US2058147A - Method of packaging blades - Google Patents

Description

Oct. 20, 1936. H. A. GUSTAFSON METHOD 0? PACKAGING BLADES Original Filed May 9, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet l Oct. 29, 1936. r H, T ON 2,058,147

METHOD OF PACKAGING BLADES Original Filed May 9, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 ,Z 'iveizi'or" b 7 Q fiwa amv 7 J afibr'wgy v Patented Oct. 20, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT. OFFICE METHOD or PACKAGING BLADES Henry A. Gustafson, Dorchester, Mass., assignor to Gillette Safety Razor Company, Boston, Mesa, a corporation of. Delaware Original application May 9, 1935, Serial No.

20,623. Divided and this application September 30, 1935, Serial No. 42,781

9 Claims. (Cl. 93-2) into ga commercial package.

In handling safety razor blades under. com

mercial conditions of transportation and distribution and in the more or lesscasual treatment of such blades by the user, the extremely fine ke'en edge of the blade is-likely to become dulled by being brought into contact with its wrapping or with other objects before it can be actually clamped in shaving position in the razor. 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 very 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 cover sheet in which each blade may be enclosed and held in such position that its cutting edge is not only protected from direct contact with external objects but is prevented from rubbing against any part of the wrapping.

I have discovered that by shaping a cover sheet in a novel manner it may be folded about one end of the blade and secured in' position by interfolding parts of the cover sheet so that the blade is securely positioned between superposed leaves which project beyond the cutting edge of the blade in overlapping but unconnected relation. The cutting edge, therefore, lies between the superposed leaves and these are connected at opposite ends of the blade independently of its.

cutting edge. A more important field of use of my invention is in protecting and packaging razor blades having comer recesses which define elongated unsharpened portions in each end of the blade and internal apertures for the reception of the blade-locating projections of the razor. As herein shown the cover sheet is slotted to register substantially with the perforation of the blade so that the protected blade may be assembled with others on gauge pins or positioned upon the bladequently the dangerof drawing the edge of the blade against the razor cap or other part isobviated. Having once positioned the blade in the razor so that it is held in place therein the protective cover may be removed by merely pulling it endwise.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention one 'end of the cover sheet is shaped to provide aprojecting tongue and the other end is shaped to provide one or more ears which may be folded over theprojecting tongue t) secure the two ends of the folded cover sheet together and upon an interposed-blade. Variousother e'xpedients maybe utilized for holding the blade in place between the cover sheets as by bending tongues out of the body of the sheet in such position as to pass throughthe blade perforations andto lie upon the sur- 5 face of the blade.

An important feature ofthe novel cover of my invention consists in a single ply .tab which may be cut from the'body of one leaf of the cover sheet and extended outwardly beyond the contour of the folded sheet. Suchtabs may be utilized to hold' a plurality of protected blades in a stack with the tabs superposed for the reception of a stapleor other fastener. It has been found that the individual protected blade may be torn out of such a stack or package without danger of destroying or tearing the cover so as prematurely to expose a portion of the blade.

This is ac' counted for to some extent by the fact that the single ply material of the tab is more easily tom '30 than the doubled material of the cover sheet so that the tab tears while the cover. sheet remains intact.

These and otherfeatures of the invention will be best understood and appreciated from the following description of preferred embodiments thereof, selected for purposes of illustration and shown in the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a view in perspective of a package of protected blades with the outer cover of the pack- 40 age open;

Fig. 2 is a view in perspective of an individual protected blade as torn from the package of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a similar view showing the protected blades in inverted and reversed position together with the tab torn therefrom;

Fig. 4 is a view in perspective of a safety razor with a protected blade in place therein and the protective cover partially withdrawn from the blade; v a

Fig. 5 is a view in perspective of the cover sheet in condition to be folded upon a blade;

Fig. 6 is a view in perspective illustrating the steps of assembling the individual protected 2 blades and securing them togetheriin package form: and

Figs. 7 and 8 illustrate blades enclosed in cover sheets of. modified form.

I have shown in Figs. 1 to 6 a preferred form of cover sheet and one manner of enclosing and packaging therein .awell-known commercial safety razor blade, and will proceed first to describe my invention from this standpoint. The blade 24 is thin, flexible, double-edged. provided in each of its corners with a rectangular recess and these recesses'collectively define elongated unsharpened portions at each end of the blade.

