To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Osroe A. CLark, a citizen of the United States, residing at Newark, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Safety-Razors; and I do hereby 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 figures of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to a safety razor which embodies a handle that grasps the guard and a clamping plate, between these two latter being installed the blade having a multiplicity of edges in register with a multiplicity of edges on the guard so that the handle acts to hold the blade in place without perforating the blade. When a blade is perforated, as is necessary in a number of makes of razors, the thin blades are cracked when they are tempered, and there is a considerable loss and waste of material under these conditions.

The herein described razor comprises a handle with spring arms to bear over on the corners of the clamping plate, or on the blade, and having a central element to be projected up against the under side of the guard which is under the blade, and thus act to draw the parts tightly together.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a razor, the edges of which will give different degrees of shaves, that is one edge will give a medium shave, another edge a close shave, and still another edge might be made so that it gives a very close shave. The closeness of the shave is regulated according to the difference in the distances between the blade and the guard, and in order to bring the differences about the guard underneath the cutting edge of the blade is cut away for different distances, or not at all, so that the different edges will give different shaves.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which—

Figure 1 is a top view of the razor, and Fig. 2 is a section on line 2, 2, in Fig. 1. Figs. 3, 4 and 5 are enlarged detail views showing the different kinds of teeth on the guard to give the different kinds of shaves.

The razor comprises a guard 10 which has the teeth 11 on its different edges, the edges being multiplied, but being preferably four, that is giving a square guard. On the guard 10 is placed a blade 12 which has its opposite edges adapted to be parallel with the opposite edges of the guard and slightly drawn back so as not to cut the flesh in shaving. The edges of the blade are cutting edges. On top of the blade is placed a clamping plate 13 which has its corners 14 adapted to cover the corners of the blade, and on each corner 14 of the clamping plate is a finger 15 on the end of an arm 16, these arms being four in number and being made preferably of spring material so that when the guard, the blade and the clamping plate are assembled, the arms are sprung so that their fingers 15 settle into the notched portions 17 of the guard and are in position to hold the parts together, the inward tendency of the hooks being increased by reason of the stem 18 which is in screw-threaded relation, at 19, with the handle portion 20 which has an end or knob 21 by which it can be manipulated so as to force the fingers 15 in tight engagement with the clamping plate and the blade. The backing plate 13 can be flat or it can be rounded so as to present a guide for the angle at which the razor is held to the face when shaving.

To provide a means for giving different degrees of shaves, that is to make either a close or a medium shave, it is necessary to draw the blade back from the guard various distances. I prefer to vary this distance by withdrawing the guard from the blade, which can be done by bending it down, or it can be done as shown in Figs. 3, 4 and 5. When a medium shave is desired, the blade can be run out nearly flush with the teeth of the guard as in Fig. 3. When a close shave is desired, the tooth can be bent or cut down as shown at 22 in Fig. 4, this allowing the blade to stand out more from the guard and consequently take off the hair closer to the skin. A still further degree of closeness can be arrived at by cutting the guard away more, which would provide a very close shave. This structure is shown in Fig. 5.

In my razor with this multiplicity of edges, I can make one or more edges as in Fig. 3, a remaining edge as in Fig. 4, and still another edge as in Fig. 5, so that by turning the razor and using a different edge, different degrees of shaving can be secured. On the other hand I can use the same edge of the razor until it is dull, shifting this edge of the razor to different, edges of the guard, according to the different kinds of shaves that are needed. Suitable indications or marks can be placed on the different edges of the razor, preferably on the guard, so as to indicate what kind of a shave the different edges will give.

This razor is cheap to make, is compact and is quickly assembled and taken apart.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:—

1. A safety razor comprising a guard having a plane blade holding surface, a blade on the guard, and means for securing the blade and the guard together with their edges parallel, the edges of the guard having their top surfaces cut away to form various spaces between the guard and the edges of the blade.

2. A safety razor comprising a guard having a plane blade holding surface, a blade on the guard, the blade and the guard having e multiplicity of opposite parallel edges, a backing plate, a handle having arms to go over the corners of the backing plate, and adjustable means in the handle for engaging the back of the guard, the edges of the guard being cut away various distances to form various spaces between the guard and the blade.

3. A safety razor comprising a guard having a multiplicity of edges, a blade having edges parallel with the edges of the guard, a backing plate on the blade, the edges of the guard being cut away at various depths to form various spaces between the edges of the guard and the edges of the blade, a handle having spring arms, fingers on the ends of the arms to go over the corners of the backing plate, a stem in screw-threaded relation with the handle and adapted to bear on the back of the guard, and means on the projecting end of the stem for its manual manipulation.

In testimony, that I claim the foregoing, I have hereunto set my hand this 16th day of September 1908.

Osroe A. Clark.

Witnesses:

E. A. Pell,

Wm. H. Camfield.