Category Archives: History

Gillette’s Army-Navy “E” Award

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History time!

During the Second World War, aka “The War” for us Norwegian, the US Army and US Navy created the E-award. E stands for – according to my sources – Excellence in Production of war equipment. In other words, a company had to not only produce for the war effort, but do so while: Overcoming obstacles, maintaining quality and quantity, avoiding stoppages, training additional laborers without lowering labor standards. On top of that they had to demonstrate good record keeping on the subject of health and safety. About one in twenty companies – government and private – which delivered war materials got the E-award.

And yes… Gillette got one of the E-awards, in 1943.

Gillette advertisement bragging of their E-award.

The high accomplishment of you men and women of the Gillette Safety Razor Company is inspiring. Your record will be difficult to surpass, yet the Army and Navy have every confidence that it was made only to be broken.

From the official citation

Gillette Meteor?

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So while I was poking around online, I found this advertisement for the Gillette Meteor:

“A better shave than with Gillette’s new Meteor I’ve never had.”

Before I saw it, I had never heard about a razor called the Gillette Meteor. The google is of no help either… so I’m reduced to resort to guesswork.

Looking at the date – the 17th week of ’57 – and the photo of the razor. A one piece razor, late ’50s, in a plastic case and three rings around the unflaired knob… hmm… solid safety bar…

Doubtless we’re looking at one of the Super-Speed or Rocket razors. Most likely the later, based on the shape of the knob. Case reminiscent of the No66 set produced in the UK. The razor must have been rebranded for the Norwegian marked to give it a name that Norwegians could more easily pronounce.

As a side note; Basse Hveem was a well known Norwegian speedway and longtrack motorcyclist. He wont the US longtrack championship in 1957.

Rockwell Razor Patent

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The Rockwell razor made a bit of a stir when it was released a few years ago. Ever since adjustable razors were introduced, they have been mechanically more complex than a three piece razor. The Rockwell Razor bucked that trend, and bucked it hard. The Rockwell razor is as simple as a three piece razor because it is a three piece razor. It is as simple as that.

I was a little surprised that such a simple concept was patentable. After all, it is over a century since the original three piece King Gillette razor was patented. I guess it just shows that simple ideas can be hard to come up with.

The patent is quite interesting reading too, less obtuse than many older patents. The text also goes into the background for the invention, which I think is a major improvement over some patents I’ve read. To give an example:

The most popular modern shaving implement uses cartridge based razors that include a number of single-edged razors in a disposable cartridges. The consumer cost of these disposable cartridges is quite high and has been an impetus for the return to traditional wet shaving using double-edged safety razors. Refilling a traditional safety razor can cost under 10 cents whereas modern cartridges can cost well over $2 to replace. Today’s modern razor cartridges can also irritate the skin more than needed due to the multiple blades..

US patent

Remarkable clear and concise, just like the patent drawings.

Full patent can be read at Google Patents, as usual. If you enjoy patents for razors and shaving related accoutrements, I got a page full of them.

Pal Razor commercials

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I suspect a lot of modern shavers have never even heard of the Pal Injector razors, so finding a stack of commercials from the 1960s over on archive.org was a Good Find™. The Pal Stainless Injector Razor – Beauty, Balance and Brains. Guaranteed for life.

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Curvfit advertisements

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I’ve spent a little time looking into the CurvFit – another razor where they saved on the vowels – and found some advertisements I would like to share.

Source and date unknown.
Daily News, New York. 17 Sep 1925.
Los Angeles Times. 13 Jun 1926.

Also, don’t get me started on how society basically body-shamed women into shaving their armpits…

More photos of CURBO razors and boxes

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A little while ago I wrote about the CURBO razors – razors made to be sold cheaply or given away free as advertisements. I’ve since found a lovely source of high quality photos of various CURBO razors. And even better; the photos are licensed under Creative Commons!

All of the photos are of razors that matches US patents 932,518 and 1,006,607. This would imply that even if I think 1,009,114 looks like a better razor, it is possible that it was never actually manufactured in any great quantity.

