All About Pocket Knives

Antique store, $3, kinda' unique handle. One pin holding the handle with a metal ring and two little round "things" on each side at the hilt.
Stamped on the blade: SAMUEL LEE over PAT. MAY 25, 1896.
Any one have info on this brand of kitchen knife? Where was it made, who was Samuel Lee?
The old gal feels good in the hand, believe I'll clean her up and try her out .
Treefarmer

Edit: after cleaning the date appears to show 1886 rather than '98

I can't find any thing about the knife, but it looks like a good one and in decent shape.
I wouldn't let it get away. Handy kitchen knife.

Any idea what the Pat. number would have been for?___Dave

Looks like 1886 to me from the enlarged picture.

Cool old knife.

I have no other info to add

Dave, do you suppose the patent was for the way the blade is fastened to the handle, with the little round "doohickies" on either side of the blade?
Treefarmer

..............that's a neat old knife!!!!........... ................

That would be my guess but I wonder where they go, through the blade of into the handle. It is a unusual added part that seems to not have been repeated. You are going to get your moneys worth just trying to figure this old knife with the maker/ seller and Pat. question. I love the hunt even after I hunt down an old knife. Dave

You can do a patent search online for items that were patented on that date.I recall reading somewhere that patents were issued on Tuesdays.It may take awhile but you should be able to track it down.You might PM Dimitri(Miller Bros. on here)for info on the procedure;I think he is familiar with it.

Trying to look up a patent date can be very frustrating. Not only will it bring up hundreds if not thousands of results, most of the patents will not pertain to the item you are looking for. The best way is to enter the inventors name, this can be difficult because when many are marked most time it is a name of the company or a product line model name not the name of the inventor, this knife is a good example of that, the name Samuel Lee has nothing to do with the man that invented it.

The patent is for a Shank-Supporter for wooden handle knives.

The man that invented it is ALBERT E. JOHNSON


https://www.google.com/patents/US342697 ... CB8Q6AEwAA

Thanks for the great help Miller Bro's!
Rootin' around on the computer, I found a site called Kitchen Knife Forums. There on that site was a picture of a large butcher knife with the same handle configuration but with a different stamp on the blade. The stamp consisted of an oval inside of an oval. In the outer oval was SAMUEL LEE on the top and KNIVES & STEELS on the bottom of the oval. In the center oval was L.F.& C. over PAT. MAY 25, 1896, a different date than on the one I found, May 25, 1886.
So the knife must be related to the Landry,Frary & Clark endeavors. I was surprised at what all they made over the years!
Treefarmer

Now that I think of it you will often find knife steels that are marked LEE that are purportedly made by Landers, Frary and Clark.

Isn't there a Samuel Bell Bowie maker, although I doubt, if there is, that he would also make kitchen knives. That name as a knife maker sounds very familiar. Or not. Dave