What was it with the late sixties and early seventies that made people want to fill up the landfills with plastic? Earlier this week we looked at a plastic razor, and here we got another disposable preassembled plastic razor. Or, to you and me who dabble in traditional wetshaving;¹ piece of plastic junk.

At a casual glance, the razor patented by Paul A Braginetz² looks remarkable similar to the semi-disposable double edge razor³ I got in my drawer. Major differences in in the arrangement of the blade aligning studs, and that it came with both an open comb and a safety bar.

One morning in late ’72, Ray L Stone woke up and realised what the world needed. Yet another disposable plastic razor. Which, honestly, is the last thing the world need – but the early seventies were a different time. So Ray went and patented his idea, so lets look at the result.

Most inventions have a purpose.

A few days ago we looked at a guard bar for safety razors. In that post, I mentioned wanting to take a look at a patent for a double edge injector. Guess what we’re doing today? That’s right – we’re looking at the double edge injector!

The patent was filed by Gerald Stahl and Charles A Johnson Jr in 1961, and granted four years later. And it is delightfully detailed and lavishly illustrated. Even the full title is quite a mouthful; “Injector razor having means for flexing a flexible double edge blade as it moves into position and arrangements for operating the same”.