To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Henrie Clauss, a citizen of the United States, residing at Fremont, in the county of Sandusky, State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Safety-Razors; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters and figures of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to safety razors, and consists in the construction and arrangement of parts hereinafter fully set forth and pointed out particularly in the claims.

The objects of the invention are to provide a safety razor having a casing consisting of two parts, slidably joined and so united as to form a detachable hinge to enable the blade-carrying part to be opened outwardly in either direction, or wholly detached; to provide such support for the blade as to remove from the path of the edge thereof, all projections which might dull it when placing it in the holder and to provide on said support a stop which shall arrest the blade when properly in position; to provide an adjustable comb which may be regulated with respect to the position of the blade and which is concaved so as to permit the lather to enter the inner portion of the casing; to provide spring pressure arms adapted to embrace the ends of the blade to hold it in contact with the casing, and to provide a slidable spring adapted to engage the back of the blade to hold it in position. The above objects are attained by the structure illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:—

Figure 1 is an elevation of a safety razor involving my invention, showing by dotted lines the adaptability of the blade-holding portion of the casing to be opened outwardly in either direction. Fig. 2 is a top view of the casing with the blade removed. Fig. 3 is an enlarged vertical section as on line 3—3 of Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is an enlarged vertical section as on line 4—4 of Fig. 1. Fig. 5 is a transverse section as on line 5—5 of Fig. 2. Fig. 6 is a rear elevation. Fig. 7 is an enlarged end elevation, showing the parts of the casing separated. Fig. 8 is an enlarged perspective view of the guard plate and the spring mounted thereon adapted to hold the blade in position upon the supporting arms. Fig. 9 is a perspective view of the spring arms which form a part of the hinge member which unites the separable portions of the casing.

Referring to the characters of reference, 1 designates a jointed handle of any suitable construction, upon which is detachably mounted in any suitable manner, the lower or fixed portion 2 of the casing which is oblong and concavo-convex in cross section and whose rear edge stands slightly higher than the front edge thereof. Secured at 3 to the inner wall of the lower casing 2 and lying adjacent the inner face thereof are the curved spring arms 4 connected at their upper ends by the cross piece 5. These arms at their upper ends stand away from the wall of the casing, leaving an opening for the entrance of the lower edge of the upper or blade-holding portion of the casing 6. This upper portion of the casing comprises a back part and the forwardly projecting supporting arms 7 at the ends connected by a depressed interposed plate of open work 8, as shown in Figs. 2 and 5, whereby the outer ends of said arms are supported. By depressing the central portion of the connecting plate 8 it is removed from the path of the edge of the blade 9, when said blade is being placed in position upon the supporting arms, thereby obviating any injury thereto.

Located below the top plate 8 and extending between the supporting arms 7 is a downwardly curved guard plate 10 having rearwardly extending arms 11 at its opposite ends provided with the downwardly bent end portions 12 through which pass the screws 13 that lie in the slotted openings 14 in the back of the upper portion 6 of the casing. The threaded engagement of the screws with the downwardly bent end portions of the arms of the guard plate enables said guard to be adjusted with respect to the edge of the blade, so as to bring the teeth 15, forming the comb at the forward edge of said plate, into proper relation with said blade accordingly as a smooth or a close shave is desired. The extreme ends of the teeth of the comb are bent downwardly as at 16 to more perfectly retain the lather, and the downwardly curved formation of the guard plate, to which the teeth of the comb are attached, enables the lather which passes between said teeth, to more freely enter the inner portion of the casing.

In order to hold the blade in position upon the supporting arms, there is employed a longitudinally extending spring 17 which is secured at 18 to the under face of the guard plate and whose end portions are bent upwardly and inwardly so as to embrace said arms 7 and have formed upon their extremities the clamp-like members 19 adapted to bear upon the opposite ends of the blade which pass between said end portions of said spring and the upper face of the supporting arms 7, whereby the tension of said spring is exerted downwardly upon the blade through the medium of the clamping members 19, thereby securing said blade yieldingly in place and insuring its firm retention upon the supporting arms.

