William Richards stated in his patent application, "the object of this invention is to provide a simple and efficient knife fork and spoon for camp purposes at small cost and which, when not in use, can be so put together as to occupy but little space in a soldier's knapsack so as to inconvenience him as little as possible." The utensils were also sturdy, in contrast to many supplied by the recruiting services, and by sliding together were less likely to poke holes in a cloth haversack on the march.

The basic design was simple, consisting of two pieces: a solid metal combination fork and spoon and a knife, each with turned down flanges that would serve as handles and also enable the two pieces to slide into one another. This was one of the more popular sets purchased by new soldiers, friends, families and well-wishers to make army life easier.

Both elements of the set are there and complete. The metal shows as gray for the most part with a few areas showing lighter and some areas of shallow pitting or crustiness. The knife handle still shows part of the maker/patent mark, which is in three lines, with the top line in an arc over the middle and bottom straight lines: "[. . . ]ATENT / JULY 23 1861 / CAST STEEL. Markings on the spoon-fork portion are not legible. Richards, or his manufacturers, used several different versions. (See our other offerings for some of these.) This may be the final form of his stamping since “cast steel” is not only included but seems to be made by the same stamp. We leave that up to another researcher to resolve, though we do rather think adding “cast steel” was intended as something of a sales pitch, whether really meaningful or not in the context of eating utensils.

This would be a great addition to a display of camp and soldier’s personal gear.  [SR][ph:L]

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