To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Jules Emile Leresche, manufacturer, a citizen of the Republic of France, and a resident of St. Julien-du-Sault, France, have invented new and useful Improvements in Razors with Removable Blades, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to razors having removable blades.

According to my invention I secure the blade into the groove of the blade-carrier by means of a lever mounted upon the blade-carrier and the head of which is so arranged as to act in the manner of a cam or eccentric. This head, together with the blade-carrier and the back of the blade, is so formed that by depressing the lever for fixing the blade the said lever exercises two actions simultaneously upon the blade—viz., on the one hand it draws the blade into the groove and retains it there and on the other hand it pushes it longitudinally, so causing it to press strongly against the abutment formed for this purpose in the carrier at a suitable part. Thus the blade is retained in and securely fixed to the blade-carrier at two independent points—viz., at the head of the lever and at the abutment of the carrier. By lifting up the lever the head thereof presses against the back of the blade and in this manner forces the same out of the groove in the carrier, whereby the removing of the blade is facilitated in case it sticks or is otherwise retained in the groove—say by rust, or through the deformation of the parts, or from any cause whatever.

My invention will be readily understood from the accompanying drawings, in which—

Figure 1 shows a razor, partly in elevation and partly in section, constructed in accordance with my invention, the parts being shown as they would appear before the depression of the locking-lever. Fig. 2 is a similar view, but with the lever depressed and the parts firmly locked together. Fig. 3 is a similar view to Fig. 2, but showing a modified form. Fig. 4 shows the back of the razor of Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a similar view to Fig. 3, showing another modification.

The same letters of reference designate the same parts in all the figures.

a designates the blade-carrier, and b the removable blade, the back of which is engaged in the groove c of the blade-carrier.

d is the lever, which is mounted in a recess e, formed for its reception in the back of the blade-carrier f is the head, forming a cam and constituting the working part of the lever.

In Figs. 1 and 2 I have shown the blade provided with a kind of beak g at its rear end designed to engage and to hook into the abutment h of the blade-carrier, arranged so as to form a retaining-stop. Furthermore, the back of the blade has a projection the rear face l of which is undercut or inclined downwardly and forwardly, engaging the correspondingly-beveled rear wall of the slot e in the blade-carrier a, while the face i j of said projection is curvilinear, the upper portion i projecting forwardly to form a cam-face acted upon by the rear short arm f of the locking-lever d to hold the blade firmly on its seat or abutment k, as shown in Fig. 2.

In order to fix the blade in position, it suffices to place it as shown at Fig. 1 and then to depress the lever, as indicated by the arrow 1, when the head of the said lever acts on the portion i, and thereby pushes the blade in the direction indicated by the arrow 2, thus causing the beak g to be firmly secured in the abutment h. As the recess i is curved toward the front end of the blade, the latter is at the same time caused, by the action of the lever-head f, to turn on the point g, as is indicated by the arrow 3, and thereby moved fully into the groove c, as shown at Fig. 2, in which position it is securely retained owing to being engaged and strongly pressed at i by the head f, and also at g in the abutment h. For detaching the blade b it suffices to move the lever d from the position Fig. 2 into the position Fig. 1. Toward the end of this movement the head f of the lever produces a strong pressure upon the part j of the recess i j, and thus loosens the blade, if need be, and causes it to leave the groove c.

It will be noticed that in the form shown at Figs. 1 and 2 the lever d does not extend to the front end of the blade-carrier, and the back of this latter, beyond the groove e, is formed with a solid portion m, forming a cross-bar or bridge-piece between the right and left portions of the blade-carrier. The groove e may, however, be extended to the extremity of the blade-carrier, when the portion m may be replaced by a screw or pivot, forming a distance-piece. Again, the lever d may extend to the end of the blade-carrier, as shown in Figs. 3 and 4. In this case it is preferable to form the end of the lever somewhat like a button n, bent without protruding beyond the right and left hand sides of the blade-carrier.

I would remark that the fixing of the blade b by means of the head f of a lever d, which draws it into the groove of the blade-carrier and forces it into an abutment in the blade-carrier, forms the main feature of my invention. The form and disposition of the said abutment are, however, of secondary importance. Thus it is not necessary for the abutment to be designed to retain the blade by hooking together, because the blade is drawn into and retained in the groove of the blade-carrier by the lever, so that as a matter of fact the beak g may be omitted, as shown in Fig. 3.

As to the disposition of the abutment, this may be varied to a large extent. Thus the abutment may be formed as shown at k, forming the end of the groove e, the shape being somewhat similar to that shown in Figs. 1 and 2, so that the part l of the blade is pressed into it by depressing the lever d.

The lever may be inverted—that is to say, it may be disposed—so as to move down toward the razor-handle instead of turning toward the front end of the blade. It then acts to force the blade against an abutment arranged at a point of the blade-carrier between the lever and the end of the blade—for example, near the front end of the blade-carrier. Fig. 5 shows a convenient arrangement of this kind, in which the abutment is formed by a pin h, which passes across the groove in the blade-carrier and with which the blade engages by the side q of a recess r.

I claim—

A razor comprising a blade-carrier grooved to receive the blade, a locking-lever pivotally connected with said carrier and provided with a cam-head, an abutment on the carrier, and a removable blade provided with a projection on its back having a cam-face engaged by the cam-head of the aforesaid locking-lever, and a seat-face engaging the abutment on the carrier, the cam-head of said lever acting to draw the blade into the carrier-groove and force the seat-face of said blade against and hold it to said abutment, substantially as set forth.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I have signed my name, in presence of two witnesses, this 31st day of May, 1899.

Jules Emile Leresche.

Witnesses:

J. Allison Bowen,

Alcide Fabe.