A razor is a device used to cut hair from the face or other areas of the body. Men have been shaving off their beards with sharp implements since ancient times. In fact, cave paintings show shells, shark's teeth, and sharpened flint were used as razors. Bronze was the favored substance for razors during the Bronze Age while gold and copper razors were found in ancient Egyptian tombs. The steel straightedge razor was created in the 1700s in Sheffield, England.
However, shaving with this sharp, unprotected blade, was a dangerous procedure. The French cutler Jean-Jacques Perret, therefore, invented a safety razor in the 1760s that guarded all but the edge of the blade. Another edge-guard razor was made in Sheffield in 1828, and a similar design was produced in the United States. The modern T-shape of the safety razor was invented by William Henson, an Englishman. Nevertheless, the old straightedge razor remained in universal use until the advent of King Camp Gillette's disposable blade in 1901.
Gillette (1855-1932) was born in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin and grew up in Chicago, Illinois. When the fire of 1871 left his family destitute, Gillette became a traveling salesman. In 1891 he went to work for William Painter, the inventor who had earned a fortune with his disposable crown cork bottle cap. Painter noted Gillette's interest in inventing and advised him to develop a product that people would use once and throw away, thus ensuring a steady demand. Struck by the idea, Gillette went through the alphabet searching for a logical disposable product. While shaving one morning in 1895, he saw the answer in his mirror--a thin, double-edge blade that could be thrown away when it got dull, fastened to a special guarded holder.
Technical experts assured Gillette that it was impossible to produce steel hard, thin, and cheap enough to make the disposable blades. A young graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, William Nickerson, agreed to attempt the project. Nickerson had already invented push-button controls for elevators as well as automatic machinery for packaging and weighing cereal. By 1903, Nickerson had developed the necessary design and machinery and Gillette had secured the needed financial backing. The Gillette Safety Razor Company began producing razors with disposable blades in South Boston in 1901.
Sales steadily increased, and an entire generation was converted to safety razor use when the United States government issued Gillette razors to its troops during World War I. While other disposable blades eventually appeared on the market, Gillette dominated the field. He retired from active participation in his company in 1913 and devoted himself to promoting his cherished "World Corporation," a version of utopian socialism. He died in California.
Another notable change in shaving products came with the advent of the electric razor. Early models were patented in America as early as 1900 and in England shortly before World War I, but the first successful electric razor was patented in 1928 and marketed in 1931 by Jacob Schick, a retired United States Army colonel and committed inventor. During a mining expedition in British Columbia in the winter of 1910, Schick was inspired to develop a razor that worked without soap or water. After World War I, Schick devoted himself to inventing an electric razor, and his wife mortgaged their Connecticut home to finance the venture. The patented design that resulted used a series of slots to hold the hairs while a series of moving blades cut the hairs off. Competing models followed, but all used the basic Schick principle. By the time of Schick's death in 1937, sales of electric razors had become significant.
The completely disposable razor was introduced in 1975 by Baron Marcel Bich (pronounced "beek"), who had invented the Bic pen thirty years earlier. Expanding upon Gillette's disposable concept, Bich conceived of a half-blade razor with a plastic handle that could be produced cheaply enough to be thrown away after use.
Disposable razor technology continues to dominate the market in the 1990s. Razors have been developed which employ multiple blades, lubricating strips, and other special technology to maximize the removal of beard hair.
This is the complete article, containing 678 words
(approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page).
