PATENT SPECIFICATION

Application Date: Apr. 28, 1920. No, 11,762/20. Complete Left: Jan. 15, 1921. Complete Accepted : July 14, 1921. PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION. Improvements in Safety Razors

165,995

I, Lionel Robinson, of 3, Staple Inn, in the County of London, a subject of the King of Great Britain, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows :—

This invention relates to improvements in safety razors, and the object of the invention is to construct a razor of the safety type adapted for shaving parts of the human body containing hollows, for instance, under the arm pits, this being frequently done by actresses and others, or by ladies wearing the prevailing style of evening dress.

The invention consists in providing the safety razor with a curved cutting edge or edges, the curving being accomplished preferably by means of a “backing” which is not only domed, as has been done heretofore, in the direction of the razor stroke, but which is also curved in the direction transverse to the razor stroke. This may conveniently be accomplished by forming the backing, as part of a dome substantially rectangular in plan, and in forming the usually straight inside surface of the backing with a curve transversely against which the ordinary straight razor blade may be pressed by screwing up a handle member.

The inside surface of the backing plate may be provided with the usual pair of locating pins for the blade, but in this invention I preferably space the holes for the locating pins so that when the blade is passed over the pins it is held in place temporarily by the springing out of the razor blade after curving, so that the edges of the holes therein press against the locating pins and the blade can therefore be sprung into place on their pins temporarily, without tending to fall away from the backing. Thus they are in proper position for being secured in place when the screw handle, which is commonly known, is screwed forward; this forward screwing serves to press on the centre of the blade and the blade, which normally is flat, is then caused to take a curved form by the pressure of the handle.

This enables the flat blade of the ordinary safety razor to be used also for the curved variety according to this invention.

The guard may be provided of a curved form corresponding to the backing, and with the usual prongs on both edges for use with a double edged blade. Preferably the guard will slide over a stem on the backing, and be held in place by a sleeve distance piece, which is tightened against the guard plate by a handle screwed on to the end of the backing stem.

Dated this 27th day of April, 1920.

I, Lionel Robinson, of 3, Staple Inn, in the County of London, British subject, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement:—

This invention relates to improvements in safety razors, and the object of the invention is to construct an improved razor of the wafer blade safety type adapted for shaving parts of the human body containing hollows, for instance, under the arm pits, this being frequently done by actresses and others, or by ladies wearing the prevailing style of evening dress.

Such constructions have comprised the ordinary flat, rectangular wafer blades warped in one direction only to provide a curved cutting edge.

In order to so warp the wafer blades, the inner face of the guard, on which the blade lies, is curved transversely to the razor stroke, and the guard is provided with side flange pieces, movable relatively to the guard, in order to clamp the blade thereonto, or alternatively the guard was hingedly mounted so that the blade could be placed on the guard and then clamped by pushing up the guard against the fixed flanges on the razor frame.

In all such cases, the blade was ultimately disposed with its four corners in one inclined plane, so that the razor really sloped downwardly from the back to the cutting edge more or less according to the configuration of the guard.

Now the present invention consists in a razor having in combination a guard, curved transversely to the cutting stroke, and a backing member extending wholly over said guard and having a curvature on its inner face parallel to the curvature of the guard, the guard and backing members having adjustable means connecting them, so that a wafer blade may be clamped and wholly pressed on the surface of the guard, and warped so that the four corners lie in one plane, substantially at right angles to the handle of the razor.

The backing member is formed to extend wholly over the guard member and is curved from front to rear on the outside as well as transversely to the cutting stroke so that outwardly it is somewhat dome shaped, whilst the inner face is straight at any section taken from front to rear, but is also curved transversely to the cutting stroke.

The face of the guard member opposed to the inner face of the backing member is of similar shape, so that when in operative position it is parallel thereto.

The blade is located between them so that when the backing member and guard member are secured together, the blade is warped in the manner already referred to and clamped to the guard member over the whole of its surface.