. The blade is'also provided with an internal slot having spaced enlargements therein and the slot or its enlargements are adapted to receive bladelocating projections of various shapes in different types of safety razors.

The cover sheet, as best. shown in Fig. 5, comprises an elongated strip of waxed paper or the like, centrally notched to indicate a fold line which as herein shown is further defined by a line of perforations l4. One portion or leaf ll of the cover sheet is provided with an elongated slot I! so shaped and locatedas' to register with the slot of the blade and clear the'enlargements therein. At its outer end the leaf II is provided with a centrally disposed outwardly projecting tongue II. A tab it is outlined in the body of the leaf it but is connected at its base to the cover sheetsubstantially at the perforated line it. The tab it may be substantially rectangular or slightly tapering "utwardly from its base. The I otherportion or leaf ii of the cover sheet is provided with an elongated slot ll located to register with the slot i2 and with a fiap it at its outer end, slitted to define a pair of transversely foldable ears I'I. As shown in Fig. 5, the ears 11 areset ofl. by scored lines from the flap it but this is not necessary in all cases. The fiap It and the tongue II. are substantially the same width and coincide nearly in width to the unsharpened elongated end portions of the blade broughtintoregistration with the tab It the two cars II are folded inwardly about the tongue ll thus locking the elongated unsharpened portion I at the other end of the blade between them. If

waxedv paper is employed as material for the folding pressure although. if desired the car may 1 be sealed in place by the application of heat. An individual protected blade is shownin P18. 2 and fromthis figure it will be apparent thatthe blade 24 is locked against transverse displacement by the position of the cover folds with respect to the unsharpened elongated portions at opposite ends of the blade and that the two leaves of the cover sheet project in edge-free relation outwardly beyond the cutting edge of the blade in position to act as fenders for the cutting edge in the manipulation of the blade.

The protected blade may be distributed individually in this form if desired, but it is usually preferred to assemble five of these protected blades in a stack and secure them together for use in a commercial package.- The operation of assembling such a stack of blades is suggested in Fig. 6, where a portion of a rotatable turret I. is shown. The turret is provided with radially disposed pairs of guide pins 3| having rounded ends. and being of such diameter as to register with spaced enlargements of the perforations in the blade. The operator places the protected 33 for inserting a staple 34 in the superposed tabs I! of the protected blade covers. Accordwhich is herein shown as provided with a driver ingly the turret "is advanced to present a stack of protected blades properly to the driving mechanism and the staple 34 is inserted and clinched.

Subsequently the turret is rotated another step toa station at which the stapled package may be removed for insertion in such covers as shown in Fig. 1 and a new stack presented to the stapling machine. 1 i

' In making the package of Fig. 1 a strip of cardboard is folded to form the cover 20 and a staple II is driven through its superposed free ends and the tabs it of the individual protected blades. The folded end of the cover 20 is perforated in two lines near its fold vertex so that the end portion 22 may be easily torn off in opening the package. 1

In Fig. 4 is suggested the operation of placing a protected blade in a safety razor and of removing the cover therefrom. The safety razor includes a pair of pivotally mounted cap sections 25 which are shown herein in their open position and are arranged to be swung inwardly to fiex and clamp the blade in shaving position, as will be well understood. The razor is also provided with a centrally disposed blade-locating bar' 28 with which the slot of the blade 24 is adapted to reglater. The individual blade is torn from the package shown in Fig. 1 along the line defining the base of the tab I 3, leaving the tab behind it in the package. The protected blade is then placed tion the edges of the cover act as fenders and so prevent-the sharp edges-of the blade from being brought into contact with the cap sections 2!; After the protected blade has been fully positioned in the razor the user may withdraw the cover by merely pulling the end of the cover including the interfolded tongue II and fiap II. The cover thereupon is drawn longitudinally over the blade and this is done without the necessity of any further tearing because the ends of the cover slots l2 and is have been opened in tearing the protected blade from its package. It will thus be seen that the blade is fully protected in distribution and use up to the point of being actually located for shaving in the safety, razor and it is only exposed when all danger is past of dulling its cutting edges. 7

