X-Acto is a brand of tools owned by
Elmer's Products, Inc.Elmer's Products, Inc. is the manufacturer of Elmer's Glue-All and other crafts and home repair products, including Krazy Glue, Ross Glue, ProBond adhesives, and X-Acto craft knives. It has its headquarters in Columbus, Ohio....
These tools include knives, saws, tweezers and many other small-scale hand tools used for crafts, hobbies and other applications.
The
X-Acto knife may be called a
utility knifeA utility knife is a common tool used in various trades and crafts for a variety of purposes.-Names:In British, Australian and New Zealand English, along with Dutch, the tool is known as a Stanley knife. This name a genericised trademark named after Stanley Works, a manufacturer of such knives...
, but it is actually a short, sharp
bladeA blade is the flat part of a tool, weapon, or machine that normally has a cutting edge and/or pointed end typically made of a flaking stone, such as flint, or metal, most recently steel...
mounted on a
penA pen is a long, thin rounded device used to apply ink to a surface for the purpose of writing, usually paper. There are several different types, including ballpoint, rollerball, fountain, felt-tip. Historically, reed pens, quill pens, and dip pens were used. Modern day pens come in a varity of...
-like aluminum body, used for
craftingArts and crafts comprise a whole host of activities and hobbies that are related to making things with one's hands and skill. These can be sub-divided into handicrafts or "traditional crafts" and "the rest"...
and
hobbiesA hobby is an activity or interest that is undertaken for pleasure or relaxation in one's spare time.- Etymology :A hobby horse is a wooden or wickerwork toy made to be ridden just like a real horse...
, such as
modelmakingA scale model is a representation or copy of an object that is larger or smaller than the actual size of the object . Very often the scale model is smaller than the original and used as a guide to making the object in full size...
. Before the availability of digital image and text processing tools, preparing
camerathumb |right|Cameras from Large to Small, Film to Digital A camera is a device that records images, either as a still photograph or as moving images known as videos or movies...
-ready art for use in
printingPrinting is a process for reproducing text and image, typically with ink on paper using a printing press. It is often carried out as a large-scale industrial process, and is an essential part of publishing and transaction printing.-History:...
(literal cut and paste or
paste upPaste up refers to a method of creating, or laying out, publication pages that predates the use of the now-standard computerized page design desktop publishing programs. Completed, or camera-ready, pages are known as mechanicals or mechanical art...
) depended heavily on the use of knives like the X-Acto for trimming and manipulating slips of paper.
The knife shown is the most common type, fitted with the usual "Number 11" blade.
X-Acto is a brand of tools owned by
Elmer's Products, Inc.Elmer's Products, Inc. is the manufacturer of Elmer's Glue-All and other crafts and home repair products, including Krazy Glue, Ross Glue, ProBond adhesives, and X-Acto craft knives. It has its headquarters in Columbus, Ohio....
These tools include knives, saws, tweezers and many other small-scale hand tools used for crafts, hobbies and other applications.
X-Acto knife
The
X-Acto knife may be called a
utility knifeA utility knife is a common tool used in various trades and crafts for a variety of purposes.-Names:In British, Australian and New Zealand English, along with Dutch, the tool is known as a Stanley knife. This name a genericised trademark named after Stanley Works, a manufacturer of such knives...
, but it is actually a short, sharp
bladeA blade is the flat part of a tool, weapon, or machine that normally has a cutting edge and/or pointed end typically made of a flaking stone, such as flint, or metal, most recently steel...
mounted on a
penA pen is a long, thin rounded device used to apply ink to a surface for the purpose of writing, usually paper. There are several different types, including ballpoint, rollerball, fountain, felt-tip. Historically, reed pens, quill pens, and dip pens were used. Modern day pens come in a varity of...
-like aluminum body, used for
craftingArts and crafts comprise a whole host of activities and hobbies that are related to making things with one's hands and skill. These can be sub-divided into handicrafts or "traditional crafts" and "the rest"...
and
hobbiesA hobby is an activity or interest that is undertaken for pleasure or relaxation in one's spare time.- Etymology :A hobby horse is a wooden or wickerwork toy made to be ridden just like a real horse...
, such as
modelmakingA scale model is a representation or copy of an object that is larger or smaller than the actual size of the object . Very often the scale model is smaller than the original and used as a guide to making the object in full size...
. Before the availability of digital image and text processing tools, preparing
camerathumb |right|Cameras from Large to Small, Film to Digital A camera is a device that records images, either as a still photograph or as moving images known as videos or movies...
-ready art for use in
printingPrinting is a process for reproducing text and image, typically with ink on paper using a printing press. It is often carried out as a large-scale industrial process, and is an essential part of publishing and transaction printing.-History:...
(literal cut and paste or
paste upPaste up refers to a method of creating, or laying out, publication pages that predates the use of the now-standard computerized page design desktop publishing programs. Completed, or camera-ready, pages are known as mechanicals or mechanical art...
) depended heavily on the use of knives like the X-Acto for trimming and manipulating slips of paper.
The knife shown is the most common type, fitted with the usual "Number 11" blade. It is
inchAn inch is the name of a unit of length in a number of different systems, including Imperial units, and United States customary units. There are 36 inches in a yard and 12 inches in a foot...
es (145
mmThe millimetre is a unit of length in the metric system, equal to one thousandth of a metre, which is the current SI base unit of length.Equal to 1000 micrometres.Equal to 1000000 nanometres....
) overall. The
knurledKnurling is a manufacturing process, typically conducted on a lathe, whereby a visually-attractive diamond-shaped pattern is cut or rolled into metal. This pattern allows hands or fingers to get a better grip on the knurled object than would be provided by the originally-smooth metal surface...
collar loosens and tightens an
aluminiumAluminium or aluminum is a silvery white and ductile member of the boron group of chemical elements. It has the symbol Al; its atomic number is 13. It is not soluble in water under normal circumstances....
colletA collet is a holding device—specifically, a subtype of chuck—that forms a collar around the object to be held and exerts a strong clamping force on the object when it is tightened via a tapered outer collar...
, which holds the replaceable blade.
There are numerous other knives on the market with very similar designs, and blades are typically interchangeable between different brands.
The original knife was invented in the 1930s by Sundel Doniger, a Polish immigrant to the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. He had planned to sell it to surgeons as a
scalpelA scalpel is a small but extremely sharp bladed instrument used for surgery, anatomical dissection, and various arts and crafts. Scalpels may be disposable or re-usable. Re-usable scalpels can have attached, resharpenable blades or, more commonly, non-attached, replaceable blades...
but it was not acceptable, because it could not be cleaned. His brother-in-law, Daniel Glück (father of
Louise GlückLouise Elisabeth Glück is an American poet of German heritage. She was appointed Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in 2003, after serving as a Special Bicentennial Consultant three years prior in 2000....
, the poet), suggested that it might be a good craft tool.
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