To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, John Heissenberger, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the borough of the Bronx of the city of New York, in the county and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Safety-Razors, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part hereof.

A great many of the safety razors now in use are provided with handles which are rigidly secured to the base or plate upon which the blade is fastened so as to be substantially perpendicular to this base or plate and to the razor blade. The blade, in such devices, is thus always held in a particular position with respect to the handle. It is convenient, however, to shave different parts of the face with the blade in different positions with respect to the handle; where for instance either side of the face is to be shaved, it is convenient to have the handle extended in the plane of the blade, and in a safety razor, where there is a guard on one side of the blade, it is desirable to be able to extend the handle in the plane of the blade with the guard upon either side. In accordance with the invention, therefore, the base plate to which the blade is secured is attached to the handle by means of a joint which will permit the blade to be turned in various positions with respect to the handle, means being provided to hold the base plate in an articular position to which it is moved. It is also desirable to vary the distance between the shaving edge of the razor and the guard in order to regulate the closeness of the shave, and for this purpose means have been devised to move the blade and guard relatively to each other when the blade is in position upon the base plate.

The improvements will be more fully described hereinafter in connection with the accompanying drawings in which,

Figure 1 is a view in side elevation of a safety razor embodying said improvements. Fig. 2 is a plan view as seen from beneath. Fig. 3 is a view in front elevation. Fig. 4 is a view, partly in elevation and partly in section, the plane of section being indicated by the line 4—4 in Fig. 1. Fig. 5 is a sectional detail view, upon a slightly larger scale. Figs. 6 and 7 are front and side elevations respectively, the handle being omitted in Fig. 7, showing a modified construction. Figs. 8 and 9 are detail views in elevation showing another modification in the construction of the razor.

Referring first to Figs. 1 to 5 inclusive, it will be seen that a blade a, preferably of a wedge shape cross section although of any suitable form, is secured to a base or plate b by, means of a clip f and lugs d. The lugs d may be formed so as to limit the movement , of the blade in a lateral direction and also downwardly with respect to the guard c, and the clip f may be pivoted upon the rear side of the base plate b (Fig. 4) and yieldingly held in the position illustrated in the figures for securing the blade in position by means of a spring g also mounted upon the rear side of the base plate b. The manner of securing the blade to the base, however, is not material to the present invention. The handle h is connected to the rear side of the base plate b by means of a jointed connection such as a pivot l, the rear side of the base being provided for this purpose with a backwardly extending portion m which is cut out of the base itself and bent rearwardly (Fig. 4). This backwardly extending portion m is flat and is secured by the pivot l to a similar flat piece n screwed upon the end of the handle h, and this piece n has a downwardly extending portion o which abuts against a slightly concave portion of a resilient strip p sprung between two lugs q upon the rear side of the base plate. In this way the strip p constitutes a spring which presses against the piece n and serves to hold the base plate in any position to which it is turned. Any other form of friction device may be provided, of course, to similarly hold the base plate in its turned position.

In order to move the guard c relatively to the side of the blade adjacent to the cutting or shaving edge, the guard may be formed in a piece separate from the base and pivoted to lugs r formed upon the ends of the base plate. A screw s extending through the guard c and the base plate a may conveniently serve to adjust the position of the guard. It is preferable, where this construction is employed, to provide a collar u in the guard and to insert the screw through this collar and to interpose between the collar and base plate b a spring t which bears against the base plate and collar and thus holds the guard yieldingly against the edge of the blade.

In Figs. 6 and 7 the guard c′ is shown as being integral with the base plate b and the forward edge of the blade is mounted in lugs d′ pivoted upon the sides of the base plate and connected by a cross piece d² at the rear of the base plate. A screw s′ may be provided to adjust the position of the lugs d′ in a similar manner as the screw s is provided to adjust the position of the movable guard shown in Figs. 1 to 5 inclusive. It is of course obvious that either the blade or the guard may be adjustable to regulate the closeness of the shave in accordance with the invention.

In Figs. 8 and 9 a universal joint is provided between the handle and the base plate, a convex spring strip v being illustrated in these figures as another form of friction device which may be employed. Where such a spring v is employed the pivot v′ is extended through this spring as illustrated particularly in Fig. 8 and serves to hold the base plate a firmly in any position while permitting the necessary flexibility in the joint.

I claim as my invention:

1. The combination in a safety razor of a blade, a base plate for the blade having a portion thereof cut away and bent backwardly substantially normal to the plane of the base plate, a handle having a projecting portion, means to pivot the backwardly extending portion upon the base plate to the projecting portion upon the handle, and a spring to hold the said two portions in frictional engagement.

2. The combination in a safety razor, of a blade, a base plate for the blade, a handle, a projecting portion upon the base plate extending backwardly substantially centrally therefrom, a spring, and a rivet extending through the two projecting portions and the spring whereby the projecting portions are pivotally secured to each other and are held in frictional engagement.

3. The combination in a safety razor of a blade, a base plate for the blade, a handle, the base plate and handle each having a projecting portion, means to pivot the projecting portions together, a spring to hold the projecting portions in frictional engagement, and a pivot extending in a direction transverse of the handle to pivot one of the projecting portions to the handle.

The specification signed and witnessed this 11th day of September, A. D. 1907.

John Heissenberger.

Signed in the presence of—

Lucius E. Varney,

Ambrose L. O'Shea.