So we're watching "The Magnificent Seven" ...

[mnblade]

... last night and, during the scene where James Coburn kills that loudmouth guy by throwing a switchblade at him (goofy Hollywood stuff, I know, but that's a different topic altogether), why wife asks "Did they even <i>have</i> switchblades back then?" So I'll put that question to you auto experts, were stiletto autos available in the heyday of the Old West? I really think no, but I'd like to know for sure.

It was easier to believe the large clasp knife that Charles Bronson carried.

 

[bob bowie]

Hi,


I'm pretty sure they had Fly Lock style auto's back then, and I have seen references to Auto openers much earlier than the wild West(example: folding Bowie's, etc....).

I would check with Bernard Levine for more information.


HTH.

 

[A. G. Russell]

I have an English switchblade with a muzzle loading function that is at least 100 years older than the period in the movie (late 1800s early 1900s)

A. G.

 

[shortgoth]

Don't know about switchblades back then but they had OTF automatic devices built into sword hilts back in the 16th Century and of course the infamous "trident gauche" was also in use in the 16th Century, I have no doubts that switchblades as we know them today would be around in that time period.