Related Objects

An image showing a variety of drafting pens and pencils from the Division of Medicine and Science.

Engineering draftsmen sometimes needed other writing implements as well as objects that helped maintain their pens and pencils.

Search term: *:* Resource Type: pen knife Clear All

Pen Knife

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.
Description
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.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
early 20th century
ID Number
1978.2110.13
accession number
1978.2110
catalog number
336739

Our collection database is a work in progress. We may update this record based on further research and review. Learn more about our approach to sharing our collection online.

If you would like to know how you can use content on this page, see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use. If you need to request an image for publication or other use, please visit Rights and Reproductions.