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 Bernhard Lehmann Karl Bernhard Lehmann Karl Bernhard Lehmann (27 September 1858 – 30 January 1940) was a German hygienist and bacteriologist born in Zurich. He was a brother to publisher Julius Friedrich Lehmann (1864–1935). Lehmann studied medicine at the University of Munich, where one of his instructors was Max von Pettenkofer (1818–1901). In 1886, he received his habilitation, and from 1894 to 1932 was a full professor of hygiene at the University of Würzburg (emeritus 1932). He is remembered for pioneer toxicological research he performed with Ferdinand Flury (1877–1947), of which the exposure limits of various substances encountered in the workplace were