Category Archives: History

Gillette’s thin, rigid razor blade

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Razor blades – by which I mean the traditional double edged blade – is flexible. This is because it’s made out of thin steel, even thinner now than when King Gillette first though them up.1 But flexible blades needs a rigid holder – better known as a safety razor – and as we all know a razor costs money up front. Imagine how many more blades you could sell if the holder – the razor – was significantly cheaper?
This seems to have been the logic behind the patent that Alfred W Proctor filed on behalf of the Gillette Safety Razor Company in 1912. In the words of the patent text:

This invention relates to razor blades of a type now widely used and made of thin sheet steel, as distinguished from forged blades. The facility with which such blades can be manufactured because they do not require forging in order to bring them to shape and because many of the grinding processes incident to the production of a forged razor are unnecessary, has brought them into wide use. Blades made from such thin sheet steel, however, have an inherent flexibility which requires, or at least, makes it desirable to employ With them a holder which embodies a backing, this holder operating to support the blade and impart a certain degree of rigidity to the cutting edge. Such holders are however expensive to make and are undesirable for various reasons.

The holder that supports the blade and imparts a certain degree of rigidity to the blade that Mr Proctor refers to is – as all of you probably realises – the actual razor itself. Personally I cannot see the razor being undesirable for any reason, but it’s certainly true that the double edged blade requires both a bottom plate and a top cap to hold the blade securely and to prevent the blade from vibrating and chatter.
So how did Mr Proctor plan to make the Gillette safety razor – which had been on the market for less than a decade when this patent was filed – obsolete? By making the blade stiff enough to do without the rigidity of the holder – ie.: the razor – much like a straight edge razor. Not by making the blade out of thicker materials, but making it thicker by putting ribs or ridges in it.

In order to impart the necessary or desirable rigidity referred to the blades will be given a configuration which affords such rigidity so that the blades because of their configuration are stiffened.

For the exact same reason that an I-beam is stiffer than a plate, a blade with ridges is stiffer than a blade without.2 And if the blade is stiff and rigid, you can do without the complex holder – that is; the razor. And thus we end up with the invention shown in the patent drawing: A blade with ribs arranged to make it stiff both along it’s length and breath, and a razor that was little more than some bent wire.

The blade may be used in a wire frame such as C which operates merely as a holder and does not impart any appreciable degree of support to the blade.

I think that when all is said and done we ought to be happy Gillette didn’t go down this road, since we would have missed out on so many fun and wonderful razors in the last century.

1) For more details, see my previous blog post on how old razors shaved back when new. The quick summary is that modern blades are half as stiff – or twice as flexible – as the original blades.
2) For the technical details, read up on Euler–Bernoulli beam theory, also known as engineer’s beam theory or classical beam theory. The quick, oversimplified summary is that the taller the web (or the ridges, in the case of this patent) the stiffer the beam (in this case; blade).

A Double Edged Schick razor

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An advertisement in The Jackson Tennessee Sun newspaper from 11th February 1968. Before I found this I wasn’t even aware that Schick had manufactured double edged razors.

I mean, I shouldn’t be too surprised – after all it’s all about market shares, and no sane company would give up the opportunity to compete head to head once patent rights on the double edge blade and razors had expired. And Schick do own – as far as I know – Wilkinson Sword, which do manufacture both blades and double edged safety razors still.

Combined comb and hair cutter

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Long time readers of my blog will – perhaps – recall I posted a quick little post about a home made hair trimmer made with a comb, a razor blade and some painters tape a few years ago. To no one’s surprise this wasn’t a new idea – you can buy a dozen variations in all sort of shapes from Chine – but I found an early patent that seems to be inspired by the top cap of a Gillette razor.
Applied for by Mr Domenico Marrazzo in the fall of 1935, the device was claimed to be for the head as well as other parts of the body.

