Posted 8 years ago
UncleRon
(41 items)
This E. C. Simmons "Keen Kutter" brand jack knife is in the "Physician's Pattern" commonly referred to as a Doctor's knife. It is 3 3 /4" long with the blades closed and has beautiful mother-of-pearl handle scales. Both blades are tang stamped with the Simmons "splitting wedge" Keen Kutter logo. Most importantly, the knife has a seal cap at the end opposite the blades. A physician's knife has a long thin blade to reach down into the thin bottles of medications carried in a doctor's bag and a sealed end to act as a pestle to break up lumps, or pills, in order to mix them with water. The cap prevented oil from the knife from getting into the medicine and prevented the powder from getting packed into the end of the knife. Without a seal cap this would just be called a "slim jack" knife.
I like this knife! I have confirmed this is at the latest possible issue year of 1939, as it's found in the catalog for that year. It may be older, but is prior to 1912, as physician's knives were not listed in that issue. Would you like a link to the section of the catalog this item is found on?
Yes, thanks. I like to get as much info as possible about the knives I collect. Ron
http://www.blackburntools.com/articles/rose-tools-catalog-archives/keen-kutter/pdfs/simmons-1939-1101-1260.pdf
I am not exactly sure it is in this section. If not, you can go to that website and go to the archives. The 1939 catalog will be shown. I believe it was in this catalog, but I could be wrong. It may have been a similar knife
Thanks!
let me know if you manage to find info on it
Every time I try to access the site it freezes the computer and I have to use the task manager to shut off Internet Explorer and get control back.
that's unusual. I'm terribly sorry for causing such a ruckus.