Knives out for makers of Swiss Army gadgets

At the far side of the x-ray machine, sometime last week, the woman was holding up a pair of nail scissors.

"But they're gold!" she said, with some distress.

The security official at Gatwick airport near London was unmoved. Leave them here, she said, or mail them back at a cost of 5. They were definitely lethal weapons, and they had to go.

Multiply this small incident by several thousand a day - in 2002, British airports were confiscating items from every 17th passenger - and it's little wonder that, in the factories responsible for producing the world's smallest sharp objects, there is discontent and despondency.

In this frosty post-September 11 world, the most venerable sharp object of all, the unassailable, indispensable Swiss army knife, is experiencing hard times.

In the 14 months after the attacks, 1.8 million knives were confiscated at United States airports, and most were little red ones with white crosses on. The confiscations have mirrored a fall in sales.

"We've lost about 10 per cent of overall Swiss army knife sales," said Hans Schorno of Victorinox, one of two companies licensed to make the knives. Once essential for anyone with pockets and MacGyver instincts, the knives are now more often seen sitting forlornly in Plexiglass airport sharp-object containers along with spoons, plastic scissors and knitting needles.

Victorinox makes 120,000 knives a day - 25 million annually - and exports to 150 countries. The range includes knives that have torches and butane lighters, and heavy-duty lock-blade and screwdriver models for police and fire brigades.

GIs used the knives in World War II, space shuttles carry them and US Presidents give them as gifts. And yes, the Swiss Army does issue 50,000 a year to new recruits. But even this is vulnerable since the Swiss voted in 2003 to cut their military forces in half.

Meanwhile, competition from fakers has been aggressive and the problems were exacerbated by a British Department of Transport ruling that allows metal cutlery, needles and nail scissors back on planes, but not knives.

Wenger, the other official manufacturer, has struggled so much it has been bought by Victorinox. But invention has characterised Swiss army knives since Karl Elsener produced his two-bladed "Officer and Sport Knife" in 1897, and the firms have placed faith in a "knifeless knife" for travellers.

The design includes a watch, clock, timer and torch, but no blade. Another design, the Swissmemory, includes USB memory and a pen.

Sales are good, says Schorno, and already there is geek approval.

"I am amazed at the satisfaction I get when I break into my sister's room," writes one on a gadget site.

"I can easily pick her lock; using the light I can search for her laptop. I can 'borrow' files, write a blackmail note with the pen, then file my nails after a job well done."

There might be life in the old knife yet.

- INDEPENDENT