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”.
Or, perhaps more correct, a double double edged cartridge razor. Which sounds both weird and pointless, but stay with me here.
Invented by Sergio Somonetti, and assigned to Warner Lambert Co LLC, the double edged cartridge razor strikes me as a typical transitional device. It looked like a traditional safety razor, yet used the recent idea of cartridges. And since Sergio suggested using two blades in each cartridge, it became a double double edged cartridge razor.1
A guard bar for a safety razor don’t sound like something you could file a patent for in 1971. After all, all safety razors – well, almost all – have had a guard since the original Kampfe. You could argue that the concept of a guard was inherent to the idea of a safety razor, from Jean Jacques Perret and until today. So… since Jan Dawidowicz did in fact get a patent for a guard bar for safety razors in 1973, it must have been a special guard bar. Special and non-obvious. And Even in hindsight I would say the later is correct.
Most patents seems to revolve around solving a problem, imaginary or otherwise.1 So let us see what problem Jan was wanting to solve.
Some people have a single razor. Some have a small handful. Me? I got eighteen in my regular rotation, one at work, two different ones in my GoBags, one for other travels, plus half a dozen or so in storage that I for one reason or other can’t or don’t want to let go.
And even so, I am not sure I got enough razors. So when is enough enough?
There are a couple of vintage razors I would love to get my hands on. A Schick Automatic, for starters, a Bessegg, as well as one or two 30’s Gillette one piece razors. An early Gillette New wouldn’t be amiss either. Not because any of the razors I own is unsatisfactory, but because I would like to have them.
In the same vein, and for the same reasons, there is one or two current razors I would enjoy owning as well – the adjustable Tatara Muramasa springs to mind, due to the unique way it adjusts.
And while I do have almost thirty razors and wishes to add to the collection / rotation, I only have seven brushes in my rotation. Plus a brush at work, two travel brushes, and a home made brush I trot out on occasion. And I have no desire to get any more. Perhaps I might replace one or two, but not add to the pile.
So why is it that I have enough brushes, but not enough razors? When is enough enough?
Part of it is, I think, simply because I find razors inherently more interesting. By changing such things as the thickness of the cap, the blade angle, the blade exposure, the centre of balance, and a myriad other variables… the entire feel of the shave changes.
As an example, consider the Gillette Old Types I own. One is from a 1918 Khaki Kit, the other is an early 20’s flea market find. The former has a thicker cap, the later a longer handle. They are both good shavers, but despite being similar, they are different enough to notice the differences. And different enough to appreciate the differences too.
A second example is my Schicks. While my E2 and G4 are very similar, there is enough difference in their level of aggressiveness that I cannot treat them the same and expect identical shaves.
And either of those are vastly different from my EverReady, either of my GEMs, the Phillips Phillite, my Tatara, my fifties Gillette‘s, my Evolution, and so on and so forth. There is just so much to grab my interest about various razors, without even getting into some of the weird ones that got patented over the years.
Brushes? Brushes, to me at least, simply don’t hold the same amount of interest. Some are softer and holds water better. Others have a pleasant scritch and don’t take as long to load. And some are just plain awful (I’m looking at you, cheap supermarket brush with a nylon knot). And that is more or less it. I worked out that I prefer boar and horse – and I’m going to leave it at that.
So when is enough enough? I think enough is enough when the curiosity and desire to own more have been sated. With brushes, I reached that spot some years ago – I was gifted a reasonable good badger, and found that it wasn’t as life changing as I had believed. But when it comes to razors, there is still more to discover, more to learn, more curiosity to sate. I may never reach the point where enough is enough as far as razors are concerned.
Memento mori – or, as the young people say, YOLO. You might as well enjoy the shave and not worry.
As a side note I don’t think any of the above applies to lathers, aftershaves, and other consumables. The correct number of these is n+1, where n is the number you currently own. Even so, I have gotten picky about the +1 that I buy these days, since I am a bit tight on space.
Are you sad that your vintage injector isn’t self-lathering? Does it bring you down that your old Schick isn’t stretching your skin? Fear not, John D Karle took time of from patenting surgical equipment and sewing machine gear to invent an attachment for your Schick injector! Well, a “safety razor of a well known type”, according to the patent.
So what were John trying to achieve? Let us have a look at his patent:
Unlike Gillette, and EverReady, Christy, and others, John Heissenberg still didn’t opt for a flat, replaceable blade. He stuck with the wedge blade he was familiar with instead. What he did change was the way to secure the blade, as well as adding complexities. Complexities in the form of a folding roller for face moistening.
John Heissenberger was a fairly prolific inventor at the turn of the last century. And in between such fun things as machines to exhibit illuminated pictures, punching machines, and mail-delivering apparatuses, he did take the time to invent a couple of wedge razors.
For those unfamiliar with the term, a wedge razor is a safety razor that uses a wedge shaped blade. Think a section of a straight razors, instead of the flat blade of most other safety razors.
This year, I offer discounts on digital copies of my two books on shaving and razor patents.
Prices for both books will be reduced to just 99 US cents. That is 1.98 US dollars for both. A massive 80% discount!
And I do start the sale slightly early, so those of you who are too stuffed with turkey to do much beyond vegetating on the coach can at least read while you’re digesting.
Both books covers patents on both fondly remembered and thankfully forgotten razors and shaving accoutrements, these books are meandering journeys through shaving history.
The sale have now started, and will run until Monday 28th at 1600 UTC – so you have all weekend to pick up a Kinle copy of my books.
We’ve talked about razors that stretches the skin before. But I can do you one better today… It is a razor that stretches the skin and has a lubricant dispenser built in. And as a bonus it still looks like you can shave with it with it – unlike some patented razors I could mention. So what did William Miller get a patent for almost fifty years ago?
