PATENT SPECIFICATION

Convention Date (United Staes): July 24, 1931. Application Date (in United Kingdom): Oct. 13, 1931. No, 28,475/31. Complete Accepted: Nov. 10, 1932.

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COMPLETE SPECIFICATION. Improvements in or relating to Safety Razors

383,018

We, Art Metal Wokks, Inc. Inc., a Corporation organised under the Laws of the State of New Jersey, United States of America, of 46—50 Center Street, Newark, State of New Jersey, United States of America, Assignees of Louis Vincent Aronson, a Citizen of the United States of America, of c/o Art Metal Works, Inc., of 48—50 Center Street, Newark, State of New Jersey, United States of America, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement:—

This invention relates to safety razors.

The features of this invention include certain improvements to the type of razor disclosed in our copending application No. 375,651. In this type of razor a sharpening device such as an abradant roller or other means which may be conveniently operated by the hand, is attached to the head of the razor and is intended to form a permanent part of the device and a double edged blade is so mounted on the device, that either of the two blade edges may be brought into contact with the razor guard for shaving or with the sharpening device, without removing the blade from its clamping means.

Now, according to the present invention, a safety razor is provided having clamping members for clamping a blade therebetween and adapted for rotation about an axis longitudinally of the blade, in which the razor blade is formed with notches at its ends, into which extend portions of at least one of the blade clamps, the pivots of the pivoting means being set into these portions within the notches so that the ends of the blade extend substantially as far as the pivoting means whereby the pivot offers no substantial obstruction in the use of the razor.

More specifically regarded the improved safety razor comprises a razor blade formed with notches at the ends thereof, a pair of clamping members respectively extending over substantial portions of the blade surface, portions of at least one of the said members coming into contact with said notches to rigidly affix the blade in position between the clamping members, and pivoting means for mounting the blade and its clamping members for rotation about an axis extending longitudinally of the blade, the pivots of said pivoting means extending into and being secured in the said portions within the notches, and whereby the notches provide space for a substantial portion of the pivots obviating any substantial extension of the same beyond the blade ends.

Further features of this invention are the provision of improved means for moving the razor blade into a position in which it may be turned about its longitudinal axis, as well as about an axis at right angles to its plane, provision of improved means for holding the razor blade in a position outside of the razor head for facilitating cleaning and replacement of blades, improved means for aligning the razor blade with respect to the razor head and various other improved features in the razor head construction. The invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings which illustrate an embodiment of the invention by way of example.

In the drawings—

Fig. 1 is a view of the combined razor and sharpening device as viewed in a direction toward the end of the razor blade ;

Fig. 2 is a cross-section of the combined safety razor and sharpening device taken substantially centrally transversely of the razor blade and sharpening device ;

Fig. 3 shows the razor blade mounting means moved through an angle of 90° for the purpose of cleaning and replacement of blades ;

Fig. 4 is a top plan view of the device as shown in Fig. 3 ;

Fig. 5 is a side view of the device as shown in Fig. 1 and as viewed in a direction toward the right, with portions broken away ;

Fig. 6 shows a portion of the device as of Fig. 3 but viewed from the left ; and

Fig. 7 is a sectional view taken along the line 7—7 of Fig. 2.

Our improved razor includes a razor head, generally designated at 10 which may be formed of a piece of sheet metal having material punched out as indicated at 11, Fig. 5, to decrease its weight and to provide openings facilitating cleaning with water. The razor head 10 may be of a general box-like formation including the side member 12 on which guard fingers are formed, several of which as indicated at 13 may be raised above the level of the others for the purpose of holding the razor blade 14 spaced from the remaining guard teeth.

The razor head also includes a side member 15 and end members 16 and 17 upon which roller supporting ears 18 and 19 are formed, the end members 16 and 17 being preferably secured to the side members 12 and 15 by welding or soldering, as indicated in Fig. 4. Rotatably supported in the ears 18 and 19 are screw bolts 20 and 21 which may be threaded into and rotatable with a sharpening roller 22, to support such roller for rotative movement.

The sharpening roller may for example be formed of a plastic composition of any well-known type embodying fine abradant material. The roller may be rotated by rolling the same over the hand of the user, or otherwise as desired. Spring means within the handle as hereinafter described, provide a construction such that the blade held in uniform yielding contact with the roller for facilitating proper sharpening action throughout the length of the blade when the roller is rotated.

