To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Richard Kampfe, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at New York city, borough of Brooklyn, county of Kings, State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Locking Means for Safety-Razor Blades, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to an improvement in safety-razors and pertains more particularly to a device for holding or locking the blade in position on the frame.

The object of the invention is to provide an inexpensive but efficient clamp, or presser foot, that will effectually hold a cutting blade in position, the said clamp being positioned upon the frame, and designed to act upon the heel of the blade.

I will now proceed to describe my invention in detail, the novel features of which I will point out in the appended claims, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, forming part hereof, wherein:—

Figure 1 is a front elevation of a safety razor frame provided with my improvement. Fig. 2 is a plan view thereof; Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view, the section being taken on a line 3—3 in Fig. 1; Fig. 4 is a fragmentary longitudinal sectional view, the section being taken on a line 4—4 in Fig. 2; and Fig. 5 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view, the section being taken on a line 5—5 in Fig. 2.

As herein embodied, my improvement consists of a resilient latch or presser-foot 1 pivoted, at one end thereof, as at 2, to the razor-frame 3. To permit the latch 1 to be swung upon its pivot, I cut the frame 3 away as at 5, through which opening the nose 6 of the latch 1 projects. The frame is also slotted, as at 7, to receive the upwardly extending portion 8 of the latch. As will be evident the latch 1 is a resilient pivotally mounted lever, a portion of which is adapted to bear upon the heel 9 of the blade 10. To adapt the latch to firmly engage the heel 9, I curve the same, or rather the nose portion 6 thereof, as at 11, the said curvature approximately corresponding with the surface of the heel 9. To manipulate the latch, I provide the same with a handle portion 12. As shown in Fig. 1, the latch 1 bears downwardly upon the blade, the whole tension of the latch acting to keep the blade down. To remove the blade the latch 1 will be sprung upwardly as shown by dotted lines Fig. 1, and then swung inwardly and away from the blade, as shown by dotted lines Fig. 2, the latch being slotted, as at 13, to permit the latch to move inwardly enough to clear the blade. The slot 13 obviates the necessity of slotting the frame at 7 deeply enough to permit the latch to be moved inwardly enough to clear the blade. Such a deep slot would affect the strength of the frame, for which reason I provide the said slot 13. As can be seen in Fig. 3 and as before stated the nose 6 of the latch is slightly curved as at 11 to overlap the heel of the cutting blade, the overlapping of the said nose providing a keeper which acts to keep the heel of the blade against the front plate 15 of the frame 3.

The latch 1, as herein shown and described, provides a very efficient and inexpensive latch for holding cutting blades in place on a safety-razor frame. While latches have been used for the purpose of holding cutting blades in position, the said latches, as far as I am aware, require more labor to connect, to say nothing of the expense of preparing the frame to receive the latch and permit of its manipulation. The simplicity of my device is advantageous, as it is necessary to reduce the cost of manufacturing razor-frames to the utmost extent, in the present commercial state of the art, and at the same time produce as good, if not a better device.

Having now described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. The combination with a safety razor frame, formed with an opening immediately adjacent the position of the heel of the blade when arranged in said frame, said frame being further formed with a laterally extending opening communicating with the first mentioned opening, of a latch pivotally secured to the frame and having a portion extending through the first mentioned opening therein, said latch being normally resilient to bear upon the head of the blade when in position, and a handle portion for the latch normally resting in and capable of lateral movement in the lateral opening in the frame, whereby to permit a swinging movement of the latch to a position one side of the heel of the blade.

2. The combination with a safety razor frame, formed with an opening immediately adjacent the position of the heel of the blade when arranged in said frame, said frame being further formed with a laterally extending opening communicating with the first mentioned opening, of a latch pivotally secured to the frame and having a portion extending through the first mentioned opening therein, said latch being normally resilient to bear upon the head of the blade when in position, and a handle portion for the latch normally resting in and capable of lateral movement in the lateral opening in the frame, the handle portion of the latch being cut away to permit an increased lateral movement of the latch beyond the wall of the lateral opening.

3. The combination with a safety razor frame, formed with an opening immediately adjacent the position of the heel of the blade when arranged in said frame, said frame being further formed with a laterally extending opening communicating with the first mentioned opening, of a latch pivotally secured to the frame and having a portion extending through the first mentioned opening therein, said latch being normally resilient to bear upon the heel of the blade when in position, and a handle portion for the latch normally resting in and capable of lateral movement in the lateral opening in the frame, said latch including a laterally extending portion curved to conform to the curvature of the heel of the blade.

Signed at New York city, N. Y. this 8th day of May, 1913.

Richard Kampfe.

Witnesses:

David Hershfield,

Ruth Meyers.