US3909942A - Adjustable safety razor - Google Patents

Abstract

The specific disclosure provides an adjustable safety razor having structure for rotatably mounting a guard structure about an axis that is eccentrically positioned with respect to a skinengaging surface on the guard structure. Manually operable elements are also provided for selectively rotating the guard structure about the axis to adjust the skin-engaging surface with respect to at least one cutting edge on the razor.

Description

United States Patent 1191 1111 3,909,942 Ciaffone Oct. 7, 1975 [54] ADJUSTABLE SAFETY RAZOR 2,655,413 10/1953 Russell 403/93 X Inventor: Jo T C a e, gep conn- 3,8l6,9l6 6/1974 Kuhnl 30/63 X [73] Assignee: Warner-Lambert Company, Morris Primary ExaminerAl Lawrence Smith Plains, N.J Assistant Examiner-Gary L. Smith Attorney, Agent, or Firm-James F. Powers, Jr.; Albert [22] Filed. May 3, 1974 H Graddis [21] App]. No.: 466,598

[57] ABSTRACT [52] US. Cl. 30/47; 30/57; 30/77 The specific disclosure Provides an adjustable Safety 51 Int. Cl? B26B 21/06; B26B 21/14 razor having structure for rotatably mounting a guard [58] Field of Sear h 30/50, 54 60, 605 61 structure about an axis that is eccentrically positioned 30/63, 71 77 57 47; 403/33 31 93 with respect to a skin-engaging surface on the guard structure. Manually operable elements are also pro- [56] Ref Cit d vided for selectively rotating the guard structure about UNITED STATES PATENTS the axis to adjust the skin-engaging surface with re- 1,653,105 12/1927 King 30/61 x spect to at least one cumng edge on the razor 2,182,571 12/1939 Savary 1. 30/71 X 2 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures 22 /8 20 /2 0\24 4 unlit/1 BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION" The present invention relates to safety razors of the type in which a guard-structure is manufally adjustable to vary the shaving parameters of the razor. The invention is particularly suitable for safety razors of the type having at least one blade permanently bonded in a replaceable plastic cartridge, or of the disposable" type formed at least in-part of plastic.

Safety razors having means for adjusting guard structure with respect to blade cutting edge(s) are I well known in the art. For example, U.S..Pat. No. 3,375,578 discloses an adjustable band razor cartridge, U.S. Pat. No. 3,358,368 provides an adjustable double edge razor and U.S. Pat. No. 3,203,093 shows an adjustable single edge razor. Movement of the guard structure acts to vary shaving parameters such as shave or, tangent angle, exposure and span. Shave angle is measured between the medianplane of a bladeand a plane extending from the cutting edge of the blade tangent to the skin-engaging surfaces in front of the blade. Exposure is the distance from the cutting edge to a plane tangent to the skin-engaging surfaces disposed in front of and behind the cutting edge. Span is the distance between the cutting edge and the skin-engaging surface in front of the cutting edge.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a relatively uncomplex means for adjusting a guard structure with respect to blade cutting edge(s), such that manufacturing and assembly costs are minimized.

In accordance with the present invention there is provided an adjustable safety razor comprising a blade seat member, at least one blade positioned on the blade seat.

member, and a guard structure including a skinengaging forward surface. Means are provided for rotatably mounting said guard structure about an axis parallel to at least one cutting edge on the blade seat member, and the axis is eccentrically positioned with respect to the skin-engaging surface. The razor also comprises manually operable means for selectively rotating said mounting means about the axis to adjust the skin-engaging surface with respect to the at least one cutting edge.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a twin blade cartridge embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 corresponds to the view of FIG. 2 with a portion of the cartridge side broken away.

DESCRIPTION OF SPECIFIC EMBODIMENTS The specific embodiment shown in the Figures is a replaceable twin blade cartridge 10 of the type disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,783,510 and 3,785,051, and in pending U.S. Pat. application Ser. No. 433,030, filed Jan. 14, 1974, by F. A. Ferraro for Razor Blade Cartridge and assigned to the assignee of the present application. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,783,510 and 3,785,051, and patent application Ser. No. 433,030, filed Jan. 14, 1974 are incorporated herein by reference.

With reference to the Figures, the cartridge 10 includes a plastic cap member 12 and a plastic blade seat member 14. A pair of single cutting edge blades 16, 18

vertically separated by a spacer member 20 are permanently bonded between the cap member 12 and the blade seat mem er 14. As shown in FIG. 2, the cutting edges 22, 24 are tandemly arranged with respect to a guard structure 26. I i

The cap, member 12has two pairs .of downwardly extending posts 28, 29; 30, 31. The posts 28-31 extend through a pair of slots 32 in the top blade 16, respective hol'es 34 inthe spacer member 20, a pair of slots 36 in the "bottom'blade 18, and respective holes 38 in the blade seat member ,14.'The lower ends of the posts 28-31 are deformed (not shown) to prevent removal of the posts through the blade seat holes 38 and thereby bond the components of the cartridge 10 together. The posts 28 -31, the slots 32; 36 and the holes 34; 38 can be dimensioned and/or shaped. to provide an interference fit and the cartridge components can be assembled as taught by patent application Ser. No. 433,030, filed Jan. 14, 1 974.