The razor blade 14 is mounted on a clamping plate 23 which, as shown in Figs. 4 and 5, is provided at its ends with lugs 24 and 25 which engage corresponding notches or slots in the ends of the razor blade and in another clamping plate 26 which is drawn toward the first or inner clamping plate 23 by means of a screw bolt 27 threaded into the inner clamping plate and provided with a manipulative head 28 bearing against the outer surface of the clamping plate 26 and with a reduced portion rotatably fitted in the clamping plate 26. This bolt is preferably permanently affixed to the finger piece portion 28 as by a forced fit or by welding. By means of this construction the razor blade 14 may be readily mounted on the clamping plate 23 and readily removed therefrom for replacement.

The clamping plate 23 is rotatably supported by means of short pivot screws 30 and 31 threaded into the enlarged portions 24 and 25 of the clamping plate 23 and bearing freely in the arms 32 and 33 of a U-shaped member generally designated at 34, which is vertically slidable in the open boxlike razor head 10. This rotatable supporting means permits the razor blade to present its edges in cooperative relation to the guard and sharpening device and permits rotative movement of the blade to move the opposite faces of the edges of the blade for cooperation with the guard and sharpening device. It will be seen that the ends of the blade extend substantially as far as the pivoting means 30, 31.

The base 35 of the U-shaped member 34 is slightly enlarged transversely and is provided centrally with a rectangular hole at 36, as shown in Fig. 7, fitted to a squared end portion 37 of a plunger 38 which extends through the handle 39 on which the razor head 12 is rigidly mounted. The plunger 38 is provided adjacent to the squared end portion 37 with fixed collars 40 and 41 securing the U-shaped member 34 on the end of the plunger 38.

For the purpose of aligning the razor blade supporting means with the guard 13 and the sharpening roller 22, the arms 32 and 33 of the member 34 may be provided with studs 42 and 43 which cooperate with slots 44 and 45 in the end walls 16 and 17 of the razor head 10 so that when the razor blade is moved into the position shown in Fig. 2 the edges of the razor blade will be firmly retained in proper relationship with the guard 13 and the sharpening roller 22.

For the purpose of holding the razor blade in the position shown in Fig. 2, and also to permit its supporting and clamping means to be moved outwardly and away from the guard and roller so that it may be turned about its longitudinal axis or bodily about an axis perpendicular thereto to reverse the relation ofx* the blade edge surfaces with respect to the guard and sharpening roller, we provide a spring 46 bearing against a shoulder 47 on the interior of the handle 39 and against a manipulative member 48 carried by the plunger 38. The manipulative portion may be threaded or otherwise engaged with the lower end of the plunger 38 to permit easy assembling or separation of the parts.

As shown in Fig. 2 the razor handle 39 may be provided with an enlargement or collar at 50 formed separately and secured thereto in any desired manner, or which may, if desired, be of the particular integral construction shown, the outer edges of the same being preferably milled so that the collar may be held securely during the various operations in using the razor.

The manipulative portion 48 is preferably provided with a somewhat spherical end face and a knurled end flange as shown, and preferably includes a cylindrical external skirt portion 51 which surrounds and is slidable on the handle 39. By means of this construction, as is apparent from Fig. 3, the index finger and middle finger of one hand may be placed on the collar 50 and the thumb of the same hand may be placed on the rounded end of the manipulative portion 48 to move the plunger upwardly and to raise the razor blade 14 out of cooperative relation with the guard and roller, and into a position in which the razor blade is free to be turned about the axis of the plunger 38. After the razor blade has been moved into this position it may be turned also about its longitudinal axis, or the razor blade together with the U-shaped member 34 and the stem 38 may be rotated by grasping the skirt portion 51 of the manipulative member 48 between the thumb and index finger of the other hand, the skirt portion 51 being preferably provided with ribs to facilitate rotative movement. The razor blade may thus be turned edge for edge, or into the position shown in Fig. 3 in which position the parts may be readily cleaned.

When the razor blade has been moved into the position shown in Fig. 3, pressure may be removed from the manipulative portion 48 in which case the spring 48 will draw the U-shaped member 34 into contact with the roller 22. For the purpose of preventing accidental rotation of the razor blade out of the position shown in Figs. 3, 4 and 6, two curved portions 52 and 53 may be formed in the base 35 of the member 34 shaped to fit the roller 22. It is evident from Fig. 3 that regardless of the direction in which the plunger 38 and razor blade 14 are turned they will be held in position as indicated in Fig. 3 by the roller 22 and the cooperating portion 52 or 53.

