On Tuesday I shared with you a folding razor from 1931; today I have found the updated version of the naughties… at least I think that is what the first decade of this millennium is called.

Back in February of 2000 James Luke Bickers and Cecil Boyce McCary patented what they described in the patent claim as:

A folding disposable razor is disclosed having a razor head and a flexible razor body attached to the razor head. The razor body preferably includes a first cover panel and second cover panel, each panel hingedly attached to an opposite end of a first hinge portion. In a storage configuration, the first cover panel and second cover panel fold relative to the first hinge portion such that the first and second cover panels are substantially parallel to each other and define a storage area there between.

Interestingly the patent makes no reference to the one I posted about on Tuesday, despite the basic idea being very similar. I guess the examiner either didn’t find the other patent, or though them dissimilar enough not to cite it.

Something that wasn’t addressed in the ’31 patent was the need for lather, but this newer patent has that covered as well:

It would be desirable to provide a razor that includes a storage area for carrying a single use packet of shaving cream therein.

Judging by the drawings, this space is within the folded up handle.

It is envisioned that this product would be especially useful for preparing patients for surgery. The shaving cream and razor can be provided as a unit. The handle provides sufficient stability to ensure a safe shave and the entire unit can be disposed after a single use. In addition to the medical field, the present invention can be used as an amenity provided by the hotel industry. Its compact design is desirable for travellers and for military personnel who are not afforded much room for packing personal items. The list of uses for the present invention is not exhaustive and there are numerous other applications for which the disposable folding razor could be used.

A while back I wrote about a disposable sanitary shaving brush made from fibrous material (horsehair or suchlike seems reasonable given the design of the brush) with a patent filed in 1917.

Mr  Edward L Corbett decided to go one better a few years later, and filed a patent for a disposable brush made out of paper… in the inventors own words:

… nor will it be possible to subsequently use the brush, even if a barber were inclined so to do.

The actual invention is simple enough according to the patent description:

… a small individual sanitary shaving brush which comprises a plurality of paper strips that are first slotted, or cut, so that a plurality of narrow strips of paper are formed to simulate bristles, the strips of paper being so arranged that the paper like bristles are bunched in brush like form, after which these bristles are placed in a soap solution and dried in an oven about 100° Fahrenheit.

After these paper brushes are so dipped and impregnated with the soap, they may be packed in small sanitary cartons and sold to the trade. To use one of these brushes, it is simply necessary to place the same ‘for a second or two in hot water, or under a hot water faucet, the water dissolving the soap and softening the paper bristles, after which the brush may be rubbed on the face to form a fine lather. ‘There will be enough soap on each brush to `furnish a sufficient lather for the heaviest beard’, and after the brush has been so used, Inasmuch as the brush is made of paper, the water will not only soften the soap, but will soften the paper, so that there will `be no scratching of the face… 

It’s hard to imagine a brush made out of paper being as good as a modern brush, but it sure makes it disposable.

Fig, 1 is a view in elevation of two strips of paper pasted together at their one end, and showing a means of slotting the paper to form the paper like bristles.
Fig, 2 is a similar View with the upper edges being turned showing the development of the brush.
Fig. 3 shows the start of the curling of the paper and the still further development of the brush.
Fig. 4 shows a completed brush and a portion of a finger inserted in the same.
Fig. 5 is a similar view, but showing a small wooden handle inserted in the brush.
Fig. 6 is a slightly modified form showing a plurality of strips of paper having their upper edges slotted to form bristles, the paper strips being in their fiat state before being curled and Fig. 7 is a completed brush showing the development of the brush started in Fig; 6.

Once in a while a solution to a problem I wasn’t aware of is so brilliant I can’t understand why no one has done it already… like Doroodian-Shoja Siamak’s idea of putting a wear indicator on a disposable razor (although I can see no reason why one couldn’t put in on a cart as well).

I use a disposable once every blue moon or so – basically when I’m flying with just hand-luggage – so I have no recollection of how many times a particular disposable have been used.

In the inventors own words:

A wear indicator is located on the head or frame of a disposable razor or razor cartridge, in close proximity to the shaving edge of the blade. The wear indicator comprises a mass of material that gradually wears away as the disposable razor or cartridge is used in shaving, the amount of material wearing away being correlated with the amount of wear on the blade edge to provide a visual indication of the relative wear on the blade. Preferably, the wear indicator comprises two strips of material, one atop the other, the upper strip wearing away to reveal the contrastingly-colored lower strip. Alternatively, the material may wear away to reveal indicia or lettering on the lower strip.

Considering how many carts already have a “lubricating strip” (which, by the way, has not been shown to work as promised), this invention may be combined with it – or replacing it.

Unlike most other patents I dig up and blog about, this one is still on the books.

The beauty of a straight is that it’s a precision instrument with a single cutting edge which lasts forever if taken well care off. Obviously this is such an old fashioned concept that we need to reinvent it… or at least, that seems to be part of the logic behind Mr Jamshid Ilanlou’s invention.

A straight razor has a handle portion and a disposable multi-blade assembly with at least two blades as the cutting edge on at least one of its sides. A molded guard portion at the bottom of the blade portion prevents the blades from cutting into the skin by keeping the cutting edge limited to the surface in common among the sharp edges of the blades and the bottom guard portion.

It could be that the rationale was to make straight shaving more accessible for new shavers, even if the existing shavettes do a nice job of that.

Vendor lock-in must be a razor manufacturers wet dream; once you gotten inside their walled garden, it’s too much effort / cost to get out again. Gillette had this going for them with the traditional DE safety razor, until their patents expired – which basically turned DE’s into open source shaving. Ever since they have been trying to regain it, with they (and other multinationals) have managed more-or-less with the advent of the cartridges.

…the magazine razor of our invention includes a head containing a chamber or compartment for a blade stack and having a front wall providing a blade seat at its upper edge. A friction plate overlies the blade seat and engages the blade thereon and a reciprocatory cap is mounted on the head and provided with feeding lugs projecting through apertures in the friction plate for advancing one blade after another from the stack to the blade seat. A complete reciprocation of this cap is all that is necessary in ejecting a used blage from the razor head and replacing it by a fresh As herein shown the razor is organized to handle thin fiat single edged blades in which both the sharpened and unsharpened edges of the blade are offset with respect to the ends of the blade so as to permit one blade to be located by engagement with a second blade lying in the same plane while providing clearance for its sharpened edge.