Great Exhibition … Official Descriptive Catalogue (1851) mentions a small collection of 2-blade ‘secret dial’ pen knives displayed by Thomas Willoughby.  The Sheffield Independent, 29 March 1851, explained that the handles of the pen knives had three small dials, which had to be turned to a certain point before the blades could be opened.   The newspaper added: ‘Whether or not there is much utility in this contrivance, we leave others to pronounce’.   Willoughby, a spring-knife cutler, had been baptised in Sheffield on 25 August 1799, the son of Thomas (a cutler) and Sarah.  Apparently, his name was never listed in directories, but the Census showed that he lived on the Worksop Road (his address in 1861 was Worksop Road / 73 Church Street).   He was buried in the cemetery of Christ Church, Attercliffe, on 1 November 1863 (aged 64).   His death was not apparently reported in the press.