Karl Elsener (inventor) Karl Elsener (inventor) Karl Elsener (9 October 1860 - 26 December 1918) was a Swiss cutler, inventor and entrepreneur. Karl Elsener completed an apprenticeship as a knife maker in Zug. After some journeyman years he opened a factory in Ibach, Switzerland in 1884 for the manufacture of knives and surgical instruments. He invented the Swiss army knife in 1891 and developed his knife manufacturing company into what has become Victorinox. From 1912 to 1918 Elsener was a member of the cantonal parliament of the Canton of Schwyz. He was married three times. After him his son, Carl Elsener (1886-1950), and
Karl Wilhelm Gropius the diorama theatre invented by Louis Daguerre and Charles Marie Bouton. Returning to Berlin he trained under the artist and architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel as a landscape painter. From 1819 he worked as stage designer, artist and decorator for the "Hoftheater" (court theatre) and other Berlin theatres. In this capacity he designed inter alia the stage settings and backdrops for the premiere of "Der Freischütz" by Carl Maria von Weber which on 18 June 1821 opened the newly-rebuilt Schauspielhaus Berlin, designed by his teacher Schinkel. In Italy and Greece he had assembled a large collection of views, which he put