King Gillette originally considered his blades to be reusable. You could ship them back to his company and get a new blade for every two you sent in. Devices for reconditioning the edge at home also cropped up early, and kept popping up again and again.¹ But with all that honing and sharpening, the blades would wear. The edge would creep slowly but surely closer to the middle of the blade. This would, naturally, change the geometry of the head – likely resulting in suboptimal shaves. Enter left; Abraham Zilbersher and his safety razor for worn down blades.

I can see nothing stopping a shaver from using Mr Zilbersher’s razor with new blades. It does look like a nice razor, and one that would give you the option to use either a comb guard or what is – in essence – a safety bar.

Compact is a funny word, when you think about it. It can mean something dense, or densely packed. It can mean exerting a force on something to make it more, well, compact. Or it can be used to describe something that is a small and conveniently shaped example of its kind, such as a compact camera. I have seen it used to describe make up kits that fit in a purse. Or, in the case of Victor R Payton’s 1926 patent filing, a compact razor that fits in a pocket.

A little over two years ago I self-published – via Amazon – a book on shaving and razor patents. Now I have committed a second book, which is again available on Amazon.

Much like a criminal returns to the scene of the crime, I guess… but then again, I did warn you that I was going to.

Last week I made some lighthearted fun out of a shave kit that looked like a fountain pen. Today I’ll show of another fountain pen lookalike; Pete Bowlin’s shaving kit. Pete filed his patent in ’47, and while he failed to include a shaving brush he did find room to make his invention a hoe style single edge safety razor.

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.