the Geo. Schrade Knife Co. to produce a small single-edge switchblade for U.S. airborne troops, to be used similarly to the Fallschirmjäger-Messer. The knife was not intended primarily as a fighting knife, but rather as a utility tool, to enable a paratrooper to rapidly cut himself out of his lines and harness in the event he could not escape them after landing.

The company's submission was approved by the U.S. Army Materiel Command in December 1940 as the Knife, Pocket, M2. The M2 had a clip-point bladeSome M2 knives featured a hawkbill blade and featured a carrying bail. Except for the bail, the M2 was for all intents and purposes a copy of George Schrade's popular Presto safety-button civilian model. The M2 was issued primarily to U.S. Army paratroopers during the war, though some knives appear to have been distributed to crews and members of the Office of Strategic Services. When issued to paratroopers, the M2 was normally carried in the dual-zippered knife pocket on the upper chest of the M42 jump uniform jacket. After the war, the M2 was manufactured by Schrade (now Schrade-Walden, Inc.) as the Parachutist's Snap Blade Knife (MIL-K-10043) under a postwar military contract. In addition, other companies such as the Colonial Knife Co. made civilian versions of the M2 after the war.

Schrade-Walden Inc. made knives under the Schrade-Walden trademark, while Colonial made a number of mass-produced switchblade patterns during the 1950s under the trademark Shur Snap. Designed to a price point, Shur Snap switchblades feature stamped plated sheet-metal bolsters and plastic scales.

In 1956, the U.S. Air Force requested development for a new aircrew knife with several requirements, including the ability to be opened with one hand. The final result was the MC-1 Aircrew Survival Knife. A development of the WW2-era M2 Parachutist Snap Blade knife, the MC-1 featured twin blades, The main blade was a blunt line-cutting blade with a protected sharpened inside edge for severing parachute lines, while the secondary blade opened automatically with a push button in the event the crew member could use only one hand.Trzaska, Frank, Misunderstood Switchblade, Tactical Knives (July 2013) First issued in 1958, the MC-1 was restricted to U.S. military sales only, and was produced by the Camillus Cutlery Co., Logan/Smyth of Venice Florida, and Schrade-Walden Inc.. The last production contract for the MC-1 was cancelled in 1993.

After 1945, American soldiers returning home from Europe brought along individually purchased examples of the Italian style of stiletto pattern switchblade produced in Maniago and other cutlery towns.Zinser, Fuller(2003) "Switchblades of Italy", Turner Publishing. Though undeniably limited in practical usefulness, the style and beauty of the so-called stiletto switchblade was a revelation to US buyers accustomed to the utilitarian nature of most U.S.-made automatic knives such as the Schrade Presto pocketknife. Consumer demand for more of these knives resulted in the importation of large numbers of side-opening and Sliding knife switchblades, primarily from Italy. In the case of the switchblade, the name stiletto derives from the blade design, since most Italian designs incorporated a long, slender blade tapering to a needle-like point, together with a slim-profile handle and vestigial cross-guard reminiscent of the medieval weapon. The majority of these stiletto pattern switchblade knives used a now-iconic slender bayonet-style blade with a single sabre-ground edge and an opposing false edge. Other blade styles included the double-edged dagger and the curved-edge kris. Some were flimsy souvenirs made for tourists or novelty purchasers, while others were made with solid materials and workmanship. Eventually, many thousands of Italian switchblades were exported to the US. Around this time, the traditional Italian switchblade 'picklock' method of blade release was largely replaced by the tilt bolster mechanism, ending the "Golden Age" of hand-crafted Italian switchblades.

As with the medieval stiletto upon which it was based, the so-called stiletto switchblade was intended to be a concealable weapon optimized for thrusting rather than cutting or slashing (many imported stiletto switchblades had no sharpened cutting edge at all). These knives ranged in blade length from . As a weapon, the stiletto switchblade was much less effective than most fixed-blade hunting and military knives commonly available in the US, including the Bowie knife and dagger, which could inflict deep slashing cuts as well as stab wounds. However, its peculiar properties of easy concealment and rapid blade deployment appealed to some, and as with any other knife, the stiletto switchblade could inflict a severe wound, given sufficient blade length.