<P> During the late 1880s, the Swiss Army decided to purchase a new folding pocket knife for their soldiers . This knife was to be suitable for use by the army in opening canned food and disassembling the Swiss service rifle, the Schmidt--Rubin, which required a screwdriver for assembly . </P> <P> The Swiss Army Knife was not the first multi use pocket knife . In 1851 in "Moby Dick" (chapter 107), Melville references the "Sheffield contrivances, assuming the exterior - though a little swelled - of a common pocket knife; but containing, not only blades of various sizes, but also screw - drivers, cork - screws, tweezers, awls, pens, rulers, nail - filers, countersinkers ." </P> <P> In January 1891, the knife received the official designation Modell 1890 . The knife had a blade, reamer, can - opener, screwdriver, and grips made out of dark oak wood that some say was later partly replaced with ebony wood . At that time no Swiss company had the necessary production capacity, so the initial order for 15,000 knives was placed with the German knife manufacturer Wester & Co. from Solingen, Germany . These knives were delivered in October 1891 . </P> <P> In 1891, Karl Elsener, then owner of a company that made surgical equipment, set out to manufacture the knives in Switzerland itself . At the end of 1891 Elsener began production of the Modell 1890 knives . Elsener then wanted to make a pocketknife more suitable to an Officer . In 1896, Elsener succeeded in attaching tools on both sides of the handle using a special spring mechanism: this allowed 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 . On 12 June 1897, this knife featuring a second smaller cutting blade, corkscrew, and wood fiber grips was originally registered with the patent office as The Officer's and Sports Knife, though it was never part of a military contract . </P>

Where was the first swiss army knife made