It will be apparent that the box-like construction of the head piece 10 will serve to rigidly support the guard and sharpening roller in proper relationship to the blade, and the walls of the box-like enclosure may be made of relatively thin light weight material and still possess sufficient rigidity to prevent the razor parts from being bent out of proper relationship. It will be noted that in the ordinary use of the razor and the removal of the blade or during insertion of a new blade, it will be merely necessary to release the clamping member 26 by turning the thumb screw 28. The construction of the restricted neck portion of the thumb screw 28 is such that this screw will always remain attached to the clamping plate 26. Accordingly even when the blade is being replaced, the entire razor construction and sharpening device will be constituted of but two parts and accordingly the likelihood of any of the parts being mislaid is obviated. During the replacing of the blade, if the parts are kept in the position shown in Fig. 1 the blade clamping members will be relatively rigidly held in position so that the thumb screw 28 may be readily manipulated without danger to the user. Furthermore, as indicated in Fig. 3 and as the above explained, the relative positions of the two blade edges may be reversed while the fingers of both hands are kept in contact with the handle in positions relatively remote from the blade and therefore during the actual use of the razor for shaving, if the blade edge in use becomes dulled somewhat, the user may immediately shift the other blade edge into position without any danger of the parts slipping out of the hands or of the blade edges coming into contact with the fingers. It will be further noted that the construction of the blade with slots at its ends, contributes substantially to the compact relationship of the parts in that the slotted blade areas provide space for the bearing screws 30 and 31 and their supporting lugs so that such parts need not protrude beyond the outer limits of the adjacent parts of the device.

While the invention has been described in detail with respect to a preferred example thereof which gives satisfactory results, it will be understood by those skilled in the art after understanding the invention, that various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention and it is intended therefore in the appended claims to cover all such changes and modifications.

Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we claim is:—

1. A safety razor having clamping members for clamping a blade therebetween and adapted for rotation about an axis longitudinally of the blade, in which the razor blade is formed with notches at its ends, into which extend portions of at least one of the blade clamps, the pivots of the pivoting means being set into these portions within the notches so that the ends of the blade extend substantially as far as the pivoting means whereby the pivot offers no substantial obstruction in the use of the razor.

2. A safety razor comprising a razor blade formed with notches at the ends thereof, a pair of clamping members respectively extending over substantial portions of the blade surface, portions of at least one of the said members coming into contact with said notches to rigidly affix the blade in position between the clamping members, and pivoting means for mounting the blade and its clamping members for rotation about an axis extending longitudinally of the blade, the pivots of said pivoting means extending into and being secured in the said portions within the notches, and whereby the notches provide space for a substantial portion of the pivots obviating any substantial extension of the same beyond the blade ends.

3. A safety razor according to claim 1 or 2, in which one of the blade clamping plates is mounted on a supporting frame and engages one surface of the blade, the second clamping plate or member engaging the other surface of the blade, a member being provided permanently secured to and rotatably mounted in one of said plates and provided with means for threaded engagement with the other of said plates for retaining the plates in clamping engagement with the blade.

4. A safety razor according to claim 1, 2 or 3, having a guard and sharpening device, in which the pivoting means are mounted in the arms of a yoke-shaped support which yieldingly holds the blade with its edges against the guard and sharpening device so that it can be moved away from the guard and sharpening device and rotated about an axis substantially perpendicular to the blade in addition to the rotation of the blade about its longitudinal axis.

5. A safety razor according to claim 4, in which the yoke-shaped razor blade support is adapted for movement into and out of a substantially open-top box-like razor head.

6. A safety razor according to claim 4 or 5, in which there are provided on the blade support means conforming to the shape of the sharpening device for cooperation therewith to hold the razor blade in the position to which it has been rotated about the perpendicular axis and facilitate the rotation on its longitudinal axis.

7. A safety razor according to claim 4, in which the base of the yoke-shaped support is provided with curved depressed portions, either one of which is adapted to cooperate with a roller of the sharpening device when the support is drawn in a rotated position against the roller by the yielding means.

8. A safety razor according to claim 5, including cooperating means on the yoke-shaped support and the ends of the box-like razor head for aligning the razor blade support with respect to the guard and sharpening device.

9. A combined safety razor and sharpening device according to any one of the preceding claims, comprising a razor head supported on a handle and provided with a guard and a sharpening device, a plunger carrying a razor blade supporting means and mounted for longitudinal and rotative movement in the handle, said plunger extending inwardly beyond the free end of the handle, a manipulative member secured to the plunger and provided with a skirt portion surrounding and slidably engaging the handle, and spring means cooperating with the handle and said plunger for moving the edge of the razor blade into cooperative relation with the guard and sharpening device and for permitting movement of the edges of the razor blade away from said guard and sharpening device into a position in which the razor blade may be rotated substantially about an axis perpendicular to the blade by a rotative movement of said skirt portion.

10. A combined safety razor and sharpening device according to claim 9, in which the manipulative member is located at the base of the handle whereby the manipulation of the blade holder is effected from the base of the handle.

11. A combined safety razor and sharpening device having its parts constructed, arranged and adapted to operate substantially as hereinbefore described, with reference to the accompanying drawings and for the purpose specified.