Claudia ZahnMar 7

The Underwood Multi-tool (c. 1850)

Decades before the first Swiss Army knife (1891), London’s Underwood of Haymarket crafted this "harped" pocket kit. Designed for Victorian sportsmen, it features a hoof pick, saw, and corkscrew. A rare 19th-century masterpiece of portability.

By #SteampunkTendencies
#Architecture #Design #Style #Nature #Art #Artist #Photo #Photographer #Urbanism #City #Village #Staircases #History #Histoire #Abandoned #AbandonedPlaces

Show threadTheriacMar 7
@Adrenochrome
love the notch which doubles as locking tools closed and open - an elegant solution
Show threadGabriel PettierMar 7
@Theriac @Adrenochrome wanted to comment on that too, i wonder how much force it requires to open the "spring" that connects both sides so that the notch can be overcome, must have been some work tweaking that, to make it weak enough it’s possible, but strong enough the tools stay locked when you use them. Nice design.
Show threadTheriacMar 7
@tshirtman @Adrenochrome
I imagine the horseshoe shape is the spring.
Show threadGabriel Pettier
@Theriac @Adrenochrome yes, that’s what i meant, it’s both a protection between the tool and things directly aligned to them, and the spring that holds the whole thing together.
Mar 7 at 5:29pmWeb
Show threadGabriel PettierMar 7

@Theriac @Adrenochrome Which reminds me, many of us probably underestimate how big mechanics was in the 19th century, i fetched this PDF sometime ago, following a maker’s recommendation, for inspiration, it shows a *lot* of contraptions, some generic, some very specific, a lot of human ingenuity went into these creations.

https://archive.org/details/1800-mechanical-movements-devices-and-appliances_202005/page/294/mode/2up

1800 Mechanical Movements, Devices And Appliances : Gardner D. Hiscox : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

A fascinating compendium of early-20th-century mechanical devices, this expansive work rangesfrom basic hooks and levers to complex machinery used in steam,...

Internet Archive