A humpday shave on the second to last day of the shortest month.
Retractable brushes is nothing new. A combined multi-position shaving brush with a built in lather rubber device? That’s more unusual.
Patented by Leon Tobias in 1920, the brush was – of course – touted as a new and improved shaving brush. In the words of the patent:
Continue readingThis invention relates to improvements in shaving brushes, an object of the invention being to provide a shaving brush equipped with the ordinary bristles for forming and distributing lather and also provided with means for rubbing the lather into the face to soften the heard, the parts so constructed and arranged as to permit either the bristles or the rubbing device to be exposed for use at the end of suitable handle.
From US patent 1,358,597
New week, and time for the other Holy Grail razor I’m lucky enough to own.
Last shave for now with the Schick Type A. Next week I’ll turn to the Type B.
Whenever I see a patent with a particularly odd name, like “disposable cylindrical razor apparatus”, I wonder if Leonardo da Quirm1 was involved somehow.
So what is a disposable cylindrical razor apparatus? When all is said and done, it is a disposable razor in an odd format. Disposable razors is nothing new, and I’ve covered a few over the years – some in weird shapes. But what makes this one stick out is that it comes with four cutting surfaces, and looks to be meant to be used as a shavette.
Continue readingRemember the abandoned patent application I shared with you last week? Remember how I said one reason for the abandonment might be the existence of a lot of prior art? Well, I found one piece of prior art; Dyer T Kendrick’s 1902 patent for a push up shave stick.
Continue reading
New week, but with injector blades lasting longer than most DE-blades I keep the same fun razor.
Another fine Friday shave.
I’ve discussed various self loading brushes before. But all of them, including the one from 1849 as well as the Brush Plus from the eighties, used soap that was either liquid or semi-liquid. Woodburry P Lefavour’s shaving brush patent from 1890 is the first I’ve seen that used a solid soap.
Inventions are – when all is said and done – solutions to a problem or an improvement to the state of the art. Lefavour claimed that his brush was a new and useful improvement to the humble shaving brush.
Continue reading