True Stories! Victorinox Knives

Gibert V. Levin from th USA tells an almost incredible story in a letter dated 23 September 1991. This time it's not about the Swiss knife saving a life or being used to rescue some hopeless situation, but about the little red knife itself having 'survived' 4 years almost undamaged in a purification tank. Mr Lenvin wrote to Victorinox in Ibach:

In 1973 I installed my new invention for sewage treatment at Seneca Falls, New York. One morning as I was crossing the bridge over the aeration tank of the treatment plant, I saw that the setting on one of the instruments was incorrect. I took out my dependable Swiss Army Knife to make the necessary adjustment. The knife slipped out of my hand and fell into the aeration tank. The function of the aeration tank in a treatment plant is to oxidize waste. This oxidizing environment is very corrosive to metals.

A Parcel In The Mail

Four years later, in 1977, I received a small parcel by mail with a note from Al Hawk, the supervisor of the Seneca Falls plant. They had emptied the aeration tank and found my Swiss Army Knife at the bottom. The parcel contained the knife. It was in astonishingly good condition. The only thing wrong of any note was that the spring for the scissors was missing: it had dissolved. There was also some oxide on the aluminum parts that keep the blades separate. The plastic casing and cover had only suffered very minor damage near to the toothpick and tweezers. I intended long time ago to send the knife back with my complements to the company which manufactures such durable knives. I have looked after the knife and since then have never used it. I enclose it for your attention as evidence to this almost incredible occurrence. I can assure you that very few products could have survived treatment like this, the components would have dissolved or simply disappeared.

Actually, I have wanted to write to you about this story for a long time but never got around to it. A similar article in the Wall Street Journal has now prompted me to write.

A pocket-knife used as a scalpel on a domestic flight to Bangalore, India, a child was in danger of choking to death on a sweet that was stuck in his throat. Thanks, however to a quick witted doctor and the Victorinox pocket-knife, the child was saved. A similar incident happened on a Dublin street. In both cases lives were saved thanks to the knife from Ibach.

Passengers on a domestic flight in January 1976 witnessed the terrifying moments in which a young mother cried out for help in desperation because her child had swallowed a hard sweet and was in danger of choking. At first an attempt was made to rescue the child with an oxygen cylinder, but without success. Fortunately there was a doctor on the flight. The child was already in a critical condition, so he decided to carry out an emergency operation. However, the first-aid box on board did not have a scalpel. The hostess appealed urgently for a pocket knife over the loudspeakers. A passenger handed the doctor a clean, new and sharpened Swiss Officer's Knife. The doctor quickly performed a tracheotomy. This courageous action saved the child. Shortly afterward they landed in Bangalore and the child was rushed to a hospital. There was not even an infection as a result of the emergency operation.