Sewing business. History of scissors. The most ancient scissors. Types and purpose of scissors

08.04.2019

How often do we use them during the day: open the package, cut a thread or tag, cut out a part, cut a hole, remove a burr, etc. Scissors allow us to easily cut paper, cardboard, plastic, and metal. In our house we have more than one scissors: manicure, tailoring, culinary, gardening (the list expands depending on the main type of activity of the owner). When did man think of creating such a necessary item in everyday life?

This invention, although it functioned, was not particularly successful (after all, the blades of the “sheep” shears, which first appeared in Ancient Rome, did not rotate relative to the center, but simply squeezed with the hand, like a large grip for a piece of cake), and therefore our great-grandfathers used them only before the “warming wool season”, and, I think, they simply gnawed the nails on their hands for convenience. But even though the design was very inconvenient, it lasted for more than two thousand years without fundamental changes.

And so this disgrace would have continued if the mathematician and mechanic Archimedes had not been born in Ancient Syracuse. The great Greek said: “Give me a point of support, and I will change the whole world!” - and invented the lever.

Around the 8th century AD in the Middle East, some artisan came up with the idea to connect two knives with a nail, and bend their handles into rings. Then the handles of the scissors began to be decorated with artistic forging and “autographs” of the blacksmiths—stamps. Perhaps in those days a simple children's riddle arose: “Two rings, two ends, and in the middle there are carnations”...

Scissors came to Europe a little later, around the 10th century. The oldest scissors found in Russia date back to the same period of time. This happened when archaeological excavations Gnezdovo mounds 12 kilometers from Smolensk near the village of Gnezdovo.

Unfortunately, history has not preserved the name of the person who came up with the idea of connecting two separate blades with a nail and bending the handles into a ring. After all, it is in this form that scissors for paper, for manicure, for haircuts and for many other purposes are presented today.

The instrument was given its final form by none other than Leonardo da Vinci. A drawing of a tool similar to modern scissors was found in his manuscripts.

And then, as always, the invention began to live its own life. own life: at times to improve (turning into the working tools of hairdressers and healers), and at times becoming a luxury item made of gold and silver.

Scissors were made from steel (steel blades were welded onto an iron base), and silver, covered with gold, and richly decorated. The imagination of the craftsmen knew no bounds - either a strange bird came out, whose beak cut fabric, then finger rings entwined vines with clusters of grapes, then suddenly they turned out not scissors, but a fairy-tale dragon, all in such intricate decorations that they interfered with its use functional device.

Gradually, more and more, in both the Eastern and Western worlds, there is a greater interest in the shape and quality of scissors. Models with thin, smooth outlines, blades, decorated with engraving and inlays are beginning to appear. This was especially facilitated by the art of calligraphy, which spread throughout the Islamic world.

Scissors are becoming more and more attractive from an aesthetic point of view. They received various forms within the framework of the general idea, were decorated openwork carving. At the same time, they remained functional and brought a bit of aesthetics to the routine.

In the Middle Ages, scissors became evidence of men's attention to the fair sex. Thus, in the fourteenth century, a suitor sending a gift to his lady often included a pair of scissors in a leather case. It was in this century that scissors became a truly feminine accessory, which, with rare exceptions, they remain to this day.

And then the ideal prim Englishmen invented scissors for the ideal prim English lawns, and then the French began to cut up geese carcasses with them (conjuring their famous “froi gras”) and cut loops in “prêt-à-porter”, and then the Germans came up with giant steel scissors for helping in case of accidents on the roads (with this device you can also break glass in a car, open a jammed door, cut seat belts).

And then man began to think even more broadly and produced scissors from special ceramics, which turned out to be three times stronger than steel ones and more wear-resistant, and cut much thinner.
And then they came up with scissors, which completely ceased to look like their ancestor analogue and rather began to resemble a knife from a meat grinder (a disk with three teeth is attached to an ordinary electric drill - you can cut rubber, thick leather, linoleum and plastics at a speed of 20 meters per minute).

And then the inventor broke through “to the stars” and designed the most modern scissors, adding to them an electronic machine that reproduced on the screen clothing patterns of any style invented by fashion designers. Cutting speed - meter per second! Moreover, during this operation, the edges of the fabric burn and do not unravel - as if they had already been hemmed.

Egyptian theory

True, there is another theory of the origin of this wonderful object - the Egyptian one. They say that in the 16th century BC, the Egyptians were already using scissors with all their might. And there is confirmation of this - an archaeological find. A specimen made from a single piece of metal (not crossed blades) was found in Egypt, which served its masters in the 16th century BC.

