Imperial Trick Knife

[.308 Norma]

Hey hso, can you tell us a little more about those "Imperial Trick Knives?" When, and how long were they made?

I'm asking because my wife found this one in a box of stuff that she kind of "inherited" when her dad passed in 2005. We'd never seen one before. It took me a while to get it open, and even after I did, I didn't know how I did it.
After I saw your post, I did a Google search for "Imperial Trick Knives" and discovered that Imperial even built some "Roy Rogers" Trick Knives. I wonder how many of those they built.

 

[hso]

These little spring opening (but not to the point of fully open) knives used a floating round cross bar lock internally that dropped into and out of the notch in the ricasso of the blade. Point the pivot down and press the blade in and release the blade opens enough to grasp and pull the rest of the way open. To lock closed, partially close, tilt the pivot down, close the blade into the handle pressing in and tip it pivot up so the pin drops into the notch. Release pressure from the blade and the pin is now held in place with the blade locked close by pressure from the backspring pushing the ricasso.

As you can see in the video, you may have to shake or tap to get the pin to move.

Felix A. Miranda of the Imperial Knife Co applied for a patent in 1939 and again in 1941 and the application was approved on March 5,1942. The patents weren't about the pin lock feature. Instead they're about knife construction and handle scales and manufacturing efficiencies (reading the patents helps avoid the error of assuming the patent numbers are about the lock). They were made for at least 30 years. Of course there were later versions made for United Cutlery in Hong Kong as novelty "novelty" knives after Imperial stopped making them.

They were generally thought of as "novelty" knives and sold in all metal or your wife's acrylic "cracked ice" handle scale. They also were inexpensive enough that they were used as advertising knives.







And United Cutlery Hong Kong made novelty "novelty" knife with Roy Rogers marking.


And as mentioned above, they were also used for kids and fans of movie/television entertainment novelties, i.e. Roy Rogers.