Upon the extremities of the supporting arms 7 are formed stop lugs 20 against which the edge of the blade rests, whereby the blade is maintained in proper alinement. To hold the blade pressed forward in contact with the stop lugs, there is employed a pressure-applying spring 21 which extends upwardly through the plate 8 and engages the back of the blade to hold said blade against said lugs. This spring is made vertically movable by means of a handle 22 which passes through a vertical slot 23 in the back of the upper portion of the casing and enters the lower looped end of said spring. By depressing said handle, said spring may be withdrawn from the back of the blade so as to allow the blade to be removed, as shown by dotted lines in Fig. 3.

The upper or blade-holding portion of the casing is made attachable to the lower portion 2 through the medium of the spring arms 4 which are provided at their upper ends with the outwardly extending pin points 24 adapted to engage in the apertures 25 formed in the lower edge of the back of the upper part of the casing when said upper and lower parts are forced together to cause the lower edge of the upper part to be between said spring arms and the upper portion of the casing 2, as clearly shown in Fig. 4. In order to arrest the parts of the casing when placing them together, at the proper point in their slidable union, stop lugs 26 are formed upon the back of the upper portion 6 which engage the top edge of the lower portion 2 when said parts are properly united. By means of the engagement of the protruding pin points on the spring arms in the apertures 25 in the back of the upper portion of the casing, the parts of the casing are detachably united in a manner to permit their complete separation by drawing upwardly upon the upper part, or to permit the upper or blade-holding part to be swung outwardly in either direction, as on a pivot, as shown by dotted lines in Figs. 1 and 6. The spring arms at the ends of the casing permit either end of the blade-holding portion to be detached by a sharp pull thereon so that the upper portion of the casing may be opened outwardly in either direction for the purpose of cleansing the razor after shaving or entirely removed from the lower portion of the casing at pleasure.

For the purpose of affording an additional support for the sliding guard 10, the arms 7 are provided on their lower edges with the inwardly projecting brackets 27 that extend under and afford a rest for the arms 11 of the guard and assist in retaining said guard in position.

Having thus fully set forth my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:—

1. A safety razor comprising a two-part casing, a handle attached to one part of the casing and the other part of the casing supporting the blade, a spring member upon one part of the casing standing adjacent the wall thereof, the edge of the other part of the casing entering between said spring member and the wall of that part of the casing upon which said spring member is mounted, and means upon the blade-carrying part of the casing and upon said spring member coacting to join the parts of the casing in pivotal union.

2. A safety razor comprising a casing consisting of two parts, a handle attached to one of said parts, the other part of the casing carrying a blade, a spring member secured to one part of the casing and forming in conjunction with the wall thereof spring clamping jaws, the other part of the casing entering between said jaws, and means upon the jaw member and upon the edge of that part of the casing entering between said jaws for locking the removable part of the casing between the jaw members.

3. A safety razor comprising a casing, consisting of two parts, a handle attached to one part, the other part carrying a blade, a curved spring member mounted upon one part of the casing and standing adjacent the wall thereof to form in conjunction with said wall spring clamping jaws, said spring member having at its opposite ends projecting pins, and that part of the casing which enters between the spring jaws having apertures to receive said pins to effect a frictional and pivotal union between said parts.

4. In a safety razor, the combination of a casing, supporting arms upon the casing adapted to carry the blade, a movable guard plate below said supporting arms, a spring member attached to and movable with the guard plate, said spring member having its end portion bent upwardly and inwardly to stand above the supporting arms and bear upon the upper face of the blade lying thereon.

5. In a safety razor, the combination of a casing, supporting arms upon the casing adapted to carry the blade, a movable guard plate below said supporting arms, a spring member attached to and movable with the guard plate, said spring member having its end portion bent upwardly and inwardly to stand above the supporting arms and bear upon the upper face of the blade lying thereon, and a vertically movable spring mounted in the casing at the rear engaging the back of the blade.

In testimony whereof, I sign this specification in the presence of two witnesses.

Henrie Clauss.

Witnesses:

James H. Fowler,

Rose Dunning.