The spike was used to untie knots while packing the parachutes. 'paratrooper knife') was initially issued to German flight crews and paratroops, primarily for the purpose of cutting a trapped parachutist from his rigging in case he landed with a tangled parachute, or became entangled in trees or in the water with the shroud lines. First produced in 1937, the often so called Fallschirmjägermesser ( lit. 'flyer's cutting knife'), which utilizes a four-inch (100 mm) telescoping (OTF), gravity-propelled locking blade. One of the most recognizable gravity knives is the World War II-era Flieger-Kappmesser ( lit.
German Luftwaffe Fallschirmjäger-Messer or air force paratrooper knife Factory-made gravity knives have various types of buttons, triggers, and fulcrum levers, which usually are used to release the blade from both the open and the closed positions.ĭesign and operation Flieger-Kappmesser / Luftwaffe Gravity Knife (LGK) While most military gravity knives utilize a locking blade design, other types may not mechanically lock open but rely instead upon friction to wedge the rear section of the blade against the interior of the handle. The gravity knife uses a button, trigger, or fulcrum lever to release the blade from both the open and the closed positions, and may use a side-folding or telescoping (out-the-front, or OTF) blade. Hence, historically they have been issued to parachutists to cut off caught lines, such as lines tangled in trees, a major potential use of the gravity knife. The main purpose of gravity opening is that it allows opening and closing to be done one handed, in situations where the other hand is occupied. This mechanism of opening is fundamentally different from the switchblade, which extends its spring-propelled blade automatically upon the push of a button, switch, or fulcrum lever. Knife that opens its blade by the force of gravityĪ gravity knife is a knife with a blade contained in its handle, and that opens its blade through the force of gravity.
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