I have no idea who invented this thing (I may have to look into that), but there were about a hundred cheap knock-offs. I think I went through at least half a dozen when I was a kid... which was a long time ago, so these have been around for 50 years at least.

Edit: I see they're selling these on eBay as "survival tools"! For $30 no less! These things were lucky to survive a full day's play when I was a kid... and you can get them on Amazon for under seven bucks. "Survival tool" - that's a good laugh!