There is a theory in both China and Eastern Europe. So, the geography of this subject is unusually wide. We will no longer be able to find out the truth. Only one fact remains interesting: be it sooner or later, but people in different corners The lands eventually came to the understanding that they could not do without scissors.

History is rich in facts, when in some area it seems that nothing more can be invented here! - but no! There will always be a person who, either by chance or with some intention, brings something new into the world. Therefore, we will not put an end to the history of scissors...

Tailor's scissors

Initially, all types of clothing were sewn at home, but gradually it became the work of specialists - tailors. The name "tailor's" scissors comes from the name of the profession - a tailor - a person who sews ports. The word “ports” in Russia originally meant clothing in general. Only in the 16th century did the word “dress” appear, displacing the old designation from use. Not all clothes began to be called “tails,” but only one element of men’s clothing, and the profession itself was divided into several specializations - specialists of a narrow profile appeared - fur coats, caftans, mittens, hatmakers and even pickpockets... Of course, not everyone could afford to use tailor services. They tried to sew simple clothes at home. “It’s hard to get a caftan, but you can sew a shirt at home,” says the proverb.

In many ways, the quality of the products you sew will depend on the right choice scissors There are several types of scissors; they differ in sharpening angle, design, size and purpose. You should not use the same scissors at different stages of sewing - if you cut tracing paper with your excellent tailor's scissors, they will become dull very quickly. For cutting loops and other small jobs, it is better to use small sewing scissors. It is useful to have a seam ripper and a knife for cutting loops on hand.

Thinning scissors

It turns out that thinning scissors as we know them today appeared relatively recently. And if the history of ordinary hairdressing scissors goes back almost a millennium (after all, back in Ancient Egypt Queen Cleopatra had her hair cut with quite a decent tool), then the task of thinning hair for centuries was solved only with the help of a razor.

Only in the 30s of the twentieth century (just eighty years ago) the first prototypes of thinning scissors appeared in the USA, that is, scissors where one blade is cutting and the second has teeth. But by and large, these were not thinning scissors, but a “blader”. The fact is that the Americans came to the need to sharpen not only the edge of the cutting blade, but also the tops of the teeth. As a result, the master received a tool for thinning hair, but the final effect was quite difficult to predict. The fact is that when cutting, hairs could easily slide off the sharpened teeth, and it was impossible to guess how many of them would be cut at a given moment.

Only in the 50s, but already in Europe, one of the engineers proposed applying a micro-notch to the top of the teeth. Now, the master could already clearly know how much volume would be removed during the cut. And this depended on the width of the teeth and the width of the interdental space. Then a V-shaped cutout appeared at the top of the tooth. This means that all the hair that needed to be cut clearly went into such a “pocket” and was definitely cut off.

The cigar scissors shown in the picture have become a symbol, as if an integral part of the prim aristocracy.

The Industrial Revolution has now returned scissors to their original status as a purely functional object. Decoration has completely faded away, abandoned in favor of the linear clarity of steel. Today, scissors have been created for everyone and everything. They, like centuries ago, are irreplaceable. How simple is genius!

The history of scissors goes back to ancient times. The very first scissors appeared in man’s possession not at all because he needed to somehow serve himself, but because he needed to somehow shear sheep. This happened three and a half thousand years ago; scissors then consisted of two blades connected like tweezers.

This invention, although it functioned, was not particularly successful (after all, the blades of the “sheep” shears, which first appeared in Ancient Rome, did not rotate relative to the center, but were simply squeezed by hand, like a large grip for a piece of cake), and therefore our great-grandfathers used them only before the “warming wool season”, and I think the nails on my hands were simply chewed for convenience. But even despite the fact that the design was very inconvenient, it existed for more than two thousand years without fundamental changes.

Around the 8th century AD in the Middle East, some artisan came up with the idea to connect two knives with a nail, and bend their handles into rings. Then the handles of the scissors began to be decorated with artistic forging and “autographs” of the blacksmiths - brands. Perhaps in those days a simple children's riddle arose: “Two rings, two ends, and in the middle there are carnations”...

Scissors came to Europe a little later, around the 10th century. The oldest scissors found in Russia date back to the same period of time. This happened during archaeological excavations of the Gnezdovo burial mounds, 12 kilometers from Smolensk near the village of Gnezdovo.

Unfortunately, history has not preserved the name of the person who came up with the idea of connecting two separate blades with a nail and bending the handles into a ring. After all, this is the form in which scissors are presented today for manicures, haircuts and many other purposes.

The instrument was given its final form by none other than Leonardo da Vinci. A drawing of a tool similar to modern scissors was found in his manuscripts.

And then, as always, the invention began to live its own life: at times improving (turning into working tools for hairdressers and doctors), and at times becoming a luxury item made of gold and silver.

