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Although the Officer’s Knife did not become part of the Swiss Army’s official equipment, it rapidly became a favourite. This model of pocket knife, with only two springs for six blades, was the basic model for what is now universally known as the Swiss Army knife. Besides the blade, punch, can opener and screwdriver fitted to the soldier’s model, there was a second smaller blade, sometimes called the erasing blade, and a corkscrew. Elsener, who gave his knives names, produced the Officer’s Knife as a refinement of the Soldier’s Knife. It was on his initiative that the Swiss Master Cutlers’ Association was founded, the main aim being to produce the soldiers’ knives that the Swiss Army had been importing from the German cutlery town of Solingen. In 1884, after serving his apprenticeship as a cutler in Tuttlingen in Germany, 24-year-old Karl Elsener returned home and opened his own business in Ibach near Schwyz. “Because StayGlow shines in the dark, this makes it a perfect product for the immediate need of having light when it goes dark.” The story of the Swiss Army knife, which has made its way into the “Good Design” collection of New York’s Museum of Modern Art, goes back over 100 years. “When earthquakes occur, the first thing that goes out is the light,” Mathis explained.
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And Mathis says the Japanese have already shown particular interest in the product because of the threat of earthquakes. The latest company baby is called StayGlow because of its fluorescent handle. Over the past two years, for example, Victorinox has come out with a knife featuring an altimeter, its Voyager has a clock with an alarm and timer, and its Cybertool has up to 41 features for electronics and computer enthusiasts. The consumer environment changes and the marketplace requires constant innovation and adaptation,” Mathis added. “Every year we have novelties coming out which are needed and demanded by the market. Victorinox, based near the central city of Schwyz, is the larger of the two companies in Switzerland officially allowed to manufacture the knives.
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“Innovation is, as for any manufacturing company, extremely important and vital in order to survive in the future,” Walter Mathis, export manager of the Victorinox company told swissinfo. But to keep that reputation, innovation plays a key role. Its image is so polished that it is frequently used in advertising for products that have absolutely nothing to do with a pocket tool. If anything is a real symbol of Switzerland, it must surely be the Swiss Army knife, the little red prodigy that stands for precision and quality. This content was published on Decem13:56 Decem13:56 It has saved lives, it is a present of presidents, it is standard equipment for Space Shuttle crews and it continues to sell by the million. Victorinox makes more than 100,000 knives every day.