The anecdote begins in 1891 near Karl Elsener, manager of a corporation that made surgical machines. He supported the Association of Swiss Master Cutlers, to secure small bag knives to the Swiss army, who at this case were exploitation German-made ones. It took Elsener cardinal eld to come in up near what he titled the "Soldier's knife" (known present in Switzerland as the "Offiziersmesser"). With suggestions from an person friend, Jeannine Keller, the productive quintessence had a woody handle, and came beside a blade, screwdriver, can opener, and a knock. It was in truth ready-made available to the service earlier 1896, but Elsener was not felicitous beside the device, and in time was competent to put blades on both sides by victimisation a favoured gears victimisation a single-handed spring for some blades. This allowed him to also add a bottle opener.
Elsener's company, Victorinox, was the distinct seller of multi-function pocketknives until 1893. A ensemble in the French-speaking strip of Switzerland titled Paul Boechat & Cie began to marketplace a comparable goods. The institution was then bought by its general manager, Theodore Wenger, and the organization language unit changed to Wenger. By 1908, the Swiss rule contracted to junction the contract for knives betwixt the two companies, in some measure to conciliate German and French-speaking factions in the country, and in part to impact contention (and degrade the prices of the knives). The two companies came to an statement ended marketing, next to Victorinox exploitation the construction "The Original Swiss Army Knife" and Wenger mistreatment "The Genuine Swiss Army Knife". The later twelvemonth (1909), the Swiss army began decorating the knives beside the Swiss political unit allegory (a albescent overlap). Victorinox uses a shield near bilaterally symmetrical symmetricalness circa the cross, time Wenger uses a somewhat rodlike right-angled beside many-sided symmetry. The Swiss army uses knives near a simpler bilaterally-symmetric protective covering.