Scissors were made from steel and (steel blades were welded onto an iron base), silver, covered with gold, and richly decorated. Fantasy of the masters - There was no limit to the manufacturers - either a strange bird came out, whose beak cut fabric, then finger rings entwined vines with bunches of grapes, then suddenly they turned out not scissors, but a fairy-tale dragon, all in such intricate decorations that they interfered with the use of this functional device.

Scissors are becoming more and more attractive from an aesthetic point of view. They received various forms within the framework of the general idea and were decorated with openwork carvings. At the same time, they remained functional and brought a bit of aesthetics to the routine.

Egyptian theory

There is a theory in both China and Eastern Europe. So, the geography of this subject is unusually wide. We will no longer be able to find out the truth. Only one fact remains interesting: be it sooner or later, but people in different parts of the world eventually came to the understanding that they could not do without scissors.

Tailor's scissors

Initially, all types of clothing were sewn at home, but gradually it became the work of specialists - tailors. The name "tailor's" scissors comes from the name of the profession - a tailor - a person who sews tailoring. The word “ports” in Russia originally meant clothing in general. Only in the 16th century did the word “dress” appear, displacing the old designation from use. Not all clothes began to be called “tails,” but only one element of men’s clothing, and the profession itself was divided into several specializations - specialists of a narrow profile appeared - fur coats, caftans, mittens, hatmakers and even pickpockets... Of course, not everyone could afford to use tailor services. They tried to sew simple clothes at home. “It’s hard trouble to get a caftan, but a shirt and they will sew it,” says the proverb.

In many ways, the quality of the products you sew will depend on the correct choice of scissors. There are several types of scissors; they differ in sharpening angle, design, size and purpose. You should not use the same scissors at different stages of sewing - if you cut tracing paper with your magnificent tailor's scissors, they will become dull very quickly. For cutting loops and other small jobs, it is better to use small sewing scissors. It is useful to have a seam ripper and a knife for cutting loops on hand.

Thinning scissors

It turns out that thinning scissors as we know them today appeared relatively recently. And if the history of ordinary hairdressing scissors goes back almost a millennium (after all, back in Ancient Egypt, Queen Cleopatra’s hair was cut with quite a decent tool), then the task of thinning hair for centuries was solved only with the help of a razor.

The cigar scissors shown in the picture have become a symbol, as if an integral part of the prim aristocracy.

Who is who in the world of discoveries and inventions Sitnikov Vitaly Pavlovich

Who invented scissors?

Today, scissors are such an everyday part of our lives that we don’t even think about where they came from. And the history of their origin is very interesting. In the 8th century, some artisan came up with the idea to connect two cutting blades using a rivet rod - and so they got scissors, practically no different from modern ones. True, much earlier, back in Ancient Rome, there were so-called “sheep” shears (they used them to shear sheep, hence the name). The two blades were connected like tweezers by an arched spring plate; they did not rotate relative to the center, but were simply squeezed by hand.

Later, scissors began to be made of steel, iron (steel blades were welded onto an iron base), silver, covered with gold, and richly decorated.

Nowadays, there are many varieties of this ancient cutting tool. There are special scissors that are used to trim bushes on lawns, butcher poultry, cut cakes, shear wool from sheep, cut fabrics, and cut buttonholes.

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Scissors came into our lives from ancient times. The first scissors were created more than three and a half thousand years ago, and they did not serve for hairdressing needs or cutting paper and fabric, their purpose was to shear sheep. The first scissors in history were similar to tweezers, consisting of two blades. The oldest example of such scissors was found by archaeologists in Egypt and dates back to the 16th century BC.

Around the 8th century AD, one of the artisans in the Middle East came up with the idea of using a nail to connect two knives, and bend their handles into rings for convenience. This design turned out to be convenient and took root. Later, artistic forging began to be used to decorate the handle of scissors.

The history of scissors in Europe and Russia began in the 10th century, as evidenced by relevant archaeological finds. In particular, the oldest Russian scissors were discovered during archaeological excavations in the Gnezdovo burial mounds near the village of Gnezdovo, not far from Smolensk.

Unfortunately, history has not preserved the name of the person who came up with the first semblance of scissors, when two separate blades were connected with a nail and the handles were rounded. But modern scissors, which are used to cut paper, do manicures, and cut hair, are presented in exactly this form.

Leonardo da Vinci gave this instrument its completed form. A drawing of an instrument resembling modern scissors was found in his manuscripts.

The history of scissors has not stood still, and over time they began to be adapted for various types of activities (medicine, hair cutting, manicure, and so on). Make working versions from iron and steel and create them as luxury items using gold and silver.

