Thomas Willoughby
Great Exhibition … Official Descriptive Catalogue (1851) mentions a small collection of 2-blade ‘secret dial’ pen knives displayed by Thomas Willoughby. The Sheffield Independent, 29 March 1851, explained that the handles of the pen knives had three small dials, which had to be turned to a certain point before the blades could be opened. The newspaper added: ‘Whether or not there is much utility in this contrivance, we leave others to pronounce’. Willoughby, a spri....
