It’s amazing how much human ingenuity have gone towards creating products that makes more waste… like disposable razors. I do however acknowledge that a disposable razor can be convenient at times, especially while travelling or for freebies.

Back in ’71, a guy named Gregorio A Perez came up with an interesting single edged disposable that also carried a supply of shaving cream or gel in the handle. Or as the patent describes it:

A disposable razor in which a blade is molded therein with the edge thereof projecting from the shaving head and including a telescopic handle over a stem which is secured central of the shaving head and having a coaxial bore in the stem including a quantity of shaving cream for projection through the bore from an outlet in the razor head when the handle is manually moved over the stem.

A few things that strikes me with Mr Perez’s razor;:

• As drwn it’s a SE with no visible guard, more like a shavette with the handle on the side.
• You better hope it don’t get compressed while in the luggage…
• The angle of the head is quite close to my GEMs

Reading the patent, it’s fairly clear that what Mr Perez’s though was most important was the handle with the manually telescoping action for dispensing shaving cream. Or in his own words:

…the handle is filled with a well known shaving cream which is adapted to be dispensed through a bore in the stem and through the head member when the handle is telescoped over the stem.

An interesting patent, but I don’t believe the razor was a success in the marketplace. A potential niche I can see for something like this razor in hotels and the like; a freebie on line with the tiny bottles of shampoo.

I found several patents, one of the more practical ones was the brainchild of Charles J Kennedy from Dakota, US.

In Mr Kennedy’s own words;

1. A device of the character described comprising two pieces of resilient sheet metal bent inwardly toward each other at their ends and suitably united. A cleaning pad and a drying pad held adjacent each other longitudinally on the inner surfaces of the parallel portions of the pieces of .metal, whereby a razor blade, when passed between said portions, may be engaged by the pads and thus cleaned and dried.
2. In a device of the character described, the combination with a holder having two parallel spaced body portions resiliently united at both ends, of a cleaning pad and a drying pad carried by the inner face of each parallel portion and so positioned in relation to each other as to cooperate in cleaning and drying a razor blade when passed therebetween. 1
3. In a device of the character described, the combination with a holder having two parallel spaced body portions united at both ends, of a blade cleaning pad and a drying pad positioned close to each other and rigidly secured to the inner face of each body portion whereby when a blade is passed intermediate of the two pairs of pads, it will be first cleaned and then dried by a single operation.
4. A device of the character described comprising two pieces of elongated sheet metal united at their ends and having parallel body portions spaced apart, the side edges of said body portions being turned inwardly forming converging flanges extending from the innermost faces of the body portions, a cleaning pad and a drying pad held tightly bearing upon each other intermediate of each pair of flanges, the free edges of each pair of pads being opposite each other whereby when a razor blade is properly passed therebetween, it will be first cleaned and then dried by a single operation.
5. A device of the character described comprising two pieces of elongated sheet metal united at their ends and having parallel body portions, converging flanges extending inwardly from each body portion, a cleaning pad and a drying pad held tightly between each pair of flanges, one pair of pads opposite the other pair and engageable therewith whereby when a razor blade is properly passed between the two pairs of pads, it will first be cleaned and then dried by a single operation.

The device seems practical enough, and while I personally don’t like taking the blade out of my razor after every shave I would probably like shaving with a rusty blade even less.