US2352113A - Safety razor magazine - Google Patents

Description

June 20, 1944. J, MUROS SAFETY RAZOR MAGAZINE Filed July 23, 1943 Patented June 20, 1944 SAFETY RAZOR MAGAZINE Joseph Muros, Cambridge, Mass., assignor to Gillette Safety Razor Company, Boston, Mass, a corporation of Delaware Application July 23. 1943, Serial No. 495,866

6 Claims. (Cl. 206-16) This invention relates to safety razors of the type having a thin flexible blade removably held in shaving position therein by co-operating blade-clamping members. In one respect the invention consists in an improved magazine mechanism for feeding tosuch razors a thin sharpedged blade without damage to its edge and without danger of cutting the user. In another aspect it consists in improvements in safety razor-magazine combinations.

In safety razor blade magazines it has been a problem of many years standing to prevent occasional jamming of two or more thin blades in the exit slot of the magazine. It sometimes happens that the user will impart only a partial stroke to the feed slide, leaving a blade partially ejected, and then go back and attempt to move the feed slide a second time. Under these conditions a second blade is forced into the slot intended for the passage of one blade only. Jamming of the blades thus results and the user frequently cuts his fingers in attempting to clear it.

This danger of jamming is obviated in accordance with an important feature of the present invention by providing the feed slide with bladeretracting projections which, if the previous blade has not been fully ejected from the magazine, are efiective to engage and return the blade to its initial position in the magazine.

In using safety razors with blade magazines as heretofore constructed the user sometimes grasps the razor with one hand while presenting the magazine with the other and delivering a blade into shaving position. Under these circumstances the sharp edge or edges of the blade project beyond the outline of the cap and are likely to cut the users fingers. This danger has been overcome by the invention of Samuel C. Stampleman, as disclosed in his co-pending application Ser. No. 492,519, by equipping the feed slide of the magazine with protecting guarding portions designed to overlie the sharp edge or edges of the blade and act to safeguard it during its advancing movement from the magazine to shaving position in the razor. The present invention may be embodied in a magazine of that tvpe a d in one specific form consists in providing the guard members of the feed slide with means for engaging and retracting a blade not fully ejected from the magazine by a previous movement of the feed slide.

Another important Ieature of my invention consists in the combination of a magazine feed slide having blade retracting devices and a safety razor so organized as to deflect or move to iniii operative position the blade-retracting means, so

that when the blade has been fully delivered to its shaving position in the razor the feed slide may be returned to its initial position without disturbing the blade.

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. l is a view in perspective of the magazine;

Fig. 2 is a view of the razor head in end elevation and on an enlarged scale;

Fig. 3 is a view of the razor head and magazine in longitudinal section and on the same enlarged scale;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary view in perspective of a portion of the feed slide with a portion of a blade shown in dotted lines;

Fig. 5 is a view in perspective of the internal members of the magazine; and

Fig. 6 is a view in perspective of the razor head showing a portion of the cap broken away and substantially in actual size.

The safety razor herein illustrated is in itself not part of the present invention butis the subject matter of a co-pending application of Muros and Testi, Ser. No. 486,290, filed May 10, 1943. It forms, however, one element of a novel razor and magazine combination and will therefore be briefly described herein. It comprises a tubular handle I0 permanently and rotatably secured to a guard member H which, as shown in Fig. 6, has outwardly and downwardly turned guard bars l2'and a substantially flat blade supporting face bounded by parallel fulcrum shoulders. In the body of the guard is formed a diamondshaped depression l3 having a circular aperture near one end. To the bottom of the guard is permanently secured a fiat spring l4 carrying near its free end a detent l5 which is cylindrical in cross-section and passes with clearance through the circular aperture in the bottom of the depression 13. The detent I5 is bevelled in its upper surface and normally extends substantially above the fiat blade-supporting face of the guard member. It is designed to interlock with an aperture provided for the purpose in the blade and to anchor the blade against longitudinal 'movement after the blade has once been delivered fully in its shaving position. The spring disengage the blade for removal.

The cap member [6 of the razor is slightly narrower than the guard member and has a transversely concave inner face which co-operates with the fulcrum shoulders of the guard member in bowing a blade over the fulcrum shoulders when the cap and guard members are moved into clamping engagement. The cap I is provided also with a narrow blade-locating rib I1 which is interrupted to clear the detent already mentioned. It is also provided with a downwardly extending stem 18 having a threaded portion I9 which is engaged by a correspondingly threaded portion in the handle I 0. In the lower end of the stem Ill-I9 is provided a stop screw 20, movable freely in the bore of the handle but arranged to limit separation of the cap and guard members to an amount which merely provides for the con-- venient insertion of a blade with the feed slide of the magazine. In Fig. 3 the cap and guard members of the razor are shownin their position of maximum separation.

The razor and magazine are shown herein as designed to employ a slotted and perforated double-edged blade of the well-known Gillette type as best shown in Fig. 4. The blade 40 is recessed in each corner to provide elongated unsharpened end portions. It is provided with a longitudinal slot 4|. This includes one or more apertures 42 of sufficient width to receive the detent I5. The slot 4| is shown as opening through one end of the blade and thus clearance is provided in the blade for the blade-locating rib ll of the safety razor.

