N° 11,526 A.D. 1902

Date of Application, 20th May, 1902 Complete Specification Left, 21st Nov., 1902—Accepted, 15th Jan., 1910 PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION. “ Improvements in Safety Razors ”.

We, The Wilkinson Sword Company Limited of 27 Pall Mall, S.W. Sword and Razor Manufacturers, and Henry Wilkinson Latham of 27 Pall Mall aforesaid, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows :—

As usually constructed a safety razor consists of a razor blade to which is attached a guard or fence in such a manner that the flesh is forced away from the cutting edge and only the hair to be cut is allowed to come into contact with the edge, through serrations or notches provided in the guard for that purpose.

As a result, those parts of the razor edge which are immediately behind the teeth of the guard (amounting usually to more than half the length of the available cutting edge) are prevented from cutting whilst double work is thrown upon the remainder of the edge and the lather is uselessly removed from the face by the teeth of the guard.

According to this invention a roller is used instead of the usual fixed fence or comb, so as to give a smooth rolling action over the flesh instead of a drag or scrape.

As a smooth roller might be open to the objection of forcing away the lather, a deep helical groove is usually cut as a screw-thread in its periphery so that, as it rolls the lather and hairs pass between the projecting screw threads and different parts of the cutting edge are brought successively into action. This gives even wear along the whole cutting edge and feeds the lather on to it. When the hair is of appreciable length it is fed by the friction of the roller on to the cutting edge and forced along it with a shearing action somewhat like that of a lawn mower.

The roller may be plain or grooved either with a screw thread as described or with separate grooves either perpendicular to the axis of the roller, or oblique to produce a to-and-fro motion of the lather and hair along the cutting edge.

The roller may be in one piece or built up of washers; or it may be a helix of wire or ribbon wound upon a core on which it can revolve freely.

The blade is inserted between two end clips projecting from the frame in which the roller is mounted and is held in position by a spring wire bearing on its back edge, the wire being pivoted on the frame, and held pressed against the back edge of the blade by a pivoted wire staple moved over a cam shaped part of the spring wire.

The frame is provided with a suitable handle by which it is moved over the parts to be shaved.

Dated this 20th day of May 1902.

We, The Wilkinson Sword Company Limited of 27 Pall-Mall, S.W. Sword and Razor Manufacturers, and Henry Wilkinson Latham of 27 Pall Mall aforesaid, Engineer, 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:—

As usually constructed a safety razor consists of a razor blade to which is attached a guard or fence in such a manner that the flesh is forced away from the cutting edge and only the hair to be cut is allowed to come into contact with the edge, through serrations or notches provided in the guard for that purpose.

As a result, those parts of the razor edge which are immediately behind the teeth of the guard (amounting usually to more than half the length of the available cutting edge) are prevented from cutting whilst double work is thrown upon the remainder of the edge and the lather is uselessly removed from the face by the teeth of the guard.

According to this invention a roller is used instead of the usual fixed fence or comb, so as to give a smooth rolling action over the flesh instead of a drag or scrape.

As a smooth roller might be open to the objection of forcing away the lather, a deep helical groove is usually cut as a screw-thread in its periphery so that, as it rolls the lather and hairs pass between the projecting screw threads and different parts of the cutting edge are brought successively into action. This gives even wear along the whole cutting edge and feeds the lather on to it. When the hair is of appreciable length it is fed by the friction of the roller on to the cutting edge and forced along it with a shearing action somewhat like that of a lawn mower.

In the accompanying drawings, Figs. 1, 2 and 3 are respectively front, back and side elevations of a safety razor constructed according to this invention.

The frame for holding the razor blade a consists of a base plate b turned up at the ends to form side cheeks c c¹ which, have thinner parts d d turned over at right angles to the cheeks forming a sill thereon and constituting clips to hold the blade a, in which clips are arranged set screws e e by which the position of the cutting edge of the blade with respect to the guard can be regulated.

In the one cheek c¹ is a hole and in the other cheek c a notch, together constituting the bearings for the pivots of the roller u; one pivot rests in the hole in c¹, the other pivot is sprung into the notch of c and retained therein by a hooked spring f fixed to the inner side of the cheek c which springs over the pivot of the roller and retains it in position, thereby enabling the roller to be readily removed into and out of the bearings. The roller u is preferably made with a helical groove as shewn for the purposes mentioned above. The roller may, however, be smooth or made with separate grooves either perpendicular to the axis of the roller, or oblique to produce a to-and-fro motion of the lather and hair along the cutting edge. The roller may also be in one piece or built up of washers or it may be a helix of wire or ribbon wound upon a core on which it can revolve freely.

The pivots of the roller are made of such a length as to allow a lateral play in the bearings, amounting, in the case of a grooved roller, to at least the pitch of the grooves.

The blade a is inserted between the two clips d d resting on the sills of the cheeks c c¹ and is held in position by the set screws e e and a spring k which bears on its back. The wire k is pivoted in the frame and is held pressed against the back of the blade a by a pivoted wire staple m moved over the cam shaped part of the wire k.

The frame is provided with a suitable handle n by which it is moved over the parts to be shaved.

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

1. In a safety razor providing a guard or fence consisting of a smooth, grooved or helically grooved roller, substantially as and for the purpose herein described.

2. In a safety razor the means of holding the blade in the frame by clips and set screws and a pivoted spring held against the back of the blade by a pivoted staple acting on a cam shaped part of the spring, substantially as described.

3. A safety razor constructed and operating substantially as herein described.

Dated this 21st day of November, 1902.