Letter opener

A letter opener for cutting open an envelope, comprising:

• a blade holder of generally U-shaped cross-section and extending along a longitudinal direction to bound a channel, said holder having an open end through which a marginal edge region of an envelope to be opened is insertable, a closed end opposite the open end and having a longitudinally-extending guide surface against which a longitudinal edge of the inserted envelope abuts and along which the longitudinal edge is guided during relative movement between the holder and the envelope in the longitudinal direction, and a pair of generally plate-shaped contact arms extending between the open and the closed ends, each arm having a generally planar contact surface extending along the longitudinal direction,
• said arms being manually movable about a longitudinally-extending fold line between an access position in which the contact surfaces are spaced apart sufficient to enable the marginal edge region of the envelope to be freely inserted through the open end and into abutting engagement with the guide surface, and a cutting position in which the contact surfaces lie in generally parallel planes and engage the marginal edge region of the envelope at opposite sides thereof during said guided longitudinal movement of the longitudinal edge of the envelope along the guide surface;
• and
• a generally planar cutting blade fixedly mounted on one of the arms and spaced at a slight spacing on the order of one-eighth of an inch transversely from the guide surface, said blade extending past the contact surface of said one arm into the channel for a predetermined distance sufficient to extend past at least a flap layer and an upper layer of the marginal edge region of the inserted envelope in the cutting position, said blade having a sharp cutting edge for piercing through the layers and for cutting therein a longitudinally-extending cutting line generally parallel to, and offset by said slight spacing from, the longitudinal edge of the envelope in the cutting position during said guided longitudinal movement, said blade being positioned on said one arm at a compound dihedral angle relative thereto such that the cutting edge faces, at least in part, toward the open end of the holder in the cutting position.