GB2245859A - Razor - Google Patents

Abstract

A razor has two separable casing halves (10, 20) and a blade support (23) which is pivotable between a position inside and a position outside the casing halves. For use, the neck 230 of the blade support is swung through an opening 21 in the top wall 202 of casing 20 by pivoting pins 231 in slots 221 so that the support projects from the back wall of casing 20. A disposable blade unit 11 stored in one of the casings, preferably casing 10, is mounted on the blade support and the casing 10 is engaged within the casing 20, with the top wall 103 located in grooves 24. <IMAGE>

Description

RA7OR The invention relates to a razor, more particularly to a handy and compact razor which has built-in compartments to receive disposable blade units, Figure 1 is an illustration of a conventional disposable razor. The conventional disposable razor chiefly comprises a handle A and a blade unit B. The blade unit B may be either detachable or integrated with the handle A. The blade unit B or the razor itself may be thrown away after a period of use.

The object of the present invention is to provide a novel handy and compact razor that can be conveniently stored and includes built-in compartments to receive a plurality of spare disposable blade units.

According to the present invention, a razor comprises a first casing portion having an opening at one end; a blade support pivotably mounted on said first casing portion adjacent to said opening, said blade support being pivotable between a first position inside said first casing portion and a second position outside said first casing portion; and a second casing portion detachably connectable to said first casing portion, one of said first and said second casing portions having a plurality of dividers forming a plurality of blade receiving compartments.

In use, the blade support may be rotated to the use position (the second position) and a hlade unit fitted thereto. After use, the blade support is stored inside the casing portions at its storage position (the first position) and the blade unit and spare blade unit are storerl in the compartments.

Other features and advantages of this invention will become apparent in the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is an illustration of a conventional disposable razor; Figure 2 is an exploded view of the preferred embodiment of a razor according to the present invention; Figure 3 illustrates the engagement of a blade support with a support casing of the preferred embodiment; Figure 4 illustrates the preferred embodiment as it is being prepared for use; Figure 5 is an illustration of the razor according to the present invention when ready for use; Figure 6 is a sectional view of part of the razor shown in Figure 5; Figure 7 is an illustration of the razor of the present invention when ready for storage; Figure 8A illustrates the blade support as it is rotated over the support casing; and Figure 8B illustrates the blade support when properly positioned outside the support casing.

Referring to Figure 2, the preferred embodiment comprises a blade casing half 10 and a support casing half 20. The blade casing half 10 has a rectangular wall 100 with a peripheral flange 101. A plurality of transverse dividers 102 extend across the peripheral flange 101 to define a plurality of blade receiving compartments 12. Each blade compartment 12 receives a disposable blade unit 11. The support casing half 20 has a rectangular wall 200 with a peripheral flange 201. The peripheral flange 201 has a top portion 202 with a central opening 21. A pair of engaging members 22 project from the wall 200 at opposite sides of the opening 21 is the direction of the peripheral flange 201. A blade support 23 is rotatably attached to the support casing half 20 at the opening 21 by means of the engaging members 22 (refer to Figure 3).

Each engaging member 22 has a substantially U-shaped first groove 221 and a stopper 222 to restrict the opening of the groove 221. The blade support 23 has a neck 230 with a pair of pins 231 protruding oppositely from the rear of the neck 230 and rotatably received by the engaging members 22 in the grooves 221. The stoppers 222 are provided to retain the pins 231 in the grooves 221. The blade support 23 further has a blade holding rail member 232 connected to the neck 230 opposite the pins 231.

The rail member 232 engages one of the disposable blade units 11 when the razor is in use. Each engaging member 22 is spaced from the top portion 202 of the support casing half 20 to form a U-shaped second groove 24. The peripheral flange 201 further has a plurality of inwardly projecting spaced studs 25 to be received by elongate sockets (not shown) of the peripheral flange 101 of the blade casing half 10.

During assembly, the top portion 103 of the peripheral flange 101 is press fitted into the grooves 24 of the support casing half 20. The studs 25 are received in the elongate sockets of the peripheral flange 101 to fasten the blade casing half 10 to the support casing half 20.

