Imperial Scout/Camp Knife, Info Requested

[afishhunter]

"IMPERIAL"
"PROV R.I."
Tang Stamp on main blade

"Can Opener"
"Pat Pending"
on can opener, in two lines.

No other tang stamps.

Four blades: Spear Point main; Long flathead screwdriver/cap lifter combination; Can Opener; Pen Blade
I believe the bolsters are steel (one had rust), liners are brass. There are pins/nails, it does not have the Swinden Key construction. Also, it does not have the clamshell one piece bolsters/covers.
There is a bail.
Covers are black jigged plastic(?) They might be bone, but considering it is an Imperial, plastic seems more likely, since Imperial was the inexpensive no frills line.

Knife is 3 5/8 inches closed.

There is no "+" on any of the blades. I am pretty sure the main and pen are carbon steel. (main had a couple small spots of red rust, which I removed)

1) Would the can opener and screwdriver/cap lifter be carbon steel or stainless?

2) Are the back springs more likely to be carbon steel or stainless?

3) Approx. age of this knife?

I cannot get pictures to post. If anyone wants me to email them pictures of the knife to post, I will be more than happy to comply.

This knife is now one of the three knives I carry every day.

Thank you in advance.

 

[tongueriver]

Unless there is a tiny crown in the tang stamp, and if all text is in straight lines, my chart says 1936 to 1952. Could be bone or a man-made substance; pics would help. Very unlikely that any of the steel would be stainless. Swinden construction machinery was ONLY found in the Schrade buildings, and only after about 1960 or 1961. The plus sign, designating stainless steel, is strictly the province of Schrade-marked knives, to my knowledge. Pre-war Imperial knives were sometimes of quite nice quality, although I don't recall seeing any that I would call fancy. I have seen more than one three-spring cattle knife with 4 or 5 blades and a milled center liner. Very nice knives. If the covers on your knife are tight to the bolsters with no evident shrinkage, they are probably bone. If, under very close scrutiny you can see any tiny almost microscopic lines or ticks in the covers they are probably bone, because man-made materials are almost always completely homogeneous in appearance, without the marks found within bone which were part of the vascular structure found in living bone.

 

[afishhunter]

Thank you.
The text is all straight lines, no crown detected.
I'll polish up the edges of the covers, see if that brings out the bone like on my Case and Rough Riders.

Too late to get good photos today. I'll take a couple tomorrow and send them to you.