Patent time: Combined sales package and razor

Not only did Jacob Schick think up various repeating magazine razors – he also came up with the idea of a combined sales package and razor. Or, put another way, a razor blade dispenser with a built in razor. Or, arguably, a disposable razors that came with a supply of blades.

And the one I’ll discuss today isn’t even his first one… but the improved version.

Both versions of the combined sales package and razor aimed making a small and convenient blade package and razor that could fit in your vest pocket. Having looked at both, this version is smaller, handier, and requires less parts. Which is good when the whole point is to make it cheap. Or as the patent put’s it:

This invention relates to an improved article which forms a shaving unit and consists of a combined blade package and razor, the blade package being in the form of a sales package so that the article can be supplied filled with blades and has an opening through which the blades can be fed, one at a time. It is preferably made so that it will be difficult to refill it all this in view of the fact that a large supply of blades can be furnished with the package and the whole device is so cheap that when the supply of blades is exhausted the article can be thrown away.

The whole thing takes the form of a small aluminium box, about as tall as it is wide. The blade looks to be about the size of an injector blade. If so the sales package and razor would be about 4 cm (1 6/10 inches) square, and about 1 cm ( 2/5 inches) thick. It’s partly a machined aluminium lump, and partly sheet metal cover.

Patent drawing from US patent 1,767,707

One half of the package was a blade dispenser. A slit in the end allowed the user to slide blades. And a pair of springs and a plate kept pressure on the stack of blades.

The other half of the combination package and razor is, unsurprisingly, the razor. A guard is machined into the metal body that makes up the box. The sheet metal cover forms the top cap and blade retainer. The guard and blade is covered with a, well, cover.

To change the blade, the user would press on the back of the combined sales package and razor. This would bend the sheet metal cover into an recess machined into the aluminium body, which would bend the top cap up. A quick shake would release the old blade. The old blade could then be user to push a new blade out enough for it to be pulled or pushed the rest of the way. Another push on the back would oven the cap again, so the new blade could be installed.

All in all it’s a handy little package. And while it might be a little more awkward to shave with than most razors, it would still make for a handy travel razor. Or a neat razor to keep in your vest pocket, so you can have a quick shave when you need one.

I can also see this being cast from a cheaper alloy like zamak, of even from injection moulded plastic. The only real drawback I see is the awkward shape. That, and the fact that the market today is overfilled with inexpensive disposable razors.

You can read the full patent for Jacob’s combined sales package and razor at Google Patents.