Do you know who invented the scissors?

The invention of scissors is frequently attributed to Leonardo DaVinci (maybe Mona Lisa just needed her hair cut?), but scissors were around long before DaVinci’s time (1452-1519) and the actual person who invented scissors is not known.

spring scissors

In 1500 BC Ancient Egyptians used ‘spring scissors’ with two bronze blades connected at the handles by a thin, flexible strip of bronze – which served to hold the blades in alignment, to allow them to be squeezed together, and to pull them apart when released.

scissorsPivoted scissors or cross-blade scissors were invented around 100 AD by the Romans – made of bronze or iron, in which the blades were pivoted at a point between the tips and the handles. Large-scale production of this type of scissors began in 1761, when Robert Hinchliffe of Sheffield, England first used cast steel to manufacture them.

Scissors, X-Acto knives, and paper cutters are all readily available for your use in the Graphics Lab.

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