While a razor that can fit in a pocket – a pocket razor, if you like – is all well and good, there have to be compromises made when you want to have a razor the size of a fountain pen. The pen style shavette, the pen with a razor, and Bowlin’s patent all shared one drawback; they used proprietary, narrow blades. The compact razor we looked at a little while back avoids that issue, by being chunkier. But what if you want to retain that pen like sleekness, yet still use a full sized razor blade? Then you end up with C J Garritson’s all-flex pocket razor.

We can all agree that hygiene is important, even when we are not at home. And it was for those times that Raymond J. Gotto filed a patent for a hygiene implement in 1982. A vaguely pen-like implement that contained a tooth brush, and a razor, the device would been easy to bring along. Or buy from a vending machine, for that matter.

The form factor and overall compactness puts Mr Gotto’s invention in the same class as the pen style shavette from 1921, the compact razor from 1927, the combination writing instrument and shaver’s kit from 1936, and of course Bowlin’s shaving kit from 1947.