Today’s Testo: Harry Houdini, the Swiss army knife and internet indecency | Testo Limited Blog

No day is a new day, the past is just as important as the present and to grow, evolve and move forward we need to learn from what has come before.


On this day in history (as well as Houdini escaping a strait jacket suspended 40 feet in the air and a would-be law to ban indecency on the internet being blocked in America) Karl Elsener patented his penknife design which would go on to become the Swiss army knife as we know it today.

It was today in 1897 that Karl Elsener patented his design for one of the worlds most well known and well used multitools, the Swiss army knife. In the 100 years that have followed his invention, the Swiss army knife has grown to astonishing popularity and on top of the fact that over 34,000 of them leave the central factory in Switzerland everyday, the iconic multitool has also been to the summit of Everest and is even orbiting the Earth in the space shuttle.

Two of the key reasons for the huge success of Mr. Elsener’s invention were the outstanding quality of the product and it’s inherent versatility. These same qualities which have carefully guided the steady growth and the almost cult following of the Swiss army knife can be seen evident in the business values and the way that we like to operate at Testo.

The huge range of products that Testo manufacture and the wide range of parameters that our instruments can measure really does mean that almost whatever the job (much like with a Swiss army knife), Testo has the tool that you need. Whether you are looking to provide thermal imaging surveys, perform flue gas analysis or accurately measure temperatures in a kitchen environment, head over to the testo website now to have a look at how we can help you.

Click here to visit the Testo website for full detail and information on all of our products.