Combination pocket knife/"revolver"

Images Uploads Knife Gun Thumb

From a 1930s Johnson Smith & Co catalog, "The Defender," a combo pocket knife/"revolver." It's clearly "a most useful combination that will be thoroughly appreciated by sportsmen, hunters, campers, night watchmen, cyclists, automobilists, travellers, ladies, and the public generally… Nothing could be more serviceable on a fishing tramp as it obviates the necessity of carrying a heavy gun." (via Weird Universe)

David Pescovitz is Boing Boing's co-editor/managing partner. He's also a research director at Institute for the Future. On Instagram, he's @pesco.

More at Boing Boing

Eurovision 2013: An American in London

The technology that links taxonomy and Star Trek

Brainspore

Another fine example of the technology that made Switzerland’s military so formidable.
Christopher Vena

Which is the part that revolves?
spacemunky

Except it’s not a revolver…? Johnson Smith & Co. probably regretted the line “If you do not find it all that we describe, you may return it…”
ryuthrowsstuff

I wonder if you’ve heard of the Apache Revolver. Revolver, brass knuckles, and knife in a handy folding form factor.
Childe Roland

The barrel revolves around the pinned end as you raise it from the handle. But I agree, revolving for storage vs. revolving for multi-shot capacity are two entirely different things and the latter is the universal pistol definition.
Roderick Villanueva

Finally! A solution to the age-old problem of “bringing a knife to a gunfight”.
awjt

What could possibly go wrong?
Jerril

HA! I learned about this reading GURPS High Tech (for 4th edition). And I was re-reading the combination weapons section just last night, about this very gadget!

Love seeing the original advertisement, very good timing!

Oh roleplaying games. What can’t you teach me?
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_ANE3SDHCG2366ZWWZSIRSO6WDY Juby Monkey

And that was how little Jimmy blew his nuts off.
Phikus

…And it’s got “great penetration.” Who can’t use a little of that?
Maxload

i’m confused?, is this for shooting Tramps who are fishing?
Mister44

Meh – these little gems are little more than novelties. I wouldn’t want to use a .22lr on anything more dangerous than a rabid raccoon.
- GlenBlank
  
  Hey, the .22 is a preferred cartridge for gangland assassinations. :-)
  
  (Of course, that usually involves 5 or 6 rounds fired point-blank into the victim’s head, so this little zip gun probably wouldn’t be the weapon of choice for that application, either.)
  - That Evening Sun
    
    I can’t recall who it was that pointed this out, but I remember someone in that line of work pointing out that a small caliber round at close range to the head was much cleaner and quieter than using larger rounds like 9mm, .40, or .45. I remember whoever it was mentioned that the smaller slug will enter the skull and then “bounce around”, inflicting maximum damage without the mess of an exit wound. Was it Clemenza as he was coaching Michael before the McCluskey assassination in The Godfather?
    - MrWednesday7
      
      Thanks. See my post above.
    - GlenBlank
      
      Yes, exactly. Little chance of the round exiting, which means less mess, less chance of unwanted collateral damage, and, often, a more damaging wound. Not to mention less noise, less recoil to spoil your aim on subsequent rounds, and sufficiently cheap (and otherwise useless) that you won’t mind discarding it afterward.
      
      Can’t help you on the movies, though; I didn’t learn about it from the movies. :-)
- MrWednesday7
  
  .22 cal professional assassin’s weapon of choice, also used by KGB and Nazi executioners and many others. Shoot the victim at point blank range in the back of the head. No exit wound = no sticky mess.
  
  See “The Iceman”
GlenBlank

Personally, I think if it doesn’t go all the way ’round, it’s not ‘revolving’, it’s just pivoting. :-)

But the part I really like is the claim that it’s “…just as effective and equal in shooting qualities to any pistol made.”

Any pistol made by prison inmates, maybe.
nosehat

Nothing could be more serviceable on a fishing tramp as it obviates the necessity of carrying a heavy gun.

The necessity? I guess a “fishing tramp” is very, very different from the ordinary “fishing trip”.
That Evening Sun

I’m no expert but my instinct is that a .22 round fired from a barrel-less chamber would be so lacking in accuracy and fire power that it would be worse than useless in a self defense situation. Maybe the report would scare away curious woodland animals.
- eryximachus
  
  Press it against your target’s body, then pull the trigger.
  
  Even using a blank round, that can kill.
irksome

Great fun at the airport!

“I’m sorry, sir; you can’t carry a knife on a plane.”

“That’s not a knife, it’s a gun.”
TokenCapitalist

Nice little novelty, but I’m not giving up my Sig over it.
mccrum

This is pretty useless to me without a camera.
AirPillo

Johnson Smith & Co. later made a killing in the business of selling prosthetic hands.
cdh1971

‘Accurate Shooting’ ’Great Penetration’

This is the age of taking action. Get informed about VIAGRA and get ready!
francoisroux

Your airpost security(TSA I think) would probably drop a nuke on your head if you got within 5 miles of an airport with one of those…
TheMudshark

A directory of wonderful combinations.