Remember how difficult it was to disassemble and assemble your three piece safety razor the first time? Me neither, but William J Moore patented the solution in 1907; a Gillette razor – as described in US patent 775,134 – with the bottom plate removed.

Yes, you read that right. In order to make an admittedly simple safety razor simpler, Mr Moore did away with 25% of the parts. Instead of top cap, blade, baseplate and handle, William J Moore’s simplified safety razor contained top cap, blade and handle. To quote:

It will be evident that by giving the guard plate the location shown with reference to the blade, that is, on the side thereof that comes next the face, and which is opposite to the side to which the handle is applied, and from which it projects at a right-angle, make the guard plate perform the extra function of a supporting plate, and thereby materially simplify the structure, since one less part is necessary than in the case of the constructions heretofore employed in razors of this type, which simplification results in the double advantage of cheapening the cost of manufacture and simplifying the work of separation and assemblage of the parts.

US patent 856,793

In addition, Mr Moore claimed that his improved razor was easier to use than Gillette’s razor. Reading the patent text, I can see what he was going for… but given the plethora of William J Moore’s simplified safety razor that can easily be found in antiques shops, flea markets and so on, I would say the market didn’t agree with him.

An advantage, other than the simplification of the structure, which is derived by the location of the guard on the side of the blade which brings the guard next to the face, is that the degree of closeness of the shave can be determined or regulated in so simple a manner as the variation of the angle at which the razor is presented to the surface being shaved, a variation in the angle resulting in a change of distance of the razor edge from the surface being shaved. With the ordinary construction, wherein the guard is on the opposite side of the blade, the protrusion of the guard fingers beyond the edge of the razor is indispensable, and this precludes the possibility of regulating the closeness of the shave by change in the angle of presentation of the razor to the surface of the face, making it necessary when the degree of closeness of the shave is to be regulated to change or shift the position of the blade with reference to the guard, a procedure which is not only inconvenient and requires time, but which requires a certain degree of skill, which the inexperienced users of safety razors lack. By my invention, as a result of placing the guard on the side of the razor which comes next to the face, the razor edge projects beyond the edges of the guard fingers, as will be clearly seen by reference to the drawings, and it is because of this relative arrangement of the parts that it is possible with my razor to regvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvulate the closeness of the shave by the angle of presentation of the razor to the surface of the face being shaved. It will be evident that, for the attainment of this important advantage in the use of my razor, it is necessary merely to have the handle in such position that it will not interfere with the application of the razor to the face, with the guard next the surface being shaved.

US patent 856,739

William J Moore have a few other patents to his name, including a couple of single edge safety razors – one set up for a wedge blade, the other for a spined blade similar to the Gem blades. The full text of the patent for his simplified safety razor can be read at Google Patents, as well as over at Razors.click.

A little while ago we looked at the Young Any-Angle Razor, a razor that trued to help shavers achieve more with less skill. And today we have a patent for a razor with a very similar goal of making the head tilt-able, but doing it in a radically different way.

Where the Young razor relied on a setscrew and a bit of operator dexterity, Mr Seitz’s idea used a spring and a push button to achieve what the patent describe as:

The object of this invention is the provision of a safety razor, which is provided with an adjustable blade carrying head so that the blade may be adjusted to position its cutting edge at various angles with relation to its handle, to which it is pivotally connected.

US patent 1,247,581

Pushing down on the button frees the ratcheted wheel from the spring, and the spring pushes the button back up when released.

The head of Mr Seitz’s razor is – when looking at the drawing – reminds me of the various CURBO razors, but honestly any style head¹ would work with the basic idea of the ratcheted tilting head.

The full patent can as usual be read at Google Patents.

1) Either single or double head.

Learning to shave with a safety razor is – arguably – about learning to control the angle and the pressure. And the Young Any-Angle Razor – sold by Young Safety Razor Co of Pennsylvania – aimed to take the angle out of the equation. Not – mind you – in the way we think about the angle today,¹ but in the obliquity between the edge and direction of travel. In a way, Mr Elmer I Young was trying to automate the Gillette Slide before the Gillette Slide was a thing.²

Mr Young’s razor was – apart from the ability to adjust angle of the head – a fairly straight forward single edge, closed guard, hoe style razor. Patent filed in 1909 and granted in 1910, the invention aimed to:

…provide a safety razor in which the blade holding means can be quickly and positively adjusted so that the cutting edge of the blade may lie obliquely to the direction of movement of the blade to give a shearing cut.

US Patent 973,734

This was done by a setscrew, which – by means of a knurled knob – tightened the blade, guard and blade holder³ against an eye formed at the top of the handle. Around said eye, and also on the blade holder, was a number of projections and dimples, which were meant to keep the head from slipping once the set screw was tightened.

The drawing makes the whole thing a little easier to understand:

The Young “any-angle” razor was moderately successful as far as I can tell, not only being patented but also manufactured and offered for sale. At least for a couple of years; Waits’ Compendium shows a late 1911 advertisement, and I found the following one from 1912 while browsing the web:

While this was not the last attempt to make a razor with a sideways tilting head – Otto Spahr’s razor come to mind – I think we can all agree that the potential benefit of the Any-Angle can be negated by improving the shavers technique. When that comes in addition to a somewhat fiddly head that requires the shaver to keep track of several parts while changing blades, I can see why the Young Any-Angle Razor seems very rare today. Which is a shame, since it seems like a well made razor that ought to work with a GEM blade.

The full patent can be read at Google Patents, for those interested.

1) That is, the angle between the blade and the skin.
2) Something Gillette themselves looked into almost twenty years later.
3) What we today would refer to as the razor’s head.