The turn of the last century was an paradigm shift when it came to shaving technology. Wedge blades – which had been the cutting edge1 in the late 19th century – was replaced with the bleeding edge2 of easily manufactured and replaced thin steel blade. The Scimitar razor straddled the line, in that it could use both .
Continue readingSo I was poking around over at Wikimedia Commons – a great source for free images – today, and once again I found a picture of a razor I’ve never seen or heard about before.
The razor is identified as the Self Sharp Adjustable DE Safety Razor, by the Self Sharp Razor Co., Turlock, California.
Mechanically, the razor is simple. Adjust the lever on the underside to expose more or less blade on one side of the razor – and at the same time less or more on the other. It looks to take standard Gillette style blades.
Waits’ compendium turns up a blank. Google Image Search is not particularly helpful. According to Wikimedia, patent was applied for… but a cursory search at Google Patents reveals nothing.
So if anyone know anything about the Self Sharp Adjustable razor from Turloc, California… drop me a line.
…Schick is to blame!
The box, and the details of the razor, indicates to me that this is what today is referred to as a Schick Type E1. A steal at 2 US dollars, even if that today equals a little under 40 dollars. Given that the E-type razors still holds up – my E2 is from 1941 – and shaves great, I can see why Santa might get tempted to change his looks.
Sometimes I find a razor online I’ve never heard about before. Like the Larkin Buffalo Safety Razor, which seems to be manufactured for the Larking Company – the people behind the Larkin Idea which I’ve mentioned before.
Continue readingRemember that book I committed a while ago? I’m in the process of putting a sequel together. Expect it sometime early in 2022.
The biggest trouble will be to come up with a title…
…give him Gillette.
At least that held true seventy years ago. The plastic monstrosities they sell these days? They will likely break in twenty five years or less, and I can’t see Gillette continuing to make the carts much beyond the lifespan of their patents. The razors they sold in ’53 on the other hand?
Continue readingCommercials can be odd to begin with. And when you’re trying to stand out from the crowd, or try to drive a point home, they can get weirder still. Like this one, for Palmolive’s Rapid Shave shaving cream:
Continue readingDon’t you just hate how your preferred handle don’t fit your favourite razor blade?
No, me neither. After all, all double edge blades based on the Probak / Gillette patents fits virtually all double edge razors.1 In the same way, virtually all injector blades will work with virtually all injector razors. And all GEM blades work with all GEM and EverReady razors.
If, however, you’re not engaging in what I consider “traditional wetshaving”2 but are using cartridges instead… yeah, then you may be familiar with the problem this patent is trying to fix.
Continue readingThe stationary – as in bolted down – shaving cup was not Angelo Piccione’s1 first foray into making an overly complex self cleaning lathering cup. Six years before the stationary cup he filed a patent for a, well, lathering device. The objective is more or less the same as his later lather cup. In the words of the patent text:
Continue readingThis invention relates to lathering devices for use by barbers to produce lather for shaving purposes, and has for its object the provision of a device of this character which permits of easily and conveniently cleaning the cup and brush after each shaving operation and thus render the same more sanitary as well as facilitating the work of the barber.
From US Patent 1,448,674
Angelo Piccione filed a patent for a stationary shaving cup in 1928. Which brought up some odd mental imagery, since in my line of work the opposite to stationary is self-propelled or towed…
A number of inventions straddle the line between insanity and brilliance. And while it’s clear that Piccione took a large step towards one of the two sides, I’m not sure what way he went with this.
Not only does Piccione’s invention sounds like it was a piece of heavy machinery, but the patent drawing1 also looks the part too. We got multiple valves, springs, and linkages. We got pipes, sprayers, and tie-rods. I can easily imagine this device in shiny brass, chrome, and glass – and part of me really wants one.
Continue reading