1. It's an object from the Arsenal.

2. It's about the width of a pencil.

Lessee - if I were to give you a hint, I would look principally to a Frenchman for inspiration, although the object itself is not French.

Update - obviously, some more hints are in order:

Oh, and BCR - flexible - in terms of being all wiggly or something, no.

In terms of multiple uses - not by intent, though soldiers are certainly an inventive group and I could think of alternate purposes to which it could be put... including, in fact, one that *I* put it to... some decades after it ceased to be an artifact in general use.

It was innovative for it's day, but was only transitional to better designs and approaches - like the Gatling or Gardner guns (ignoring the renaissance enjoyed by the Gatling due to the application of electricity!).

And no, it is not related to either of the above.