All About Pocket Knives

Hello,

I recently picked up this small serpentine 2 blade jack. When I was trying to identify the maker and date of manufacture I found that the only identifying marks on it are a Patent 2297855 with U.S.A. under the patent number. I did look up the patent number online and found that the patent was for a clip-on shell bolster designed to be clipped onto the knife's scales. The patent was issued to an engineer employed by the Utica Cutlery Co. in 1940. This seemed to answer the "who made it" question, and also gave me a starting point for the "when was it made" question. What I can't find any information on is whether or not the use of the patent number as a tang stamp was a permanent marking or only a temporary marking until the knife design was moved to full production under a different tang stamp. The knife is definitely a WW-II era manufacture because there is no brass used in the knife, but I don;t know if the knife was only made in 1940, or if there were more made throughout the war years.
Does anyone out there have more information on the use of patent numbers as tang stamps?

From the pictures I am thinking that it was made by Colonial. At first I thought Imperial, but on theirs the entire side handle clips on. With Colonial, only the bolster clipped onto the plastic handles.
Both often made the knives with little to no brass, so it might be from the 1960's or 1970's. There is not a good way to pin down the date very accurately.
I will follow this thread to learn more if someone has better information, but that is my guess.

Check this:

viewtopic.php?t=48782


Bob

Thanks to both of you for your replies. As I said,when I looked up the patent it was pretty obvious that the patent was issued to Utica Cutlery, so my bet is that the knife was made by them. My real question is with the date. Although the patent was issued in 1940, there is no real way to date this knife. I thought that it was WWII era due to the lack of brass, but as Reverend pointed out Colonial and Imperial (and probably more) would routinely use little to no brass in their cheaper knives, so dating this is hard. I was hoping that the patent tang stamp could be used to narrow down the date window, but Bob actually opened it up wider with his thread which showed the same patent number under a patent pending tang stamp. Oh well, I guess that it will just be one of the great mysteries of humanity. Again, thank both of you for your help.