The George Schrade Knife Company was at 46 Seymour Street, Bridgeport, Connecticut. Many of his knives have patent dates on them since they specialized in knives invented by him.
George first entered the cutlery field in 1893 when he founded the Press Button Knife Company of New York City. They later moved to Walden, New York, and a partnership with the Walden Knife Company was formed. Schrade sold his interest to the Walden Knife Company in 1903.
Along with his brothers, Jacob and William, he founded the Schrade Cutlery Company in 1904. In 1906, a new type of switchblade was added to their line. George invented a shielding machine that cut out a cavity in the handle for the shield. Until this time, the operation was performed by hand. The hand method was slow, and not always accurate. The machine solved both problems.
In 1910, George Schrade left the Schrade Cutlery Company, and devoted his time to marketing his shielding machine. He traveled to England and set it up in the Thomas Turner factory. When the workers heard of the machine, they went on strike. Schrade was forced to remove his machine and leave. He then moved to Solingen, Germany and opened a factory to manufacture his switchblade knife for European sales. The outbreak of WWI soon brought this endeavor to an end. He remained in Germany for eighteen months, hoping the war would end.
In 1916, he returned to the United States and began working on another automatic-opening knife. He perfected this knife, and was granted a patent for it in 1917. He moved to Bridgeport, Connecticut in 1919, and went to work for the Challenge Cutlery Company.
Flylock Knife Company knives were made by George Schrade and his son, George, from 1921 to 1925. In 1925, he sold the patent rights to the Challenge Cutlery Company. He continued to manufacture the flylock type knives, under the marking “Challenge Cutlery Company”. In 1928, the Challenge firm went out of business. To pay Challenge’s debt to George Schrade, he was given some machinery from the Challenge factory.
In 1929, the George Schrade Knife Company was opened. The company specialized in making knives invented by the owner. Wire jacks, a pull ball automatic-opener, the “Presto” automatic-openers, along with a regular line of pocket knives. George Schrade died in 1940, and his son George, and grandson Theodore then took over the business. They were sold to Boker USA in 1956. Boker ran the firm until 1958, using the Boker marking.
(Featured image) George Schrade box label for “Presto” switchblade knives, c 1930.
c 1929-1956