Is your Gillette Khaki Kit just too big and bulky for your pocket? Fear not, because just over a hundred year ago Val F Franck1 applied for and was granted a patent. A patent for a pen style shavette – one you can use for shaving anywhere. Beyond the novelty factor, it would certainly make it easier to travel light.
Continue readingOver the years, there have been several names used for military shave sets. This holds true for both standard issue sets and for kits a soldier1 could buy himself. From the Great War we have names like the Khaki Kit in several variations, the Service Kit, the Khaki Service Outfit, and the Comfy Kit. From the Great War part II, we have the Buddy Kit. Even so, I had never heard the term “Army and Navy Pillow Kit” being used before I saw Rebecca Harris’ patent filed in late 1917.
Continue readingI’ve mentioned the Bessegg brand name before, both the razor and the blades. But recently I learned that the company – which was started in 1927 – was an early adopter of the art of advertisement.
Well, at least if a 1929 book by Thor Bjørn Schyberg on how to make advertising profitable is to be believed.
Continue readingI’ve talked about Khaki Kits before – both the well known Gillette ones and the less well known GEM ones. I’ve also covered sets like the Comfy Kit – I still want one by the way – and the Buddy Kit, both kits that were marketed to the military. But until today, I was unaware that there also existed an AutoStrop Service Set – or Khaki Kit, if you prefer.
Continue readingSo I was browsing Digitalmuseet again, and found an interesting photo. Interesting to me at least, both due to the subject, the context and current happenings.
The photo was titled “Brigadesoldater barberer seg”, which translates to “Soldiers of the Brigade shaving”. The brigade in question was the so called Tysklandsbrigaden – the German Brigade. And despite what you might think when hearing the name, it wasn’t a German brigade, but rather a Norwegian Brigade in Germany. Known formally as the “Independent Norwegian Brigade Group in Germany“, it was a Norwegian expeditionary force stationed in the British Zone of Occupation in Germany, from 1946 to 1953.
Sending an expeditionary force to take part in the Allied Occupation of Germany was costly, double so since we were busy trying to rebuild after the Nazi occupation and ravaging of Norway. But it was considered too important not to do. It was done in order to honour previous agreements, to gain valuable experience, and to help secure the hard won peace.
Some googling have not revealed what – if any – razors were standard issue for the men, but the unit was equipped with British materiel and supplied through the British Army. It stands to reason that the shave gear, unless brought from home, were British too.
All in all more than 50.000 Norwegians served in the Brigade Group. Which is a lot, when you consider than in 1946 – when the force was established – Norway had a mere 3.12 million inhabitants.
I have touched upon how Gillette and others got women into shaving before. Today I stumbled over another article about it, and since I’m a wee bit busy I’ll just share it with y’all.
Some like their shaving brushes to have a short loft. Some like a long loft. With James P Wright’s patented adjustable shaving brush you can have both!
Why your would want to do that though is an open question. Personally I would just get two brushes, but I’m living in the wetshaving renaissance. I can get brushes in a wide range of sizes, materials, and cost ranges from across the world. In 1910 it was a little bit more difficult and a lot more costly to get a brush from the other side of the world on a whim.
Continue readingThere is more to revolutionising shaving than coming up with a innovative new razor. You’ll need to make machines for making blades. You need to find a way to pack the blades. You have to find way to present your wares. And you need a way to make an affordable shaving brush handle.
And the last bit is what Ernest Miltner filed a patent for in 1910. Filed on behalf of the Rubber & Celluloid Harness Trimming Co, the patent was granted in 1913. Even if it’s tangential to the act of shaving, I find it interesting enough to cover.
Continue readingOr to give the original title for the Austrian patent granted in 1911; “Sicherheitsvorrichtung für Rasiermesser”. A more direct translation would be “Safety contraption for shaving knife”.
The original approach – as exemplified by the 1762 Perrett’s safety razor – was to place a guard on a straight razor. The idea were only slightly changed in the guise of Paul Zammet’s Improved Razor Guard. And in 1911 Thomas Claude Durham made another incremental improvement. Well, that and a bit more.
Continue readingThere is always room for improvement. The thin bladed safety razor Gillette invented improved upon the various wedge razors. Harry Clough came up with an improved handle that could do the same for the straight razor. In effect Harry, who was a Printer’s Engineer, came up with a shavette using double edged blades – even if he didn’t tout it as such. In a way, his patent was only tangentially related to razors – but it’s only a small and intuitive step from it to a shaver.
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