1897 – Karl Elsener received a design patent for his “soldiers’ knife” for use by the Swiss army. The original had a wooden handle, a blade, a screwdriver and a can opener.
http://books.google.com/books?id=y5JW0YqRRhAC&pg=PA130&lpg=PA130&dq=june+12+1897+elsener&source=bl&ots=EVu9fyf4Uy&sig=XVkpORwhAsrVJ7ujG9ULMSqwXYA&hl=en&sa=X&ei=U6WuUeK4M4fgiAK3_oGoAg&ved=0CEAQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=june%2012%201897%20elsener&f=false
1936 – The first radio station with 500,000 watt power began testing as W8XAR in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Test broadcasts took place from 1 AM to 6 AM. The station is now known as KDKA.
http://www.nrcdxas.org/articles/1stfacts.txt
1997 – 3Com Corp. and US. Robotics Corp. merged. The two companies combined US Robotics modems with 3Com’s interface cards.
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1997-06-12/business/9706120201_1_casey-cowell-robotics-chairman-maker-of-computer-modem
Read Tom’s science fiction and other fiction books at Merritt’s Books site.
Swiss Army Knives and shortwave radio. Today is a hit in history!
I’ll have to dig out my shortwave radio this weekend and try to pull in a station ½ way around the world.