When using the razor according to the present invention, the blade support 23 is first rotated from its position inside the support casing half 20, as shown in Figure 3, to a position outside the support casing half 20, as shown in Figure 4. Referring to Figure 4, the neck 230 of the blade support 23 is disposed at the opening 21 of the support casing half 20.

One of the disposable blade units 11 found in one of the blade compartments 12 engages the blade support 23 on the blade molding rail member 232. (The construction of the disposable blade unit 11 is widely known in the art and will not be detailed herein). The blade casing half 10 and the support casing half 20 are then pressed together (as shown in Figure 6) so that the studs 25 can be received in the elongate sockets of the blade casing half 10 to fasten the blade casing half 10 to the support casing half 20. The preferred embodiment ;s now ready for use (refer to Figure 5).

After using the razor, the blade casing half 10 is detached from the support casing half 20. The blade unit 11 is then removed from the blade support 23. The blade unit 11 can be thrown away or stored in one of the blade compartments 12 of the blade casing half 10. The blade support 23 is then rotated from its position outside the support casing half 20, as shown in Figure 4, to the position inside the support casing half 20, as shown in Figure 3. The blade casing half 10 and the support casing half 20 are once more fastened together. Figure 7 is an illustration of the compact and handy razor when in a storage configuration. The blade support 23 is received in one of the blade compartments 12 of the blade casing half 10 when the preferred embodiment is not in use.

Figure 8A is a sectional view of the preferred embodiment illustrating the movement of the blade support 23 on the support casing half 20. The support casing half 20 has a top edge 203 defined by the peripheral flange 201 and the wall 200. The rail member 232 of the blade support 23 has a rear portion that slidably abuts the top edge 203 as it moves over the peripheral flange 201. Referring to Figure 8B, the top edge 203 of the support casing half 20 causes friction on the rear portion of the blade holding rail member 232 when the blade support 23 is properly positioned outside the support casing half 20, thus resist;ng movement of the blade support 23 The blade support 23 can still be rotated to its position inside the support casing half 20 by forcing the blade support 23 past the top edge 203 of the support casing half 20.

Figure 6 illustrates the position of the blade support 23 outside the support casing half 20 when the blade casing half 10 and the support casing half 20 are pressed together. The distal edge of the peripheral flange 101 of the blade casing half 20 abuts the rear 233 of the neck 230 of the blade support 23 to prevent movement of the blade support 23 when the razor of the present invention is in use.

Claims (8)

1. A razor, comprising: a first casing portion having an opening at one end; a blade support pivotably mounted on said first casing portion adjacent to said opening, said blade support being pivotable between a first position inside said first casing portion and a second position outside said first casing portion; and a second casing portion detachably connectable to said first casing portion, one of said first and said second casing portions having a plurality of dividers forming a plurality of blade receiving compartments.

2. The razor as claimed in claim 1, wherein said first casing portion comprises a main wall and a peripheral wall extending perpendicularly from said main wall and defining said opening, said first casing portion further comprising a pair of engaging members projecting from said main wall on opposite sides of said opening, each of said engaging members having a first U-shaped groove; and said blade support comprises a neck portion connected to s blade holding rail member and having a pair of pins each pivotably received in a respective one of said first U-shaped grooves.

3. The razor as claimed in claim 2, wherein said first U-shaped grooves have restricted openings for retaining said pins therein.

4. The razor as claimed in claim 2 or 3, wherein each of said engaging members is spaced from said peripheral wall so as to form a second U-shaped groove therebetween; said second casing portion has a main wall and a peripheral wall extending perpendicularly from said second casing portion main wall; and the arrangPment is such that, when said two casing portions are connected together, said second casing portion peripheral wall is received in said second U-shaped grooves.

5. The razor as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein one of said peripheral walls has an inwardly projecting stud member, and the other of said peripheral walls has a socket for receiving said stud member when said two casing portions are connected together.

6. The razor as claimed in at least claim 4, wherein the arrangement is such that, when said two casing portions are connected together, the free edge of said second casing portion peripheral wall abuts said neck portion of said blade support when in its second position so as to prevent said blade support from pivoting to its first position.

7. The razor as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 6, further comprising at least one blade unit mounted on said blade support and/or in said blade receiving compartments.

8. A razor substantially as herein described with reference to Figures 2 to 88 of the accompanying drawings.