US2136939A - Protected blade and packet - Google Patents

Description

Nov. 15, 1938. J CURRIE 2,136,939

PROTECTED BLADE AND PACKET Filed Oct. 16, 1956 INVENTOR ATTOR'NEY Patented Nov. 15, 1938 2,136,939 PROTECTED BLADE AND PACKET Joseph Stanley Currie, Winthrop, Mass., assignor to Gillette Safety Razor Company, Boston, Mass, a corporation of Delaware Application October 16, 1936, Serial No. 105,960

3 Claims.

This invention relates to the packaging of fineedged blades, such for example as safety razor blades. In one aspect it consists in a blade protected completely by a novel wrapper or cover of sheet material. In another aspect it consists in a commercial packet of protected blades well adapted for purposes of distribution and from which the user may conveniently remove a single protected blade from time to time as he requires it.

In handling safety razor blades under commercial conditions of transportation and distribution and in the more or less casual treatment of such blades by the user, the extremely fine, keen edge of the blade is likely to become dulled by being brought into contact with its wrapping either at a fold vertex or, by being drawn across or cutting the wrapper in being removed therefrom. On this account the best and most skillful efforts of the manufacturer in sharpening blades are often brought to naught, because of the damage done to the fragile and delicate structure of the blade edge after it has been brought to the keenest possible shaving condition and before the shaving operation is actually undertaken.

With these conditions in view an important object of the present invention is to provide a novel wrapper in which the blade may be enclosed and held positively in such position that its cutting edge is protected from contact with any fold vertex lines in the Wrapper, while at the same time, a portion of the wrapper is made available for securing a number of protected blades in a stack or book. In certain aspects the present invention may be considered an improvement upon the protected blade cover or wrapper disclosed and claimed in the co-pending application of Joseph M. Bowen, Serial Number 101,281, now Patent No. 2,119,983 dated June '7, 1938 and in another aspect it may be considered an improvement upon the stack or book of protected blades disclosed and claimed in the copending application of H. A. Gustafson, Serial Number 20,623. Both the protected blade and protected blade stack of the present invention fall within the scope of the inventions above identified.

It is an important consideration of the present invention to provide a wrapper in which a blade may be enclosed and held positively against displacement and for this purpose it is proposed to utilize a wrapper with slotted end tabs arranged to interlock with the ends of the blade as disclosed in said application, Serial Number 101,281.

be secured together.

Side flaps of novel characteristics are provided, that is to say, flaps of such construction that they not only enclose the end tabs in completing the folding operation but also supply projecting tongues by which a stack of protected blades may Moreover, by perforating or scoring one or both of the tongues a single protected blade may be easily removed from the stack when the user desires to do so by merely tearing across in the weakened area of the tongues.

These and other features of the invention will be best understood and appreciated from the following description of a preferred embodiment thereof, selected for purposes of illustration and shown in the accompanying drawing, in which:--

Fig. 1 is a plan view of the wrapper;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the wrapper with its end tabs folded upon a blade;

Fig. 3 is a plan view showing the wrapper completely closed upon a blade, the latter being shown in dotted lines;

Fig. 4 is a view in perspective of a blade packet or book showing the cover open; and

Fig. 5 is a similar view of the packet showing the cover closed.

The wrapper blank, which may be made of thin sheet material, such as oiled or waxed paper, comprises a rectangular body portion l0 scored to define end tabs II and side flaps I 3 and I4. Each of the end tabs tapers outwardly to a straight end edge and is provided at an intermediate point with a transverse slot [2. These slots are located without or beyond the scored fold lines of the tabs and have inwardly tapering end edges. The side flaps I3 and [4 are each provided at one end with a longitudinally extending rectangular tongue I5, the tongues being so located that when the side flaps are folded inwardly on the longitudinal scored lines the tongues will register in superposed relation. The outer edge of each tongue l5 may be flush or continuous with the outer edge of the corresponding side flap l3 or I4, and the inner edge of each tongue is preferably spaced substantially from the scored line which defines the inner or fold line of the side flap in which it is located. On this account the wrapper presents four similar reentrant angles at the juncture of the side flaps l3 and H with the end tabs l I and these angles supply convenient points at which the blank may be engaged and positively located in the wrapping operation by spaced pins or the like, not shown. Preferably and as herein shown the tongues l5 are defined in part by recesses or notches which extend below or within the scored line defining the adjacent end tab. This expedient insures a straight and easy folding of the wrapper without tendency to bunch or pleat at the corners.

In the drawing there is shown for illustrative purposes a safety razor blade I6 of the Gillettetype having oppositely disposed cutting edges and reentrant corner recesses which define in the blade elongated unsharpened end portions IT. The blade IE, or any other shouldered blade, may be presented to the wrapper in automatic machinery operated by suction or otherwise to carry one blade after another from a stack in the magazine into position in alignment with and between the slots l2 in the upturned end'tabs l'l. While the blade is so held the end tabs are folded simultaneously inwardly until the end portions of the blade have entered the slots l2 therein. When this has once taken place the blade I6 is quickly lowered upon the body In of the wrapper and simultaneously the end tabs H are folded inwardly. The movement is continued with a toggle action until the tabs II have been brought down into contact with the upper face of the blade Hi. In this movement the ends I! of the blade pass fully through the slots l2 and lie in contact upon the upper face of the folded tabs, as shown in Fig. 2.

It will be seen that in this operation the end edges of the shoulders formed by the reentrant recesses in the corners of the blade are brought into engagement with the material of the end tabs outside the ends of the slits l2 and that the longitudinal edges of the shoulders in the blade are thus held positively against transverse movement. Subsequently, the side flap I4 is folded inwardly about its longitudinal fold vertex line, which is located just outside the sharpened edge of the blade, and then the other side flap I3 is folded about its fold vertex line, which is similarly located outside or'beyond the sharpened edge of the blade. The two tongues of vthe side flaps coincide exactly in width and register with each other, constituting in effect a. continuation of the overlap of the two side flaps. The

wrapping operation is thus completed and the individual blades are thus fully protected against being dulled and against exposure which would cause rusting.

Having wrapped the individual blades as above outlined these may now be assembled in a stack within a cover sheet l8 of pasteboard or the like and secured together and to the cover by means of a fastening device, such as a staple I9 shown in Figs. 4 and 5. The staple I9 is inserted so as to transfix the superposed tongues l5 adjacent to their outer ends and outside the scored line therein. In this way the individual wrapped and protected blades are maintained in an enclosed stack where they are entirely protected and from which they may be readily removed one by one by tearing through the scored section. It will be understood that the tongues I5 may be weakened by perforating rather than scoring if preferred and that any fastening device or medium may be employed instead of the staple herein shown.

Having thus described my invention in terms which are descriptive and not limiting what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:-

l. A protected blade enclosed in a wrapper which has tabs folded over the ends of the blades, and side flaps each defined by a longitudinal fold line and each having a flat tongue in one edge set off by a recess located outside the fold line of the flap.

2. A packet of protected blades, each enclosed in a wrapper which has end tabs and side flaps with tongues of reduced width on one end of each flap, the tongues projecting in superposed relation and being united to hold the blades in a stack.

3. A packet of protected blades, each enclosed in a wrapper which has folded end tabs and overlapping relatively narrow side flaps, each side flap being provided with a tongue of a width substantially equal to the overlap of the two flaps and extending in straight condition beyond the fold line of the end tabs in a transfixed stack.

JOSEPH S. CURRIE.

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