Victorinox Swiss Army Cadet changes?

Sithus1966

Sithus1966

Joined
Jan 24, 2008
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I picked up my third Cadet yesterday on sale, the green version to go with my red and silver. As I was inspecting it I noticed the main screwdriver/cap lifter blade seemed to snap in place a lot harder than the others.
On further inspection I see that it's now squared off rather than rounded at the end and has a bump where it goes into the backspring. It's almost like a lockback. Has anyone else found this? I'm assuming it's new since my other two are not like that. I tried to get pictures as best I could to show it.

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Interesting, the most recent one I bought was about six months ago and it is round. I'm eager to hear if others have one like yours.

In comparing it to your older Cadets, do you like the new squared off one better?
 
Mine are about 4-6 months old and they are round as well. Interesting. I guess I have to buy a new one and check it out. Maybe they did that so it does not easily fold up on you if you have to really get pressure on something.

Bill
 
91mm cellidor models had this "half-stop" on cap-lifter for a while, and added both to the cap lifter staying "locked" when open both half-way and all the way. It's nice to see this feature on the Cadet, even if it is does not offer a half-stop.
 
I was just cleaning and oling ny Tinker and noticed that its large screw driver/ cap lifter really snapped into place as you mentioned. And looked at it like in your pictures and sure enough, it looks just like you Cadet. They must be doing this to prevent the screw driver from closing to easily while you are using it. I have had that happen before. I like it as well.

Bill
 
I don't think it's just the cadet. I bought a new bantam last year, and the combo blade has the really strong snap on opening, and theres some real resitance to closing. It's like it was re-designed for more security in use.
 
The soldier's cap lifter, Scientist's screwdriver and combo tool, Waiter's combo tool and the tinker's cap lifter all have squared out tangs.

According to Vincent my scientist is a pre-1991ish model so Vic have been doing it for a while.

I believe the reason for the half stop is that you can produce more tourque due to the longer lever arm (you have the full 91mm as opposed to ~20mm).
 
Wenger has a patent on a locking mechanism for the screwdriver/caplifter blade. I wonder if Victorinox, having bought Wenger, is starting to make use of this feature.
 
I hadn't hear of this as a feature on the 84mm before, nice spot. The little 'hump' has been used on the 91mm cap lifter and on the new Phillips (pared with the new magnifier) for a few years now. It really does make for a far more solid screwdriver.

It's good to know they're doing some work to update the 84mm tools as I was personally a bit concerned that they might be scaling back the 84mm range.
 
My Alox Pioneer Harvester screwdriver blade snaps open with athourity,seems more sturdy.
 
gbuskirk said:
Wenger has a patent on a locking mechanism for the screwdriver/caplifter blade. I wonder if Victorinox, having bought Wenger, is starting to make use of this feature.
Click to expand...

Correct me if im wrong, but isn't that only on the Ranger series? I believe it's a preassure lock where pushing on the caplifter actually causes it to lock (it's quite neat!)
 
jackknife said:
I don't think it's just the cadet. I bought a new bantam last year, and the combo blade has the really strong snap on opening, and theres some real resitance to closing. It's like it was re-designed for more security in use.
Click to expand...

Interesting. I just checked mine:

Bantam, bought new last month: improved lock on combo tool...

Cadet, bought a few months ago: old lock on both openers...

Waiter, old, beat up, & several years old: improved combo tool lock, too...

Weird.
 
Yeah, the Combo tool was given a half stop some time before 1991, perhaps as early as 1986. Here are some thoughts I put together on the changes in the 84mm Combo tool.

"Most folks who like to look at the development of Victorinox's tools will be familiar with the original shape of the Combi tool and what it looks like now, however I have found what appears to be a distinct and identifiable middle stage of development. So on to the first Combi tool:

The most striking feature of this is the bulbous tip of the tool (oh-er ;)) but there are other things that make this notably different to the modern tool. Firstly the 'hook' that catches on the underside of the bottle cap or can is really quite pointy and sharp. Also the top edge by the nail nick is very angular in shape, not the smooth curve we will see later. The last thing is something we can't see, it has not got a half stop when opening and closing. This seems to have been in use between 1982/3 and 1986.
DSCF1938.jpg



Moving on to what I think is a middle stage of development. It retains the sharp hook and the angular top edge but the screwdriver tip has changed into the form we can see on the modern tool. Also it has now got a half stop. As this is on a Waiter that has a fluted corkscrew than the likely dates would seem to be 1986-1991 but I will be the first to admit that's just an educated guess.
DSCF1939.jpg



So what we have here is a modern tool on a Waiter that is about 5 years old. The tip of the hook is now far more rounded and we can see that the top edge has now become a far smoother arc rather than the angular shape we've seen in the previous two pictures, it also retains the half stop.
DSCF1943.jpg


OK so the changes between 2 and 3 are pretty much cosmetic but I think they are different enough that it is more than just a case of one being polished more than the other, all my other modern Combi tools have the same look as number 3."


What's actually surprising (to me anyway) is that it's taken Vic so long to update the cap lifter for the 84mm range. With the 91mm one it has had the half stop since 1985 and the extra 'hump' since the mid 2000's or so. The improvement was long overdue.
 
Gareth UK said:
I hadn't hear of this as a feature on the 84mm before, nice spot. The little 'hump' has been used on the 91mm cap lifter and on the new Phillips (pared with the new magnifier) for a few years now. It really does make for a far more solid screwdriver.

It's good to know they're doing some work to update the 84mm tools as I was personally a bit concerned that they might be scaling back the 84mm range.
Click to expand...

full agreement
 
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