The magazine comprises a sheet metal enclosure of rectangular outline having a top consisting of two side portions 22, side walls 23 and a bottom 24. Placed upon the bottom of the magazine is an insert 25 best shown in Fig. 5. This is also constructed of sheet metal and provided with flanged end walls 26 and 21. These are provided at each end with tongues which interlock with corresponding notches in the side walls of the magazine enclosure. A transverse tongue 28 is formed by die-cutting and bending the material of the bottom of the insert as is also a longitudinally disposed blade-locating rib 29. Within the magazine is also disposed a spring member having a fiat body 30 slotted to receive the rib and two upwardly curved leaf springs 3| which act continuously to press the blade stack upwardly in the magazine against its slotted top wall. I

The flanged wall 26 of the insert is of such height as to form with the top of the magazine a blade exit slot through which the feed slide 32 may also move. The feed slide is of thin flexible material and separated into two side portions by a longitudinal slot which opens through the outer end of the slide. A pair of diagonal slits 33 is formed in the solid end of the feed slide and their edges are displaced downwardly so as to engage the rear outer corners of the uppermost blade in the stack when the feed slide is moved forwardly over the stack. A knurled finger piece 35 is secured to the solid end of the feed slide and arranged for movement back and forth in the slot in the top of the magazine. The tongue 28 is of such height as to permit the feed slide to be retracted to the extreme right-hand end of the magazine so as to locate the blade-engaging edges 33 of the feed slide beyond the end of the blade stack. In each side portion 32 of the feed slide and adjacent the outer end thereof is provided a. dog 34 which projects below the surface of the feed slide suificiently to engage and retract a blade when the feed slide and blade are disposed adjacent to each other in flat position.

In operation the magazine is filled with a stack of six or ten blades disposed with their open ends toward the left, as shown in Fig. 3, and positioned as a stack by the rib 29 with their sharp edges out of contact with the walls of the magazine. When it is desired to supply a fresh blade to the razor the handle IU of the razor is turned in a counter-clockwise direction separating the cap and guard members to the limit determined by the stop screw 20. The magazine is then brought into operative relation with the razor with the ends of the feed slide introduced between the cap and guard members. The finger piece 35 is then advanced from right to-left and as the feed slide 32 passes over the blade stack the uppermost blade is engaged by the convergin edges 33 and advanced in flat condition beneath the feed slide. This feeding movement continues until the blade is safely delivered fully to its shaving position. In passing over the detent IS the blade depresses the latter until it reaches its shaving position. At that point the detent I5 registers with and enters the aperture 42 and when this happens the blade is permitted to lie fiat upon the blade-supporting face of the guard member. When the detent l5 passes through the aperture 42 the detent engages the flexible feed slide and bows it transversely by pressing it upwardly against the concave face of the cap Hi. When this occurs the dogs 34 are displaced upwardly into inoperative position with respect to the blade and accordingly when the feed slide is retracted the dogs 34 travel in a path entirely above the blade 40 and, therefore, perform no function.

On the other hand, if, for any reason the uppermost blade in the stack is not fully ejected from the magazine and fully locked in its shaving position, the dogs 34 will not be rendered inoperative because the detent l5 does not pass through the blade aperture 42. In the retrograde movement of the feed slide the dogs 34 will, therefore, engage the forward end of the blade and return the blade to its initial position in the magazine. The feed slide never passes off the blade stack in its forward stroke but merely depresses the second blade and those beneath it against the compression springs 3|. In its reverse stroke, however, the blade-engaging edges 33 drop behind the rear end of the next blade and engage it for forward feeding.

It will be understood that the sheet metal of the feed slide 32 is flexible and that the transverse flexibility of the slide is substantially increased by its longitudinal slot. It may, therefore, be readily flexed in a transverse direction by pressure of the detent l5 whenever the latter is permitted to pass through the blade aperture and engage the feed slide. In Fig. 2 the side portions 32 of the feed slide are shown as deflected upwardly by the detent l5, carrying the dogs 34 into inoperative positions above the blade 40. It will be apparent that with the dogs located in this position the feed slide may be retracted without disturbing the blade.

The limit screw 20 projects beyond the end of the stem I9 by a distance which permits the cap to be lifted above the guard for the free presentation of the plade on the surface of the guard member II, but such separation is not suflicient to permit movement of the blade or the feed slide beyond the range of the detent I5, even though the latter does not extend to any outlet slot at one end. and a feed slide having means at one end for engaging and advancing a blade, and means at its other end for retracting a blade not fully ejected from the magazine by a previous movement of the slide.

2. A magazine for thin sharp edged blades, comprising an enclosure provided with a blade outlet slot in one end, and a thin flexible ieed slide shaped to overlie a blade in the magazine and having means for advancing the blade by engaging its rear end, and means -on the slide spaced beyond the advancing end of the blade for retracting a blade not fully ejected from the magazine.

3. A magazine for thin sharp edged blades, comprising an enclosure provided with a blade outlet slot in one end, and a feed slide of flexible 4. In a magazine for thin sharp edged blades,

a flexible feed slide forked by a longitudinal slot extending through its outer end, blade-advanc ing projections at the inner end of the slide, and blade retracting projections at its outer end.

- 5. In a magazine for thin flexible blades, a flexible feed slide divided by a longitudinal slot into two side portions, blade-advancing projec tions at one end of the slide, and blade-retracting projections located in the side portions adjacent to said slot where they may be readily deflected away-from a blade advanced by the slide.

6. In a magazine for thin flexible blades, a feed slide of fiat sheet metal having a central longitudinal slot opening through its outer end and a solid inner end, converging blade-engaging shoulders disposed in spaced relation inthe solid end of the slide, and projecting dogs located in the outer ends of the slide, one on either side of its said slot where it may be readily deflected out of the normal plane of the feed slide.

JOSEPH MUROB.

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