Appropriate, since I’m using a GEM Clug Pruf this week. Also got the love this little blurb at the marketing wank, which neatly dates the advertisement to the Second World War era:
Conserve steel! Make your blades last much longer by protecting their edges. Keep razoe and blade dry between shaves.
Razor: GEM Micromatic Clug Pruf
Blade: GEM Single Edge Stainless
Brush: Vie-Long #13051M
Lather: Mike’s Natural Soaps Orange, Cedarwood & Black Pepper
Aftershave: BullDog Sensitive Aftershave Balm
Additional Care: Alum Block, BullDog Original Beard Oil, & Pereira Shavery Boomerang Beard Comb
The Segal was possible the first ever one piece razor, where the shaver twisted the handle to open the top cap. It worked very differently than the silo doors we’re used to today, and required a speciality blade.
Recently I found a video on YouTube that gives a very good impression of how it works:
As for the internals; here is the drawing from the patent:
Razor: GEM Micromatic Clug Pruf
Blade: GEM Single Edge Stainless
Brush: Omega #10048
Pre-Shave: The Lavish Gentleman Natural Strength Oil Cleanser
Lather: CRSW Glide Morning Ghost
Aftershave: BullDog Sensitive Aftershave Balm
Additional Care: Alum Block, Gentlemen of Sweden Original Beard Oil, & Pereira Shavery Boomerang Beard Comb
Razor: Schick “Lady Eversharp”
Blade: Proraso Injector
Brush: Semogue TSN LE 2012
Pre-Shave: The Lavish Gentleman Natural Strength Oil Cleanser
Lather: Crabtree & Evelyn Sandalwood
Aftershave: Barber No3 Marmara
Additional Care: Alum Block, Gentlemen of Sweden Original Beard Oil, & Pereira Shavery Boomerang Beard Comb
Thanks to Glenn’s website covering the history of Gillette’s adjustable razors, I found a very important number… the number is one million, five hundred and ninety nine thousand, seven hundred and ninety three. As in US patent number 1 599 793, that is.
To quote from the patent description, it
…relates particularly to an index’adjusting device for use in connection with safety razors of the Gillette type wherein a flexible and elastic blade is provided with cutting edges that are adjustable toward and from the guard member of the razor
In short, it’s about how to make an adjustable razor adjustable.
As can be seen from the image, everything interesting is happening in the head or right below it. Adjusting the dial 16 makes the top cap move up and down in relation to the base plate, while the base plate stays fixed in relationship to the handle. In order to remove or insert a blade, the shaver would turn the dial around and around to unscrew the cap. In other words, this very early version of the Gillette Adjustable works much the same way a Merkur Progress does – although without the central bar the Progress have.
I don’t think Gillette ever manufactured – apart from prototypes – this razor, although it must be pointed out that the method of adjusting this razor bears a lot of resemblance to how Gillette suggested one could “adjust” an Old type razor back when it was first offered:
If a close shave is desired, turn the end of the handle back a little and the edges of the blade will lift slightly from the guard thus permitting closer contact with the face. A moments practice will show the proper adjustment.
The patent is expired, and thus anyone can make a razor like this today; however bear in mind that other aspects of a good adjustable may still be covered by patents. It would still be interesting if a machinist decided to have a go though, so we could compare how far this version is from the other adjustable safety razors.
/Update: I originally believed this was an early Gillette patent, but discussion and research by the members of the Shave Nook showed that this patent was never assigned to Gillette.
Razor: Schick “Lady Eversharp”
Blade: Proraso Injector
Brush: Artesania Romera Manchurian Badger, imitation horn
Lather: Asylum Shave Works Colonia
Aftershave: BullDog Sensitive Aftershave Balm
Additional Care: Alum Block, BullDog Original Beard Oil, & Pereira Shavery Boomerang Beard Comb
One of the reasons why the classic safety razor have seen a resurgence the later years is that you can get great blades for a fraction of the cost of a cart… but that was not always the case. As I’ve shown in previous posts*, when adjusted for inflation the blades used to be as costly as cartridges are today. With that in mind, the popularity of razor blade sharpeners** made a lot more sense… but it still required you to take the blade out of the razor. Wouldn’t it be easier if the blade could stay in the razor?
While not a new idea^, William R Ewing and Benton M Ewing filed a couple of interesting patents in 1948 and 1950 for a self-sharpening razor and improvements for it.
The two Ewings certainly aimed high with their invention, wanting to
…eliminate the need for constant replacement of blades in a device of the safety razor type by providing means whereby opposite faces of the blade edge may be sharpened at will…
The patent drawings shows a permanently attached single edge blade, and a sharpening element in the form of a roller.
Two interesting things that stands out on the sharpening roller is that the actual grinder is a arranged in a spiral shape around most of the circumference, and that the roller is shaped to act as the safety bar when in the neutral position. A lot of effort went into making sure that the blade was pushed evenly against the grinder, as evidenced by the flat spring pressing on the swingable blade holder. And it seems like it was that spring that was the major improvement in their second patent.
The vaguely kidney shaped cavity in the roller allowed the blade to swing enough to allow the roller to sharpen the upper side of the blade as well as the underside… how this works is best seen with the small illustration in the bottom left corner of the last drawing in conjunction with the illustration in the same location on the first drawing.
So after loosing the roller the shaver would push it along a flat surface, first one way and then the other, until the blade was sharp. Simple, easy, and fast… in one handy, complicated package.
Overall, the two patents shows a lot of ingenuity and effort going into perfecting a solution to a problem the shaver today simply don’t have… blades are so cheap these days we can change them daily if we want to.
*) See, for example, this post
**) Some of which is discussed in this post
^) The Shake Sharp dates from ’43
Razor: Schick “Lady Eversharp”
Blade: Proraso Injector
Brush: Vie-Long #12705B
Lather: Proraso Menthol & Eucalyptus
Aftershave: Krampert’s Finest 80 Below
Additional Care: Alum Block, Gentlemen of Sweden Original Beard Oil, & Pereira Shavery Boomerang Beard Comb
As you probably are aware, there is a heatwave in Europe these days… so I find it’s simply too hot to shave. 28°C in the shave den this morning, which don’t make it too inviting to stay in there for any amount of time.
On the bright side, the forecast is stating that the temperature should go down next week.