To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, William B. Walker and William B. Morrison, of the city, county, and State of New York, and William Smith, of Whitestone, Queens county, New York, all being citizens of the United States, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Safety-Bazors, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to improvements in safety razors, especially those using wafer blades, and it is our object to provide such razors with adjusting means whereby the distance between the cutting edge and the guard may be changed to vary the closeness of the shave and which is provided with indicating means showing whether light, medium or close shaves may be obtained and with locking means for retaining the adjustment.

In the drawing Figure 1 is a perspective view of the razor; Fig. 2 a side view; Fig. 3 a view partly in section illustrating the adjusting and locking means; Fig. 4 a detail view of part of the locking means and Fig. 5 a view of a blade.

The razor comprises a handle 1 and a head 2. The head consists of a pair of jaws 3 and 4 semi-rigidly hinged together, one of said jaws being provided with a finger piece 5. By “semi-rigidly” hinged together we mean that the jaws 3 and 4 are connected by a hinge joint, of limited movement, and are normally held together by the resistance of the hinge but are capable of slight separation by applying force to them for the purpose of inserting or removing a blade. By pressing the finger piece 5 the jaws may be sufficiently separated to insert a blade 6 between them where it is held by pressure on releasing the finger piece.

The head 2 has a guard 7 swingingly secured thereto, pintle joints being shown at 8.

The handle 1 is hollow and has a screw rod 9 extending therethrough. A screw 10 on the rod engages an internal thread inside the handle and has a threaded extension 11 at its inner end. This threaded extension 11 engages a nut 12 which is free to slide in the upper end of the handle. The side walls of the handle are slotted at 13 and a sleeve 14 surrounds the handle at the slots.

A yoke 15 passes through the nut 12, slots 13 and sleeve 14 with its upper ends engaging the guard 7.

The lower end of the rod 9 has a knob 16 secured thereto by means of which it may be revolved. On revolving the knob the rod is moved in or out of the handle and the nut 12 is moved up or down. As the thread 11 is preferably much coarser than the thread 10 a slight movement of the rod 9 is multiplied at the nut 12. As the nut is moved up or down the motion is transmitted by the yoke 15 to the guard 7 and it is moved toward or away from the cutting edge of the blade 6 thereby regulating the closeness of the shave.

The screw threads 10 and 11 are so proportioned in actual practice that less than a full revolution of the knob 16 is required to change the adjustment from a light to a close shave or any intermediate adjustment desired. The knob may be graduated as shown to facilitate adjustment.

To lock the guard in any desired position the knob 16 and rod 9 are bored out and the knob internally threaded at 17. A lock nut 18 with a threaded stem 19 is screwed into the knob and has a tapered portion 20 which engages a horse shoe washer 21 which passes through notches 22 in the walls of the rod 9. On screwing the lock nut 18 inward the taper 20 expands the washer 21 and locks the rod against rotation.

To limit the rotation of the knob 16 the bottom edge of the handle 1 is notched at 23 and a pin 24 on the handle knob 16 enters this notch and limits the rotation.

We claim:—

1. A safety razor comprising a hollow handle, a head adapted to receive and retain a blade, a guard movably secured to the head adjacent to the cutting edge of a blade, a rod movably secured in the handle, a yoke connecting the guard and rod whereby the guard is moved with respect to the cutting edge of a blade on moving the rod.

2. A safety razor comprising a hollow handle, a head adapted to receive and retain a blade, a guard movably secured to the head adjacent to the cutting edge of a blade, a rod movably secured in the handle, a yoke connecting the guard and rod whereby the guard is moved with respect to the cutting edge of a blade on moving the rod and means for locking the guard at any desired position.

3. A safety razor comprising a slotted, hollow handle, a head adapted to receive and retain a blade, a guard movably secured to the head adjacent the cutting edge of a blade, a rod movably secured in the handle and threaded on its inner end, a nut on the threaded end and a yoke passing through the handle slots connecting the guard and nut whereby the guard may be moved with respect to the cutting edge of a blade.

4. A safety razor comprising a slotted, hollow handle, a head adapted to receive and retain a blade, a guard movably secured on the head adjacent the cutting edge of a blade, a rod movably secured in the handle and threaded on its inner end, a nut on the threaded end, a yoke passing through the handle slots connecting the guard and nut whereby the guard may be moved with respect to the cutting edge of a blade on moving the rod and means for locking the guard at any desired position.

5. A safety razor comprising a hollow handle, a head adapted to receive and retain a blade, a guard movably secured to the head adjacent to the cutting edge of a blade, a rod movably secured within the handle, a connection between the rod and guard whereby movement of the former changes the position of the latter with respect to the cutting edge of a blade, the rod being slotted and hollow at the outer end and provided with an internal screw thread, a pin provided with a coöperating screw thread entering the hollow rod end and having a tapered portion at the slots and a horse-shoe washer inside the hollow handle, passing through the rod slots and engaging the taper on the pin whereby the washer may be expanded against the inner face of the handle to lock the rod against movement.

6. A safety razor comprising a slotted, hollow handle, a head adapted to receive and retain a blade, a guard movably secured to the head adjacent to the cutting edge of a blade, a rod movably secured within the handle provided with a screw thread at its inner end, a nut on the rod screw, a yoke passing through the handle slots and connecting the guard and nut, said rod being slotted and hollow at its outer end and provided with an internal screw thread, a pin provided with a coöperating screw thread entering the hollow rod and having a tapered portion adjacent the rod slots and a horse-shoe washer inside the hollow handle passing through the rod slots and engaging the taper on the pin whereby the washer may be expanded against the inner face of the handle to lock the rod against movement.

7. A safety razor comprising a slotted, internally threaded hollow handle, a head adapted to receive and retain a blade, a guard movably secured to the head adjacent to the cutting edge of a blade, a threaded rod screwed into the handle, a threaded extension on the inner end of the rod, the thread on the extension being coarser than the thread on the body of the rod, a nut on the threaded extension, a yoke passing through the slots of the handle and engaging the nut and guard whereby the rotation of the rod changes the relative positions of the guard and the cutting edge of a blade.

8. A safety razor comprising a slotted, internally threaded, hollow handle, a head adapted to receive and retain a blade, a guard movably secured to the head adjacent to the cutting edge of a blade, a threaded rod screwed into the handle, a threaded extension on the inner end of the rod, the thread on the extension being coarser than the thread on the body of the rod, a nut on the extension, a yoke passing through the handle slots and engaging the nut and guard whereby the rotation of the rod changes the relative positions of the guard and the cutting edge of a blade, said rod being slotted and hollow at its outer end and provided with an internal screw thread, a pin provided with a coöperating screw thread entering the hollow rod and having a tapered portion adjacent the rod slots and a horse-shoe washer inside the hollow handle passing through the rod slots and engaging the taper on the pin whereby the washer may be expanded against the inner face of the handle to lock the rod against movement.

In testimony whereof we have affixed our signatures.

William B. Walker.
William B. Morrison.
William Smith.