After several years of not working – the screen being dead – my beloved Psion Series 5 Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) is alive again. It turns out there is still a marked for repairing these neat PDAs almost a quarter century after they were first introduced. So now that it is alive again, let us have a closer look at this vintage tech. This will be a very different review to what I usually do.
Continue readingNot all razors are meant to become heirlooms. Some are meant simply to be a disposable razor. Or, as Roy E Mullen said it in his 1966 patent application:
Continue readingThere are many occasions when an individual would find the use of a good razor to be a comfort and convenience, under circumstances where the services of a barber are not readily available and where it is either undesirable or uneconomical to purchase an ordinary razor.
From US patent 3,413,720
Continue readingBe it known that I, FRANK G. FOWLER, of Bridgeport, Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements Relating to Shaving-Lather, and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, which will enable others skilled in the art to make, practice, and use the same.
Frank G Fowler, in the ingress to US patent 638,804
A short documentary from the days of yore. While I am getting older, I’m no where near old enough to have experienced anything like what is shown here.
Continue readingNo, not the razor I mentioned last week. Patented five years after that advertisement, this Seabrook safety razor used blades reminiscent of the Christy razor.
The patent was filed in 1905 by Henry and Percy Seabrook, and published the year after. There is not much claims made in the patent. In fact, the only claim made is how the blade is secured.
Continue readingBefore the thin Gillette blade, and the thin-ish GEMs and EverReady blade, there were many attempts to create safety razors. Most used what we today call wedge blades. These were – when you come down to it – short segments of straight razor blade. The Seabrook was one of these razors.
Continue readingWhen you think about the old wedge razors, adjustability is not the first thing you think about. But in 1890 Mr J E Fuller was granted a patent for a adjustable wedge razor. Additionally it had a novel way to hold the blade, one that would make taking the blade out for honing a lot less fiddly than some wedge razors out there.
Continue readingBack in 1965 Mr Bernard S Hansom filed a patent. It was not a unique event, Mr Hansom filed a dozen or so patents in the 60’s. But what caught my eye was the title; Shaving units and dispensers therefor.
And judging by the drawings it is an absolute unit too; broad and thick. But what exactly is a shaving unit, and why would it need dispensers?
Continue readingIn 1954 Allen Phillip Algier and Ford M Radenbaugh filed a patent for a disposable safety razor. And while the patent wasn’t granted until 1957, it is an interesting little razor that gives the term “lather catcher” a new face. It was meant to be complete with either soap or cream carried in the razor itself.
Continue readingBack in 1901 Mr Ernest F Ogborn patented a razor cleaner, presumably because he was tired of using razor cleaning paper. I briefly mentioned this patent when I discussed the sanitary package, but I figured a closer look could be fun.
As a reminder, a razor cleaning paper was1 a soft paper used for wiping excess lather and moisture of a straight edge razor. While nothing particularly special or difficult to get hold of, a barber would go through a lot of them during the day. This would create waste, as well as costing money. Mr Ogborn had a handy solution to both issues.
Continue reading