To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, George W. Korn, a citizen of the United States, residing at Little Valley, Cattaraugus county, in the State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Razors, of which the following is a specification.

The object of my invention is to so construct a razor that it will have concave faces along the cutting edge and yet be firm in action. Heretofore the razors mostly in use were of two kinds, the one known as the “English hollow ground,” which has concave faces that extend from the cutting edge to the very back of the blade. These have practically ceased to retain their hold upon the market, because of the vibratory character of the edge, since the extended concavity made the cutting edge vibratory to such an extent as to render the instrument itself objectionable in use. The cutting edge appears to lose its straight line and to assume apparently an undulating form in action whenever it meets with an obstruction. The other kind of razor largely in use is known as the “Hamburg concave,” which had the back portion of the face concave and the edge portion substantially convex and which, though producing a satisfactory cutting edge when new, was subject to the serious objection that after short use it could no longer be honed, owing to the fact that the ridge of the convexed portion would stand outside of the line drawn from the extreme back to the extreme cutting edge, thereby preventing the edge from touching the hone.

Now my invention seeks to utilize the principle of concavity at the cutting edge, together with the principle of a thickening of the blade between the cutting edge and the back; and it consists in a blade which, starting from the back, has a concave portion which terminates in a ridge, from which ridge toward the cutting edge another concave portion is formed, the ridge itself being within a line drawn from the back to the cutting edge, so that honing is always permitted. The superiority of this construction resides in the fact that the concavity of the cutting edge, with all the advantages flowing therefrom, is preserved, while the ridge, which is but a short distance from the cutting edge, keeps it from becoming vibratory and stiffens the entire tool.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, in which—

Figure 1 is a face view of a razor embodying my invention, and Fig. 2 is a cross-section of the blade on line 2 2 of Fig. 1.

a is the back of the blade, the thickness of which at that point is about three-tenths of the breadth of the blade. Adjacent to the back are concave surfaces b, which lead to a rib c, and from this forward to the edge d of the blade the surface of the razor is again concave, as shown at e. The rib c is preferably located at about one-third of the distance between the back a and the edge d. The rib is of such a thickness that it does not quite extend to lines drawn from the edge d to the outer portions of the back a—that is, the rib is within said lines f, as indicated in Fig. 2.

The provision of the rib c between the two concave portions b and e stiffens the razor-blade, and thus gives the cutting edge the necessary strength to prevent its vibration. At the same time as the said rib is within the lines f, connecting the edge d with the back a, the rib does not interfere with the honing of the razor. The cutting edge is practically hollow ground, since the portion between the rib c and the cutting edge d is concaved, and thus all the advantages of the hollow-ground razor are preserved, while the drawbacks of the ordinary construction are avoided.

What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is—

A razor provided with a longitudinal rib extending between its back and the cutting edge and nearer to the cutting edge than to the back, the razor having concave surfaces which begin at the back and extend forward to the said rib, and a second set of concave surfaces which extend from the rib forwardly to the cutting edge, the rib being within lines drawn from the edge of the blade to the outer portions of the back.

George W. Korn.

Witnesses:

Henry M. Turk,

John Lotka.