A few days ago a fellow shaver posted a thread on my favourite shaving forum, asking for information on something called the Buddy Kit. And since Bax included a photo with a patent number… well, you know what I had to do. So to the Internet I went, and started digging.
The patent application for the Buddy Kit was filed in mid 1941. It was almost two years before it was granted though, possible due to things getting a little hectic at the end of ’41. There was a war on, after all – which may explain an oddity I’ll get back to.
The Larkin Idea a home improvement magazine and mail order sales catalogue from the late 19th and early 20th century. It helped propel the Larkin Company into gigantic mail order conglomerate in the early part of the 20th century. Today both the company and their “idea”1 is all but unknown, even if Larkin rivalled Sears at its height. While the story behind the company is intriguing, to say the least, it is not the focus today. Rather I want to show you a tutorial in four parts that was printed in the Larkin Idea in 1905. They refereed to it simply as “Correct Shaving”.
One of the wonderful features of having access to a global information system is that a large amount of vintage depilation related publications is available that I would not otherwise be aware of. Or, in simpler terms, there is a lot of old shaving pamphlets found on the web. And today I want to share one I found on the internet archive. The full, complete and unabridged title Mr Teetgen gave his masterpiece?
My razor and shaving tackle! As it ought to be: and as it ought-n’t. How to shave without great pains and little cuts.
Good news! Gillette found a way to use more resources, add to the landfill, and drain your wallet at the same time! The disposable Good News razor did all three things at once!
King Gillette didn’t invent the modern double edge safety razor in a vacuum. The idea of placing a guard near the razor sharp edge goes back to Perret’s 1762 razor guard. And even if Frederick and Otto F. Kampfe patented the first recognisable modern razor in 1880, people did not stop inventing improvements to the straight razor. Enter left; Paul Zammet and his 1881 patent!
Paul Zammet’s improved razor guard isn’t conceptually different from Perret’s idea. A guard is mounted on the blade, in such a way that it will be less likelihood of ending up with a cut throat. Perret likely used wood, Zammet envisioned a stamped metal1 device. As far as can be made out from the patent and drawing, it simply clipped over the back of the blade, and protruded out slightly in front of it. The edge of the guard formed a safety bar, and a cut out let lather and cut whiskers pass through.
Drawing from US patent #250,412
Like many such guards, the device would limit the shaver to use only one side of the blade. Paul Zammet recognises this in the patent text, and points out the guard could “easily” be slid of the blade and reversed. How easily this could be done with a wet and lathery blade is left as an exercise to the reader.
1) Although he did state in the patent that “metal, rubber, wood, or any other suitable material” could be used. Only metal makes sense in the face of the drawing though.
The blades for the razor were to be small, easily manufactured and inexpensive. In fact, they could be made by the mile, once a factory was set up. To quote the patent directly:
One of the primary objects of the invention is to provide a safety-razor with a miniature blade which may be used so long as it is sharp or keen, and then discarded and thrown away. Preferably, the blade is made of wire. Instead of being formed of sheet metal, the blade, while extremely small in cross-section, is so constructed as to be as rigid as possible, said blade having faces converging at the proper angle to form a sharp cutting edge.
James Hartness, in US patent 896,383
The design
The holder for this wire-blade was quite different from most other safety razor. While superficial similar to the so called hoe-style razor, the edge was not pointing in the same direction as most other razors. Instead if “sticking out” from the side of the head, it were pointing “downwards”. This can clearly be seen on the drawing. I am not sure what James Hartnes were trying to achieve by this, it would make going against the grain somewhat awkward on the cheeks.
Patent drawing for US patent 896,383
The blade would be positively tiny. The form and dimensions are given in the patent text;
The blade itself, as previously stated, is made of Wire. It is very small in size, being not more than one eighth of an inch wide and one sixteenth of an inch, or less, thick, at its back. The two faces d1 d2 of the blade are preferably ground flat, and they form with the base or back d3 an isosceles triangle. The blades are made from a length of wire which is properly ground and tempered.
JAMES HARTNESS, IN US PATENT 896,383
This small wedge shaped blade can be seen in Figure 13, bottom centre of the drawing. The unusual angle of the blade’s edge can be seen in Figures 1 and 5. The head itself is a three part clamp, where rotating the handle moves a cam. The cam in turn moves the upper and lower part of the head in relation to each other. This loosens or tightens the clamping force on the blade. If turned one way, the lower part of the head were loosened to replace the blade. Turned the other the whole head would come off. This would be useful for cleaning, and also for storage. In a way, the cam were as critical to the design as the blade were.
Final thoughts
The razor is simple enough. Few parts, although a bit of precision machining would have to happen to the camming surface on the handle. The razor suffered, I feel, from the odd angle of the blade. This may be why I cannot find any references to it being manufactured.
The whole patent can be read at Google Patents. And if you like old shaving patents and other oddities, I got a page full you can check out.
They would send you one new blade for each two you sent in. You could also buy resharpened blades for less than the price of new ones.
Joseph Turner did what many others did around the turn of the last century; he invented a safety razor. A safety razor that was, according to the patent, easily manufactured, as well as efficient and convenient in use. It is also a very workmanlike1 razor to my eye. And I believe a similar razor could be manufactured today, possible for the GEM blades.
Back in 1909 Herr Georg Friedrich Hofmann, from München, Germany, saw that there was little to improve on when it come to the Gillette-style double edged safety razor. So he did the perhaps not so logical thing and tried to improve on the blade instead. And by improve I mean make them harder to manufacture, more expensive, and quite possible less durable. In hindsight not the best of improvements.
Sometimes you find an old patent that is amazing. I mean, I’m amazed as to how Rennie E Billingsley could ever think his invention was a bright idea. I’m amazed his lawyer didn’t talk him out of spending time and money on a patent application. And I am utterly not amazed that it seems to have sunk without a trace.
