Posted 6 years ago
UncleRon
(41 items)
I have looked at several sewing-tool reference books and many scissor collector sites on the 'net and have been unable to find a pair like this one. The small screw can be loosened and then the small grip revolves 180 degrees to change it from a right-handed pair to a left-handed pair. There are no manufacturer's marks anywhere. An interesting fact is that because that the blades open both ways they must be sharpened on both sides. The overall look seems to be ca. 1900.
https://patents.google.com/patent/US3978584 This seems to be one patent for your scissors. There may be others.
Thanks, slackjack! Indeed, there are quite a few patents for ambidextrous scissors with the same rotating-bow idea, the latest of which was granted in 1993. With a bit of sleuthing I found patent US237781A, granted in 1881, which is almost exactly like mine except for the latching mechanism which is more complicated and seems more delicate and trouble-prone. As you know, many products have minor changes from the original patent by the time they get into production. I think that is probably what happened here.