… a combined comb and hair cutter, wherein the blade is so guarded as to prevent accidental i6 cutting of the fingers and to permit the hair cutting portion to be used as a handle when the comb portion is used as a comb.

So hold one end of the device, and it’s a comb. Hold the other end, and it’s a hair cutter. Hope that you remember which end is which when you brush your hair before going on your big date.

It’s a simple enough idea in hindsight – like most good inventions are – and Mr Marrazzo took care to point out that you could make it from almost anything, ad that it would be usefull for anyone regardless of hair length:

The comb may be made of any suitable material such as hard rubber, bakelite or metal such as aluminum or the like.

Said arcuate portion is somewhat greater in length than the length of the blade 14 and has a convex outer surface 11 and a concave inner surface 13 as shown in Figs. 2 and 3. In order that the device may be operative in cutting long hair as well as short hair, the row of teeth 20 on one side of the comb are preferably longer and if desired, coarser than the opposed row 21 on the other side.

All told it sounds like a useful combination tool for those who like to trim their own hair – as highlighted by the fact that variations on this theme is still for sale.

So safe you can shave in the shower

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Are Schicks better than good old double edged razors, or is it mostly marketing spin? They do point out one of the things I like about injectors though; the ease of getting the correct angle. Simply place flat against the cheek and shave.
If I were to recommend a classic safety razor for a new wetshaver today, and s/he didn’t mind buying a vintage razor second hand, I would put a Schick injector near the top of the list simply due to the ease of learning it.

Single edge razor of of simple and economical construction

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From time to time I come across patents that I’m sad didn’t make it into manufacture… and the single edge razor Mr Frank Pelosi was granted a patent for in May 1931 is one of them. It just looks, well, nice.
Mr Pelosi didn’t claim that his razor would be the best thing since sliced bread, nor that it would be a quantum leap over other razors… just that it would be, well, simpler and better. In his own words:

…an improved razor of this type which comprises a relatively few parts of simple and economical construction, which permits easy and speedy insertion or removal of a separable blade, and which may be small in size and light in weight without sacrifice of operative efficiency.

It’s was a simple twist-to-open open comb razor, which indexed the blade on a rivet mounted on the bottom plate, while the top cap was made from sheet metal and tightened by a knurled knob on the end of the handle.

…the razor comprises a handle 10 having an axial opening 11 therethrough, a guard member 12 mounted in one end of the handle, a rotatable knob or lock nut 13 at the opposite end of the handle, a lock plate 14 arranged to cooperate with the guard to hold a blade 15 therebetween, and an adjusting. stem 16 extending through the hollow handle and having one end engaging a threaded opening 17 in the nut 13 and its opposite end passing through an aperture 18 in the guard 12 and secured to the lock plate. as by a rivet or pin 19 which projects through an opening 20 in plate 14 and is headed over on the top surface of the plate. The stem and lock plate may thus be moved longitudinally of the handle by rotating the lock nut to secure the blade in working position (Fig. 3) or to separate the plate from the guard member and permit insertion or removal of the blade (Fig. 4).

Overall Mr Pelosi’s razor gives the impression of a well though out, workmanlike razor with no frills and only a little thrills. What killed it in the marked was probably the fact that it required it’s own special blades, requiring setting up manufacture of not just the razors, but also the blades.

Safety razor with covered blade tabs

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Show of hands everyone; how many of you have – at some point – given yourself a nick or cut from a exposed blade tab on a double edged blade? I suspect most of us have done it by accident at least once which is why some safety razors covers the tabs.
Back in late January 1930 – ninety years ago pretty much on the date – Albin K Peterson was granted the earliest patent I’m aware of that covers blade tabs… literally. Mr Peterson had noticed the inherent danger of the tabs, although possible not when he was shaving his beard… to quote his patent:

The Gillette type of safety razor is highly desirable because the blades can be replaced and a sharp blade always had at a small cost. In these days of scant attire for women, they often employ a safety razor for shaving unsightly hair from the arm pits. It has been found dangerous, however, to use the average safety razor, whether the Gillette or other types, because the sharp corners of the blade protrude sufficiently to cut the skin when contacting with a cupped or depressed area, such as the arm pit.

