Before Gillette The Quest for a Safe Razor Inventors and Patents 1762-1901 Robert K. Waits

CONTENTS Preface Introduction 1. The Cutler and the Lacemaker 2. Guards and Guard Razors – 1779-1882 3. Rasoir à Rabot – The Pig Scraper – 1874-1890s 4. The Star – 1880 5. Rise of the Hoe – 1885-1890 6. More Guard Razors – 1885-1901 7. Dr. Scott – 1886 8. The J.R. Torrey Co. – 1887

1 2 7 19 36 49 67 95 115 128

9. The Hoe Prevails– 1891-1902 10. The Fox – 1892 11. Griffon – 1896 12. Gem - R&S - ASR – 1898 13. The Undiscovered – 1883-1901 14. Mechanical Shavers – 1892-1901 Epilogue – Gillette and Nickerson Sources Indexes

140 162 173 179 212 230 243 252 255

Autopogonotomy, or self-shaving, with a bare blade requires skill and a steady hand. In 1762, to mitigate the risk, a Paris cutler devised a blade guard for straight razors, which he sold in his shop. One hundred and thirty-three years later, a Boston salesman fashioned a safety razor with a flexible double-edge blade. Between these two shaving milestones a host of inventors, amateur and professional, came up with creative ideas for razor guards and safety razors. • In 1847, a lace-industry machinist from Somerset, England, failing in endeavors to build a steam-powered flying machine, signs a patent for a blade guard and a new razor configuration resembling a hoe, and then sails to America to pursue a career as a civil engineer in New Jersey. • Three brothers, arriving as teenagers from Saxony in the early 1870s, start a cutlery business near City Hall in New York City, and, in 1880, patent a device they call a “safety-razor,” coining a new name for a safer razor. • An Irish civil engineer, famous for undergrounding New York’s railroads, receives the first U.S. patent for an electric razor in 1898. These are among the six-score stories of safety and guard razor inventors and patents in Before Gillette.

A book for the curious barberiana collector or the simply curious

Paperback, 6x9 inches, 268 pages, black and white. Many razor photos, patent images, and vintage ads. Patent and Subject Indexes.

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