Pen Knife
date: label: date made
content: early 20th century
notes: label: Description
content: This 5" steel knife blade probably has a celluloid (rather than an ivory) handle. It was received with a sizable collection of mathematical drawing instruments, but makers of drawing instruments did not typically advertise knives in their catalogs. This object may have been useful for sharpening pen quills and pencils. Draftsmen also used knives as erasers, but the blade on this example is shaped differently from the blades on the "steel erasers" depicted in Keuffel & Esser and Dietzgen catalogs. Compare to the knife in 1990.0690.01.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
topic: label: Subject
content: Mathematics
label: Subject
content: Drawing Instruments
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Mathematics
label: See more items in
content: Pens and Pencils
label: See more items in
content: Science & Mathematics
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Ruth A. Ming
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1978.2110.13
label: accession number
content: 1978.2110
label: catalog number
content: 336739
objectType: label: Object Name
content: pen knife
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: steel (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: plastic (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 12.5 cm x 1.2 cm x 1.2 cm; 4 29/32 in x 15/32 in x 15/32 in