The imagination of the craftsmen knew no bounds - either the scissors looked like a strange bird cutting fabric with its beak, then the vines on which clusters of grapes hung were wrapped around finger rings, then suddenly instead of scissors a fairy-tale dragon with its intricate decorations turned out, because of all this, sometimes When using this functional device, inconveniences arose.

Since scissors began to be decorated in the Middle Ages, they began to be considered a good and functional gift for women. Scissors in special leather cases were readily given to ladies, attached to the main gift. That is why, over time, scissors become a women's accessory, except for rare exceptions, and they remain so in our time.

Since history does not stand still, the areas of application for scissors became more and more and over time, the British created scissors for mowing lawns, the French invented scissors for cutting up geese carcasses, the Germans invented steel scissors that helped with car accidents. After the creation of ceramic knives, this technology was transferred to scissors. Ceramic scissors turned out to be three times stronger than steel ones and more wear-resistant. This list can be continued for a long time, because there are scissors for cutting metal, for cigars, thinning scissors for cutting hair and so on, the main thing is that scissors are necessary for humanity, just like hundreds of years ago.

Today, scissors are an integral part of our lives. They first appeared about 3,500 years ago in Ancient Rome. Unlike today's scissors, they were made from one piece of metal. And their purpose was completely different from what it is now. This item was used for shearing sheep. The scissors consisted of two sharp knives connected by a kind of tweezers with a curved and springy sheet.

Despite the fact that such an invention worked, it was not particularly successful, because the blades of such scissors could not rotate about the center, but were only squeezed by hand. Therefore, our ancestors used them only before the “warming worsted season.” However, despite the fact that such a mechanism was very inconvenient, it existed for more than two thousand years without any significant modifications.

Around the 8th century AD, an unknown artisan, originally from the Middle East, had the idea of combining two blades with a nail, and making their handles into rings. Then such handles began to be decorated with picturesque forging.

Scissors arrived on the European continent a little later. This happened around the 10th century. The most ancient scissors that were found on the Russian territory during the archaeological excavations of the Gnezdovo burial mounds, near the village of Gnezdovo, located 12 kilometers from Smolensk.

Unfortunately, history does not contain the name of the artisan who came up with the idea of combining two blades with a nail and making the handles in the shape of rings. After all, this is exactly what modern scissors look like.

The scissors were given their final form by none other than Leonardo da Vinci himself. In his manuscripts a certain drawing of a mechanism was discovered that is very similar to the scissors currently in use.

Then the scissors began to live their own lives: they were periodically improved, and in some cases they became a luxury item. This applies to those scissors that were made of expensive metal - silver and gold.

Scissors were also made of iron and steel. Products made from silver were covered with gold and lavishly decorated, which gave the instrument a certain luxury and sophistication. The imagination of master magicians had no limits - either they would get a bird of extraordinary beauty, whose beak cut the fabric into pieces, or amazing finger rings would intertwine exquisite clusters of grapes, or they would get scissors in the form of a fantastic dragon. It was so richly decorated that it made it difficult to use such scissors.

Gradually, great interest began to be attached to the shape and quality of the instrument. Since that time, scissors with thin and smooth blades, decorated with various patterns and notches, began to be produced. This was facilitated by the art of calligraphy, which spread throughout the Middle East.

Due to improvements, scissors have become more beautiful. They were given various shapes, which were draped with filigree carvings. But at the same time, the scissors continued to be functional and added a little aesthetics to the routine.

In the Middle Ages, scissors were proof that a man was interested in a lady. Thus, in the fourteenth century, a suitor who sent a gift to his beloved often included several scissors in it. It was in this century that scissors became a truly feminine attribute, as they remain today.

Then the British came up with scissors designed for lawns, and the French began to use them in cooking for cutting up geese carcasses. The Germans went further - they came up with huge iron scissors to provide assistance in case of road accidents. This device can also open a jammed door, break glass, or cut seat belts.

After some time, the man began to think even more globally and created scissors made of ceramics, which, as it turned out, turned out to be much stronger than steel ones and more resistant to wear, and they cut much thinner.

And after a certain period of time, they created scissors that were completely different from their progenitor. They were more like a knife from a meat grinder, thanks to which it was possible to cut rubber.

Later, the inventor created modern scissors, to which he added an electronic mechanism that reproduces patterns of decoration of any model on the monitor screen. The cutting speed was one meter per second. During this operation, the edges of the tissues burn and do not unravel.

The Industrial Revolution has now returned scissors to their original status as a purely functional item. There is no decor on them now. Modern scissors can be used for any purpose. They, like several centuries ago, are irreplaceable.