About |
The HTK Company produces a full line of safety ring knives in a range of ring and blade styles to fit the needs of the user or application. Having provided an American-made cutting solution for 120 years, today you'll find the Handy® Safety Knife at work in a wide range of businesses and industries across the country and around the world.
At HTK Company, we believe good customer service is the lifeblood of any business and we strive on a daily basis to make your interaction with us, and our product, a positive one. We are a family-owned manufacturing business in operation for more than four generations. We work hard to form good relationships with our customers, some of whom we have been dealing with for decades. We are proud to have continually produced our line of Handy Safety Knives in the USA.
Safety in the workplace is a top concern for manufacturers, distributors, safety directors and workers alike. Employees that use a utility knife or other cutting tool in the workplace have found a safe alternative with the Handy Safety Knife™.
The HTK Company produces a full line of safety ring knives in a range of ring and blade styles to fit the needs of the user or application. Having provided an American-made cutting solution for 115 years, today you'll find the Handy® Safety Knife at work in a wide range of businesses and industries across the country and around the world.
At HTK Company, we believe good customer service is the lifeblood of any business and we strive on a daily basis to make your interaction with us, and our product, a positive one. We are a family-owned manufacturing business in operation for more than four generations. We work hard to form good relationships with our customers, some of whom we have been dealing with for decades. We are proud to have continually produced our line of Handy Safety Knives in the USA.
Safety in the workplace is a top concern for manufacturers, distributors, safety directors and workers alike. Employees that use a utility knife or other cutting tool in the workplace have found a safe alternative with the Handy Safety Knife™.
Looking for a way to make his job as a railway postal clerk more efficient, entrepreneurial James R. Caldwell invented the Twine Knife in the late 1800’s. This was the humble beginning of HTK Company. Today, we continue to produce and update our line of American-made Handy Safety Knives™ to provide the best customer experience possible.
Back in James Caldwell’s day, mail was moved by trains and postal clerks were responsible for collecting and sorting the mail for delivery. While in transit, the clerks would use twine to bundle the mail for the next stop and use pocket knives to cut the twine.
Caldwell’s daily route was from Chicago to Pittsburgh and back again. Often, there was not much time between stops, so the pace was fast. That quick pace, coupled with the constant movement of the rail car, made it impossible for him to keep track of his pocketknife. One day after work, Mr. Caldwell went home and came up with a “better mousetrap.” He took a piece of copper, bent it around his finger, and attached the blade from his pocketknife to the copper band with a small screw and nut. That original knife is on rotating display at Smithsonian Postal Museum in Washington D.C.
Not surprisingly, Caldwell soon began getting requests from his co-workers for their own “handy knife” and the company had its beginning. After some design changes and a few years of making twine knives in the evenings after Caldwell’s regular job, the Handy Twine Knife Company was formed.
The first recorded sale of a knife was in 1904. The drawings and application for a patent were filed in October of 1910 and approved in 1912. Since then, the name “Handy” and the distinctive design of the utility knife have been protected by U.S. Patent and Trademark Laws.