Okapi (knife)
The Okapi is a pocket knife that was produced from 1902 to 1987 by the Ernst Gerling company from Solingen for the German colonies and protected areas and was primarily intended for export to Africa. The name "okapi" comes from the giraffe-like animal okapi , which had only just been discovered in the Belgian Congo at the beginning of the 20th century . Okapi knives have been manufactured in South Africa since 1987 and were no longer available in Germany for a long time. In the 1960s, okapi knives had a special place in the subcultural rude boy scene in Jamaica as a side effect of juvenile delinquency in the ghettos, especially in the capital Kingston .
The Okapi knives were made from carbon steel ( carbon steel produced). It is locked using a back spring with a ring. The knife is closed by sticking a finger through the ring and lifting the spring. Behind the end of the blade there is a corrugated locking hook so that the knife can be safely closed when the spring is released again.
In addition to the Okapi knife, the Ernst Gerling company manufactured other articles from pressed beech wood veneer such as trays, bowls, bread bowls and especially knife handles for their own production as well as for other steel goods factories until they went bankrupt in 1987.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b FIRMA ERNST GERLING from Solingen with the sign "Okapi" from 1902 - 1987, more than 1 billion knives in 85 years all over the world
- ^ Stephen Davis, Bob Marley Schenkman Books, 1985, 286 pp. 49