So… body-shaming the ladies in your patent filing? Classy. Anyhow – the invention don’t seem all that non-intuitive to me in hindsight, even if the patent clerk found it novel enough to grant a patent. Mr Peterson’s big idea was just a change to the shape of the top cap, made to include an overhang that covered the blade tabs. Granted; the overhangs were a bit on the large side, curved to slide smoothly in an armpit, but still just overhangs.
Interestingly enough, Mr Peterson also wanted to modify the base plate slightly to ensure a snugger fit with his improved top cap… in his own words:

The guard member consists of a curved body portion 6 to which may be secured, by shaft 2 protruding into the handle 7 and figures 6 and 7. The prongs 9 are shortened just sufficiently to fit snugly within the shields 4 thus, together with the latter, forming a complete housing for the corner of the razor blade. The prongs 8 are preferably of such a length that when the razor is assembled the tips of the prongs will be in a line forming a tangent with the outer surface of the shields 4.

It is, of course, possible to merely reduce the length of the four end prongs of the guard member of the standard Gillette type of safety razor so that it will fit into my improved blade receiving member. Thus by providing my improved blade receiving member with the standard Gillette type of safety razor, the guard member of which has, been altered as above described, the user can alternatively employ the set for shaving ‘said to be adapted to shave any part of the human body without fear of injury thereto.

Today double edged razors with covered blade tabs is fairly common, but I’ve yet to seen any with such massive overhangs as Mr Peterson suggested.

Safety razor in which it is unnecessary to separate the parts to insert the blade

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Simple is often better – after all, it seems that perfection is attained not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing more to remove.*
So what can be simpler than a one piece razor that you can insert and remove the blade from without opening it up? Or to go one better; such a razor, but made cheaply and easy from a single piece of sheet metal?
Walter P Keene invented just such a razor, and filed for a patent in the middle of 1925. He did this by a couple of simple metal stampings that fit one inside the other, with a helical slot for the blade. Or as the patent text describes it:

…blade is supported and held between two cylindrical surfaces with the blade edge flexed over an elongated helically cut slot…

The drawing shows how the razor should be held between thumb and fingers, allowing for good control and easy manipulation. The drawing also shows how the outer part of the shell is secured to the inner part with a pair of rivets or bolts, allowing the outer part to rotate in relation the inner part – thus opening and closing it. In the word of the patent text:

In the drawings, numeral 10 designates the outer shell or casing preferably formed of sheet metal in a punch press, consisting of an outer skin contacting surface with a helical cut tapered edge 11, the centers of the radii of this surface forming the axis of the bores formed in the side walls 12 and 13, these walls being preferably formed in planes at right angles to the axis, these walls taking the place of a handle as of the familiar hoe type of safety razor, the walls being grasped as shown by the dotted lines of a hand in Figure 1, a convenient position for use in under arm work, although an equally convenient method is to grasp the rear part of the shells as outlined by line 14:, between the thumb and fingers, either of these methods serving where the handle grasp of an operator is lost.

Supported within the outer shell is a second shell of substantially the same form, drawn of sheet metal, in which the cylindrical and approximated surface to the inner cylindrical surface of shell 10, is struck from radii of less length, so that when they are assembled, there is formed an accurate cylindrical space adapted to receive and hold the razor blade.

It’s worth noting that Mr Keene’s razor required proprietary blades – had he designed it for standard double edged blades (even if only one edge was exposed at any given time), I can actually see this razor being successful. As it is, it seems to have to sunk without a trace.

*) Antoine de Saint Exupéry, in reference to aircraft specifically but all that man do in general.