The inside surface of the backing plate is provided with the usual pair of locating pins for the blade, but in this invention I space the holes for the locating pins so that when the blade is passed over the pins it is held in place temporarily by the springing out of the razor blade after curving, so that the edges of the holes therein press against the locating pins, and the blade can therefore be sprung into place on the pins temporarily, without tending to fall away from the backing. Thus it is in proper position for being secured in place when the screw handle is what is commonly known as screwed forward: this forward screwing serves to press on the centre of the blade, and the blade, which normally is flat, is then caused to take a curved form by this pressure.

This enables the flat wafer blade of the ordinary safety razor to be used also for the curved variety according to this invention.

The guard is provided with the usual prongs on both edges for use with a double edged blade. Preferably the guard will slide over a stem on the backing, and be held in place by a nut member which is screwed on to the backing stem and the sleeve of the guard.

In order that my invention may be more clearly understood, I will now describe the same with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the backing of a razor constructed according to the present invention; Fig. 2 is a side elevation of a complete razor with the backing in position, and a blade clamped between the backing and the guard; Fig. 3 is a plan view of the razor as shown in Fig. 2: while Fig. 4 is a vertical section through the razor shown in Fig. 2, with the component parts separated.

Referring now to the drawings, the backing 1 is given a transverse curvature indicated by the curved edge 2. The inner face of the backing 3 is flat in the direction of the razor cutting stroke and is provided with a pair of locating pins 4 for the razor blade, which pins are set as normals to the surface from which they project. The longitudinal edges of the backing are blunted and to this end the outer surface of the backing is given the usual curvature, so that the backing has somewhat the shape of a dome and is rectangular in plan. For the purpose of assembling the parts, the backing is provided with a stem 5. The guard 6 of the razor is as usual provided with prongs or comb teeth 7, and is given a transverse curvature as clearly shown in Figs. 2 and 4, the configuration being such that the inner face of the backing will lie evenly on the top of the guard, and when the two are drawn together, securely clamp and hold the blade of the razor between them. The blade is indicated by the numeral 8. The guard is further provided with a central sleeve or tube 9, through which the stem 5 of the backing is projected. The stem is longer than the sleeve 9 and is formed at its extremity 10 with screwed threads, on to which a nut member 11, forming the handle of the razor, is screwed. It will be seen therefore that the sleeve 9 acts as a distance piece between the backing and the handle, and that as the handle is rotated forwardly on the extremity 10 of the stem of the backing, that the backing will be drawn down on to the guard, and if a blade has been interposed between them beforehand, the same will be bent to the curvature prescribed for the inner face of the backing and also for the guard.

It will be understood the razor blade will be perforated to pass over the stem of the backing and also over the locating pins formed on the backing.

In view of the flexibility of the blade, the mere act of projecting the blade into position on to the backing, temporarily holds the blade in position while the backing and the guard are being placed in operative relation.

It should here be noted that I do not claim any novelty for any of the parts per se as I am aware that heretofore cutting edges curved transversely to the cutting stroke have also been obtained by using special blades, for example, rectangular blades formed from thin material, and split diagonally from each corner, which were domed by screwing together suitably curved guard and backing members, the backing member having a solid stem, which was projected through a sleeve member fixed to the guard and extended outside the sleeve, a nut member being screwed on to the projecting end of the stem in order to secure together the backing and guard members.

Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim is:—

1. A razor having in combination a guard, curved transversely to the cutting stroke, and a backing member extending wholly over said guard and having a curvature on its inner face parallel to the curvature of the guard, the guard and backing members having adjustable means connecting them so that a wafer blade may be clamped and wholly pressed on the surface of the guard and warped so that the four corners lie in one plane substantially at right angles to the handle of the razor, substantially as described.

2. In a safety razor as claimed in the preceding claim, a backing member having its outer and inner face shaped substantially as described and having on its inner face locating pins disposed normally to the said inner face as set forth.

3. A safety razor as claimed in Claim 2 having its parts constructed, arranged and adapted to operate substantially as described with reference to the drawings.

Dated this 15th day of January, 1921.