Many Unsinger-made $1.00 safety razors in green or black cardboard boxes were given as advertising premiums. The top two boxes (Jansch Brothers& Hoehne’s Hardware Company) have razors with August 31, 1909 patent dates. The remaining boxes have razors with October 24, 1911 patent dates. Photo by Joe Haupt.
Pair Of Antique Globe Safety Razors, Manufactured By The Unsinger Razor Blade Company Of Fremont Ohio, Left – August 31, 1909 Patent Date, Right – Patent Applied For. Photo by Joe Haupt.
Many Unsinger-made $1.00 safety razors in green or black cardboard boxes were given as advertising premiums. In this example, the box was imprinted the Moore Safety Razor by H.O. Moore, Dealer in General Hardware and Implements in Frewsburg, New York. Photo by Joe Haupt.
Many Unsinger-made $1.00 safety razors in green or black cardboard boxes were given as advertising premiums. In this example, the box was imprinted the Moore Safety Razor by H.O. Moore, Dealer in General Hardware and Implements in Frewsburg, New York. Photo by Joe Haupt.
Vintage Curbo Single Edge Safety Razor, Fremont Ohio, Made In USA, Made For Homan’s Sport Shop In Reading Pennsylvania, Circa 1909. Photo by Joe Haupt.

Guy Osborn’s Shrp-Shavr patent

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The first part of the last century must been rough – so rough that the Shrp-Shavr Razor Company had to save on vowels in their name… And the razor they manufactured looks quite inexpensive too. It could probably be manufactured and sold today, as an inexpensive razor for travel, advertisers and an introduction to wetshaving.

My invention has for its object to provide a safety razor which shall be simple in construction, inexpensive in manufacture, and at the same time be strong and durable.

US patent 950,113
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Razors and blades model – why Gillette did not implement it

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The razors and blades model is a business model1 in which one item is sold at a low price in order to increase sales of a complementary good. Common variations today is printers-and-ink, consoles-and-games, and razors-and-cartridges.

There is a common myth that the business model originated with King Gillette. This myth is false – Gillette priced his early razors at 5 US dollars. This was equivalent to about approximately 145 US dollar in 2020… five times more expensive than the offerings from companies like Gem, EverReady and Christy. All three sold their razors for one dollar, while companies like CURBO even gave their razors away for free.

I am not – by far – the first one to notice this. Randal C. Picker of the University of Chicago Law School wrote a paper on the myth in 2010.2 The paper is an interesting take on disruptive technologies, and how patents influence business practices. Gillette didn’t start moving towards the razor and blade model until after the patent on the Gillette Old expired. One could argue Gillette wasn’t fully committed to the model until they introduced cartridges.

As described in the paper, EverReady and other low priced razors came much closer to the razor and blade model. Gillette seems to have implemented a monopolistic business model3 – costly razors and a single source of blades. This was not completely successful, since they did not have a monopoly on safety razors in general.To quote the paper:

Gillette’s business model—both its actual business model and its supposed razors-and-blades model—faced real competition and strong limits. The Ever-Ready and Gem Junior razor handles were implicitly priced at a very low price. Straight-blade shavers could try the new multi-blade approach with a minimal upfront investment and Gillette shavers could switch easily if Gillette blade prices were too high.

Picker, Randal C., The Razors-and-Blades Myth(s) (September 13, 2010). U of Chicago Law & Economics, Olin Working Paper No. 532, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1676444 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1676444

Keywords is minimal upfront investment. Today someone making the shift from cartridges to traditional wetshaving is more likely to buy a 30 dollar safety razor over a 150 dollar one. It must be assumed that the same held true 100-120 years ago. If the initial investment is lower, the barrier to entry is lower. This probably explains why so many inexpensive razors – Diamond Edge, Christy and even CURBO – stayed in production and use for such a long time

I strongly suggest reading the paper – or if time is of the essence, at least the article the author penned for the Harvard Business Review.

Footnotes:

1) An in depth article can be found on Wikipedia.
2) You can read the abstract here, and also download the full thirty six page paper.
3) Once again, there is an article on Wikipedia.

Patent for the Clemak safety razor

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A couple of years ago I posted about the Clemak safety razor. As British as Bulldogs and the British Army, the Clemak is covered by a British patent. I have no indications that a US patent was ever applied for. The Clemak was marketed as an inexpensive razor – why pay a guinea? – and the patent points to an important feature that made it economical in use:

The blade was self adjusting – so no matter how ground down it was, it would be pressed against the blade stop. In this way the shaver would not have to buy new blades all the time, but simply rehone and reuse the ones that came in the box.

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CURBO razors and/or advertisers

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C–Unsinger-Razor-Blade-O… you may think that awkward backronyms is a new thing, but the Unzinger Razor Blade Co came up with the brand name CURBO in 1914. Selling razor-blades, safety razors, parts thereof, and twine cutters, the CURBO razors were less a product for sale and more a vehicle for advertising.1

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