Another axilla razor – from 1920

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In 1920 Mary M McCaffrey filed a patent for a safety razor for shaving armpits – the earliest such patent I’ve found that has been filed by a lady. Like the underarm razor patented by Joseph J Schermack in 1931 – and the Shermac he later manufactured – Mrs McCaffrey’s razor was round, and for a good reason:

To shave hair from the armpit or any depressed portion of the body with the ordinary straight edge safety or. other razor is more or less unsatisfactory, therefore provide a safety razor which will effectively and safely do such work, and to this end use is made of a circular blade so constructed that it may be flexed as desired.

A lot of the patent goes on to describe the special blade – that could be flexed as desired due to a number of  of elliptical openings placed around the centre – and the slot in it that had to be protected with a guard so the corners didn’t cut. Or as the rather verbose wording of the patent text tries to explain it:

Blade 3 is best illustrated in Fig. 4;, and is provided with a slot 6 to permit greater flexing and also with elliptical openings 12 placed radially in blade 3 to prevent buckling when being made and to assist in allowing appropriate flexing when pressure is placed means of screwing handle 1 on stem 5, which flexing is produced by slightly raised circular, portion 16 on head 2 (exaggerated in drawing) fitting into depressed circular portion 13 on cap 4 (also exaggerated) The center of the raised circular portion 16 on head 2 passes when in position over elliptical openings 12 slightly beyond the wide portion of said openings radially placed producing thereby an even flexing of blade 3, and thus eliminating to a great extent the tendency of circular blades to break on the outer edge thereof.

Clear as mud, as many patent texts are, but the drawing is at least easy to understand.

Judging by the apparent lack of success that McCaffrey’s razor, and the blade of the slightly more successful razor later patented and marketed by Shermack, I suspect that the blade of this razor was overly complicated – making the manufacture of the blades complicated and expensive.

For those who missed the last post i made about an old patent, axilla is the anatomical term for armpit.

A 1917 armpit razor patent

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Ever since society started shaming women into shaving their armpits (around 1915 or thereabouts, as mentioned in a previous post), guys have invented razors for just that use. This is one of the earliest I’ve found, applied for in December 1917 by Mr Oswald T Fleury.
As he states in the patent text:

The practice of removing hairs from the axilla is, at the present time, becoming more predominant and,.in order to accomplish this purpose, he ordinary safety razor is sometimes ’employed but has been found more or less unsatisfactory owing to the fact that access ca mot readily be obtained to the curvature o the arm pit to remove the hairs therefrom with the straight edge blades commonly used.

If you’re not steady in anatomical latin, axilla simply means armpit.
The invention itself isn’t too complicated; a semicircular single edge safety razor with a curvature shaped to fit the armpit – however it is interesting in that it has no top cap, but uses two tabs fitting in corresponding slots cut in the blade and bottom plate to hold the blade secure, and a cup or ring to hold two halves of the handle together. Hopefully that is clearer from the drawing than from the text.

…having a handle with threaded orifice, a flexible slotted circular blade provided with slot with parallel edges and a series of elliptical openings placed radially in said blade, a circular head provided with guard teeth and special guard portion integral therewith to cover slot in Blade, a slightly curved circular raised portion, and an elliptical raised portion all integral therewith, a circular clamping cap member provided with a slightly depressed circular portion and a threaded stem for screwing into threaded orifice provided with handle, substantially as described.

A quick look online finds no indication that this patent ever turned into a marketable product, but there have been a veritable flood of specialised razors for armpits since… some successful, but most not so much.

Shaving creams go back a long way…

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Did you know that a rudimentary form of shaving cream was documented in Sumer around 3000 BC – or almost five thousand years ago, give or take a few decades?
Like the Babylonians in the northern region of Mesopotamia, men in the Sumerian civilisation at the time used a mixture of animal fat and wood alkali (i.e.: wood ash) to prepare beard hair for shaving.
While it likely was an improvement on not using anything at all, I think I’ll stick to my stash of modern shaving soaps… just saying.