It will be observedthat the blade is securely locked in position within the cover shown in Figs. 1 to 8 by engagement of the latter over theshoulders of'the blade recessesg In Figs. 7 and B are suggestedalternative methods of locking the blade in position by tongues passing through the internal aperture of the blade. The cover shown in Fig. Icomprises two leaves ill and'H which are slotted to register with the blade aperture, the I slot 5| of'the leaf "including the space left by the tab ll corresponding to the tab it already in position in the safety razor and in thisoperadiscussed. In this case, a pair of tongues 54 are brought up through the blade slot and turned outwardly about the straight end edges of the slot so that they lie upon the upper surface of the blade. The tongues Stare of a width substantially to fill the end of the blade slot so that they act to prevent movement of the blade either longitudinally or laterally within its cover. Protected blades like those shown in Fig. 7 may be dispensed singly or may be secured in a stack by a staple driven either through the overlapping .free endsof the cover or through the tabs 53.

The cover shown in Fig. 8 comprises the leaves 60 and 62, the leaf 6 having the slot 6| and the tab -63 cut therefrom. In this case four tongues 64 are brought up through the blade apertur in the endmost enlargement thereof and are turned outwardly from the oppositely disposed end walls of these enlargements and upon the surface of the blade. serve to hold the, blade- 24 securely in position with its sharpened edges inside the contour of the protective cover.

The protected blade and the novel stack of protected blades herein disclosed are not herein claimed but form the subject matter of my copending application, Serial No. 20,623, filed May 9, 1935, of which the present application is a division.

Having thus described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. The method of protecting and packaging V blades having reentrant corner recesses, which consists in outlining a tab connected at one end to the body of a cover sheet over the edges of the recessed corners, folding the sheet on a line coinciding substantially with the attached end of the tab while the tab projects unfolded beyond the fold vertex, and then securing the blade thus protected in a stack through the medium of the .over a blade and at the same time leaving in flat unfolded condition a tab outlined in one leaf of the sheet. and then securing the protected blade in a package by means of said tab.

4. The method of protecting and packaging apertured blades, which consists in folding a The tongues 64, therefore,'

slotted cover'sheet over the blade and at the same time separating a tab from one leaf of the sheet and causing it to extend in flat unfolded condition beyond the end of, the protected blade while the slot of the cover substantially registers with the aperture of the blade, and then inserting a fastener through the tab.

5. The method of protecting and packaging blades, which consists in notching a cover sheet to define a transverse fold vertex and outlining a tab connected to the blank in line with said notches, then folding said cover sheet upon a blade without disturbing the tab, and finally utilizing the tab to hold the protected blade superposed upon similar protected blades gfold line therein and shaping the ends of the sheet to provide a projecting tongue and transversely foldable ears respectively, doubling the sheet over a blade while maintaining the tab in a flat condifolding the car on one end of the cover sheet across the tongue on the other end thereof, and finally securing the protected blade in a package by a fastener inserted through said tab.

8. The method of protecting and packaging slotted razor blades, which consists in doubling a perforated cover sheet over the blade so that its perforations register with the slot of the blade, providing a tab of single thickness which extends outwardly in flat unfolded condition from the doubled sheet, assembling the blade thus protected with others upon pins-passing through the blade slots and thereby maintaining the tabs superposed in registration, and then inserting a fastener through the superposed tabs.

9. The method of protecting blades having reentrant corner recesses and elongated end portions, which consists in outlining in one leaf of a cover sheet a tab of substantially the width of an end portion of the blade, doubling the cover over the edges of the corner recesses while the tab 'is held in flat condition by one end portion of the blade, and then securing at least one leaf of the cover to the blade enclosed thereby.

HENRY A. GUSTAFSON.

CERTIFICATE; or cosnsc'riou.

- Patent No. 2,058,147. a I October 20, 1936.

HENRY A, GUSTAFSON.

is hereby certified that error appears in the printed specification of the above numbered patent requiring correction as follows: Page 3 first I column, line 37, claim 1, strike out the comma and words folding the sheet and insert the same after "sheet" in'line 36, same claim; and that the said I Letters'Patent should be read with this correction therein that the same may conform to the record ofv the case in the Patent Office.

Signed and sealed this 5th day of January, A. D. 1957.

gem-y van mummy (Seal) Acting Commissioner of Patents.

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