It was June 12th 1897 when Karl Elsener legally registers his "soldiers' knife" for use by the Swiss arm. Alarmed by the fact the Swiss Army was importing Solingen blades from neighboring Germany, Elsener sought to manufacture his own knife for his army. His prototype of the Swiss army knife appeared in 1891, it featured a wooden handle and included a blade, a screwdriver and a can opener. Not satisfied with his creation he modified it to include a second blade using a revolutionary spring mechanism. Like they say rest is history. Today Victorinox manufactures more than 34,000 Swiss Army knives everyday. Besides being a must-have for Boy Scouts, building contractors and mountaineers, it is even carried into space aboard the space shuttle. On my last trip to the Alps I remember picking them up as souvenirs for my family and friends. They even engrave the names onto the handle for keepsakes.

Victorinox supplies the army with about 50,000 knives each year. Although many varieties are available one of the more complex ones is the SwissChamp model. The piece sells for $88 and includes a large blade, small blade, can opener with small screwdriver, bottle opener with large screwdriver and wire stripper, scissors, pliers with wire cutter, wood saw, fish scaler with hook disgorger and ruler, metal saw with metal file and nail file, magnifying glass, reamer with sewing eye, Phillips screwdriver, corkscrew, hook, wood chisel, fine screwdriver, mini-screwdriver, ballpoint pen, straight pin, tweezers, key ring and a toothpick.

The Giant (it's 9 inches thick) is a commemorative knife and it contains 85 devices allowing for 110 functions. Price- $1,200.

Keeping in sync with technology the newer ones feature laser pointer, USB flash drive and even an MP3 player.

Source