To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Leonard B. Gaylor, a citizen of the United States, and a resident in the city of Stamford, county of Fairfield, State of Connecticut, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Safety-Razors, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which—

Figure 1 illustrates an elevation of a razor embodying my invention. Fig. 2 illustrates in vertical section the parts which constitute the razor illustrated in Fig. 1, separated from each other somewhat for the sake of clearness in illustration, the three upper members—to wit, the handle, guard-plate, and blade—being in section. The fourth member—to wit, the thumb-nut—is shown in elevation. Fig. 3 illustrates a plan view of the under side of the guard-plate. Fig. 4 illustrates a plan view of the blade. Fig. 5 is a diagrammatical sketch illustrating certain of the angles at which the handle can be adjusted relative to the cutting part of the apparatus. Fig. 6 illustrates a detail, partly in section, showing a modified construction, the section being taken on the line 3 3 of Fig. 3.

The new features of my invention are its exceeding simplicity, durability, and inexpensiveness, together with the fact that the great advantage of the shearing cut in either direction, which may be had at any desired angle, as well as the square cross-cut, are additionally obtainable.

A is the handle of the razor. It may be made of any suitable material. I prefer that its lower part B should be of metal, the base of which is preferably cut at an angle relative to the axis of the handle and is provided with a threaded hole C at substantially right angles to the plane of the base.

D is the guard-plate. It is triangular in form and is provided with guard-teeth E and is centrally perforated, as at F. G is the blade, which is also triangular and is centrally perforated at H.

I is a threaded and preferably knurled thumb-nut, the threaded stem of which passes through the hole F in the guard-plate the threads of course properly meshing with the threads in the perforation C at the base of the handle. The hole H in the blade is considerably larger than the stem of the thumb-nut, so that the registration of the blade by the flanged corners of the guard-plate may not be interfered with.

The blade, as shown, is three-cornered, conforming to the shape of the guard-plate, and is preferably made of such thickness as to be rigid without elasticity, because since it has no backing plate or other means to support it it should have the requisite stiffness to withstand the pull of a coarse beard when in use. I therefore wish to avoid flexibility. I also prefer non-flexible blades, because I gain the advantage that they can be manufactured from a thickness of sheet-steel, which is not only easily procured, but can be uniformly hardened or tempered without unusual manufacturing difficulty, which obtains in the manufacture of thinner sheet-steel.

The corners of my blade, as shown at K K, are adapted to somewhat accurately fit in correspondingly-shaped and flanged corners L L of the guard-plate, whereby the blade is properly registered and held in position relative to it, and by preference the corners are rounded or made blunt, as shown in Fig. 4, the registering devices on the corners of the guard-plate being preferably correspondingly shaped, as seen in Fig. 3.

From the above description the operation is obvious. To remove a dull and insert a sharp blade, all that is necessary is to unscrew the knurled thumb-nut, whereupon the parts will immediately separate, as shown in Fig. 2. The new blade will then be put in place, with its corners properly engaging within the flanges at the corners of the guard-plate. The threaded stem of the thumb-nut is then passed through the hole in the blade and in the guard-plate and properly engaged with the threaded opening in the base of the handle and screwed up.

Furthermore, as illustrated in Fig. 5, the handle of my device is adapted to any desired angle relative to the cutting edges of the blade. If arranged as shown diagramrmatically at 1, in which the handle lies at right angles to the cutting edge 2 of the blade, a square cross-cut will be secured, the same as in the Gillette and other razors now upon the market. If the angle be as shown at 3, a shearing cut at an angle substantially forty-five degrees will be secured; if, as shown at 4, in which it projects directly over one of the corners of the cutter, then a shearing cut will be had from both the cutting edges 2 and 5. Obviously the handle will be shifted from one position to the other, as may be required by the particular cutting edge of the razor which is to be used. To further aid in locating the handle, I sometimes produce upon the upper surface of the guard-plate little projections M M, one or more, as may be preferred, which will engage in suitable depressions N N on the under side of the base of the handle to act as a guide for automatically determining the angle at which the handle shall lie relative to the several sides of the cutter.

It will be obvious to those who are familiar with this art that modifications may be made in the details of construction without departing from the essentials of the invention. I therefore do not limit myself to such details.

I claim—

1. A safety-razor embodying a handle, a centrally-perforated guard-plate, a blade having a single perforation therein and a thumb-nut adapted to pass through the perforations in the blade and guard-plate and thread into the handle, the guard-plate having protecting devices at its corners engaging with the corners of the blade, whereby the edges of the blade are registered with the edges of the guard-plate.

2. A safety-razor embodying a handle, a triangular guard-plate provided at its corners with protecting and registering devices for the corners of the blade, a triangular blade adapted to coact with the guard-plate and registering devices thereon, and means to detachably connect said members together.

3. In a safety-razor, a triangular guard-plate having at each corner protecting and registering devices for the blade which project laterally beyond the plane of the guard-plate and a triangular blade which lies against said guard-plate, its corners being received within and protected by said registering devices.

4. A safety-razor having a triangular flat guard-plate, a triangular flat blade, lying one against the other, the blade having three cutting edges, and the guard-plate three comb-like edges, and also upturned corners registering with the corners of the blade and means to detachably connect the parts together.

5. A safety-razor comprising a handle, a triangular guard-plate, a triangular blade having its edges adjacent to the corresponding edges of the guard-plate, and means for movably securing the guard-plate and blade upon the handle to enable the handle to be adjusted at varying angles with respect to all the edges of the blade and guard-plate.

6. A safety-razor comprising a handle, a triangular guard, a triangular blade located against the guard, means to register the blade upon the guard-plate to maintain the edges of the blade in correlation to the corresponding edges of the guard-plate, and means for movably securing the guard-plate and blade upon the handle to permit the handle to be adjusted to various angles with respect to the edges of the blade while the corresponding edges of the blade and of the guard-plate are maintained in operative relation to each other.

7. A safety-razor comprising a handle, a guard having three edges located at angles to each other, a blade having three edges located at angles to each other and corresponding to the edges of the guard, means to register the blade upon the guard to maintain their edges in operative correlation and means for rotatably connecting the guard and blade with the handle.

8. A guard for a safety-razor having three edges at an angle to each other provided with comb-like teeth and protecting devices at the corners of the guard, in combination with a triangular blade the corners of which coincide with and are protected by said protecting devices on the guard.

9. In a razor a blade, a triangular guard having comb-like edges and having also at its corners protecting devices which engage the blade and hold its edges in operative position relative to the edges of the guard.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

Leonard B. Gaylor.

Witnesses:

Phillips Abbott,

F. M. Dousbach.