As shown in FIG. 2, the cartridge 10 has a T-shaped channel 45 formed on a lower side of the blade seat member 14 for sliding engagement with transverse supporting surfaces on a holder (not shown). A suitable holder for the cartridge 10, is shown in US. Pat. No. 3,783,510. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,783,510 and 3,785,051 disclose systems suitable for dispensing a plurality of the cartridges 10.

The guard structure 26 has a cylindrically shaped mounting element 60, 62 at each end thereof. The mounting elements 60, 62 are seated in cylindrical holes 64, 66 formed at each side end of the cartridge 10. The holes 64, 66 are formed] by arcuate cut- outs 68, 70; 72, 74 in the blade seat member 14 and in the cap member 12 such that the guard structure 26 is secured to the cartridge 10 when the posts 2831 are deformed to bond the cap member 12 to the blade seat member 14.

The mounting elements 60, 62 define a rotational axis that is parallel to the blade cutting edges 22, 24, and spaced forwardly of a blade seat wall-51. The axis defined by the mounting elements 60, 62 is eccentrically positioned with respect to an at least generally arcuate skin-engaging surface 86 of the guard structure 26 such that manual turning of the mounting elements 60, 62 in the holes 64, 66 acts to change the shaving parameters of the cartridge 10.

For example, the hole 66 has a protrusion in the upper cut-out 74 that is selectively positionable in one of three notches or recesses 82 formed in the mounting element 62 by turning the mounting element 62. The mounting element 62 has a finger-engagable member 84 to aid in turning the mounting element 62, and which can point to indica of a shaving parameter setting. Specifically, in the position shown in FIG. 2, the finger-engagable member 84 points to H to indicate that the skin-engaging surface is in a high position as indicated by 86 with respect to the cutting edges 22, 24. Rotation of the guard structure 26 in a counterclockwise direction as viewed in FIG. 2 moves the skin engaging surface to a medium position (M) as indicated by 88, and to a low position (L) as indicated by 90.

It is apparent that'the protusion 80 and the notches 82 can be eliminated, and the mounting elements 60, 62 can be alternatively frictionally seated in the seat holes 64, 66 to provide a full range of shaving parameter settings within the rotational limits of the guard structure 26. In this alternative embodiment stop means (not shown) can be provided on the inner surfaces of one or both of seat members 41, 43 for engaging the guard structure 26 to limit rotation thereof to a predetermined sector. Such stop means (not shown) can also be provided to limit the travel of the fingerengagable member 84 to a predetermined sector.

It is apparent that the present invention is suitable for use on disposable razors such as that disclosed in US. Pat. No. 3,703,765. The present invention also contemplates adjustment of single and double edge razors such as shown in US. Pat. Nos. 3,203,093 and 3,358,368, respectively.

What is claimed is:

1. An adjustable safety razor blade cartridge including means for releasably engaging a holder, said cartridge comprising:

a. a plastic blade seat member including a pair of spaced forwardly extending elements, each one of said blade seat elements having an arcuate recess therein,

b. at least one blade positioned on said blade seat member, said at least one blade including a forwardly extending cutting edge,

c. a plastic cap member above said at least one blade and permanently connected to said blade seat member to bond said at least one blade between said cap and blade seat members, said cap member including a pair of spaced forwardly extending elements, each one of said cap elements having an arcuatc recess therein, said cap elements being in juxtaposition with said blade seat elements, the arcuate recesses in said cap elements and said blade seat elements form a pair of spaced holes on a transverse axis,

d. a transversely elongated guard structure having a skin-engaging surface parallelly spaced forwardly of the cutting edge, said guard structure including a pair of posts rotatably seated in said spaced holes, said transverse axis being eccentrically positioned with respect to said skin-engaging surface, and

e. manually operable means for selectively rotating said guard structure about said axis to adjust said skin-engaging surface with respect to the cutting edge.

2. The cartridge of claim 1 further comprising a plurality of notches formed in one of said holes, and a protrusion on one of said posts seated in one of said notches, whereby said guard structure is rotatable about said axis to discrete positions.

Claims (2)

1. An adjustable safety razor blade cartridge including means for releasably engaging a holder, said cartridge comprising: a. a plastic blade seat member including a pair of spaced forwardly extending elements, each one of said blade seat elements having an arcuate recess therein, b. at least one blade positioned on said blade seat member, said at least one blade including a forwardly extending cutting edge, c. a plastic cap member above said at least one blade and permanently connected to said blade seat member to bond said at least one blade between said cap and blade seat members, said cap member including a pair of spaced forwardly extending elements, each one of said cap elements having an arcuate recess therein, said cap elements being in juxtaposition with said blade seat elements, the arcuate recesses in said cap elements and said blade seat elements form a pair of spaced holes on a transverse axis, d. a transversely elongated guard structure having a skinengaging surface parallelly spaced forwardly of the cutting edge, said guard structure including a pair of posts rotatably seated in said spaced holes, said transverse axis being eccentrically positioned with respect to said skin-engaging surface, and e. manually operable means for selectively rotating said guard structure about said axis to adjust said skin-engaging surface with respect to the cutting edge.

2. The cartridge of claim 1 further comprising a plurality of notches formed in one of said holes, and a protrusion on one of said posts seated in one of said notches, whereby said guard structure is rotatable about said axis to discrete positions.

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