After working as a worker in tuttlingen (place name) in southern Germany for several years, he returned to his hometown at the age of 24. 1884 opened his own factory in Ibach (place name) near Schwiertz (place name).
At that time, there was hardly any industry in Schwiertz, so many young farmers were forced to emigrate to North America, Australia or New Zealand.
In order to create new employment opportunities, Karl elson initiated and founded the Swiss Tool Industry Mutual Aid Association in 189 1. Its main purpose is to manufacture soldiers' knives that the Swiss army must buy from solingen.
189 1 10 in June, the association made the first saber for the Swiss army.
After that, Karl elson began to make other beautifully designed knives. He used names such as student knife, officer knife and farmer knife to distinguish them, instead of numbers.
Soldiers' knives are big and heavy, so Karl elson specially made a lighter and more beautiful knife for officers. This knife has a small blade and a bottle opener besides all blades, awls, canned screwdrivers and screwdrivers on soldiers' knives.
This new model with six blades on two springs is called "officer's knife" by Carl.
This design was officially registered in the monthly report No.2 of 1897.
This convenient multifunctional knife quickly became very popular and began to receive more and more orders from abroad.
The function of the knife is constantly improving, and soon tools such as wood saws and scissors are added to the knife.
Soon, the big screwdriver was added with a bottle cap screwdriver, and the can screwdriver was added with a small screwdriver.
Then nail file, toothpick, tweezers, metal saw with metal file, scale remover with hook and scale, cross screwdriver, key ring and magnifying glass were added to the knife.
Today's Swiss army knife can have 100 multiple combination functions.
Among all kinds of sabers, the "flagship" is the "Swiss champion" with 3 1 function.
The total weight of all tools and tool box of this knife does not exceed the planned 95g (6.5oz), so it is easy to carry.
Both the new york Museum of Modern Art and the German Museum of Applied Art in Munich have collected Vickers "Champion" as "Excellent Industrial Design".
"Swiss Champion" consists of 64 independent parts, which need to go through more than 450 processes in the production process.
1909, after Karl elson's mother died, he took his mother's Christian name victory as his trademark.
Stainless steel was invented in 192 1, so after Ibach (place name) made a stainless steel knife, the word INOX was combined with victory.
Today, VICTORINOX has more than 950 employees. It is the largest industrial enterprise in Schwartz (place name) and the largest tool manufacturer in Europe.
1945- 1949, VICTORINOX pocket knives were sold in large quantities to the specialty stores of the American armed forces, which also made the Swiss army knife famous all over the world.
For American officers and soldiers, the name "Offiziermesser" is too difficult and taboo, so they call it "Swiss Army Knife" for short.
Now this name has become a household name in English-speaking countries and regions.
Known as "Couteau Suise" in France and "Schweizer Messer" in Germany and Austria, both refer to Swiss knives.
US President lyndon johnson once presented 4,000 knives with his initials engraved on them to his guests at the White House.
Later, Presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush followed this tradition.
Swiss diplomats and senior military officials often present Swiss army knives to the host countries they visit.
Swiss army knives are particularly attractive to pilots.
1960, after FRANCIS GRAY POWERS, the pilot of the U.S. U2 reconnaissance plane, was shot down over Russia, the Russians made all his belongings public, including the famous red Swiss army knife.
The Nigerian Air Force has ordered a large number of Swiss army knives with curved blades, which can be used to cut the ropes that bind parachutes and escape at low tide.
Because the Germans also bought Ibach's saber from 1976, the olive green scabbard is printed with Swiss "+".
NASA also listed the Swiss Army Knife as standard equipment for the space shuttle Columbia.
"Swiss Army Knife" is often copied in Germany, France, Spain, the United States, Japan, China and other foreign countries, but the quality is not as good as the original.
Unfortunately, however, many foreign copies were printed with Swiss crosses, which had to be stopped by mediation ordered by the Swiss ambassador and the court.
Criminals drew a cross on the saber to confuse the authenticity, but only two Swiss manufacturers, VICTORINOX and WENGER, were officially authorized to use the cross on the saber.
At present, there are two main brands of authentic Swiss army knives in the world. They are1Vinos Enterprise built in the Alps in central Switzerland in 1984 and1Vigo Enterprise built in Droemmont, Switzerland in 1993.
They produce similar Swiss army knives. The difference between trademarks is that Vinos' shield is embedded with the national emblem of the Swiss cross, while Vigo's shield is embedded with the cross. In addition, the lower end of its main knife is also engraved with the names of Victorinoxswitzerland and WengerDelemontSwitzerland respectively. Without these inscriptions, it is definitely not an authentic Swiss army knife.
When it comes to the price of Swiss army knives, it is naturally not low.
An authentic Swiss army knife should be above RMB 100, and a Swiss champion with more than 30 functions should be at least above 300 yuan. But if we think this is a commodity that can be used for a lifetime, naturally we won't feel that its price deviates from its value.