US2391741A

US2391741A - Razor blade holder for sharpening

Info

Publication number: US2391741A
Application number: US529318A
Authority: US
Inventors: Peter C Rhegas
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1944-04-03
Filing date: 1944-04-03
Publication date: 1945-12-25
Anticipated expiration: 1962-12-25

Description

Dec. 25, 1945. P. c. RHEGAS 2,391,741

RAZOR BLADE HOLDER FOR SHARPENING Filed April 5, 1944 INVENTOR. gl-kj'z BY 4 A. 2 M

Patented Dec. 25, 1945 UNITED STATES PATENT. OFFICE RAZOR BEADEIHOLDERIFOR' SHARPENING Beter (2.. Rhegas, Detroit; Mich: Application April 3-, 1944,.seria1'No...529.31s-

7. Claims.

This invention relates toan improvedholder fora razor blade during; honing.

This improved holder is adapted'to support a razor blade, of the safety razor type, in such a manner that the beveled edgeof'the blade may be properly and accurately'sharpened.

An object is'to provide a holder which. is simple and inexpensive and which willso' support a blade; such" as the thin Wafer-type of blade, as for example a Gillette blade, that the honing: operation may be properly carried out.

A further object is to provide a holder'having. a base-which is adapted to' support a razor blade of the character described with an' edge portion of the blade projectingforwardlybeyond the forward edge of the base and in aaplane substan-- tiallyparallel thereto wherebysuch portion of the blade will normally clear the surface uponwhich the base rests, but such portionis adapted r to be-resistingly depressed to bring its" beveled edge to bear upon the surface upon: which the base rests.

That portion of the blade projecting-forwardly of the forward edge of the'ho'lder'may. be depressed manually tobringits bevele'ded e. into bearing honing contact with the surface upon which thebase rests. It may be depressed by direct pressure of the fingers of the operator thereagainst or depressing meansmay be;pro' vided'which means is adapted tobear against the blade adjacent to itsforward edge-and forwardly of the holder to urge such forward beveled edge of the blade against the surface upon which the blade rests. Such depressing means is adapted to urge the beveleded'ge of the blade throughout its length against the honing surface.

A large number of devices have been developed to' support the wafer-type of safetyrazor blade to sharpen the blade. One difliculty attending the sharpening-of a blade ofthis'type is to so support the blade at all times during the honing operation that it willbe accurately sharpened. It is not an uncommon disadvantage pres:- ent in many; of these prior art" devices: that a blade may be properly supportedxat one time and improperly supported at another time, and: the particular manner in which the-blade supportis held bythe. operator may determine whether-or not the. sharpening operation is properly carried out.

One object of this invention isto provide-ads vice wherein a blade supportedthereby will. always be'so supported that the sharpening operation will be:properly-' carried out; This improved holder is adapted to rest" flatupon a honing'surface andto bemoved back and forth across such surfacenduring the sharpening operation. The honing surface maybe of any desired'character.- The blade carried bythe. holder is so supported that .when it is urged at such an angle thereto that theforwardbeveled edge only of the blade will be brought into honing contact with the surface. The device is soconstructed and so proportioned as to insure the accomplishment of the above end.

The construction is such that the holder may be. moved back and forth over a flat honingsurface with the; base resting fiat upon such. surface and thebeveled. edgeofthe blade may be resist-. ingly depressed against such honing surface in one direction. of movement of the holder thereover while in theopposite direction of movement of the holder 'theaforward edge of the blade may be released to assume a normal; position of parallelism with the base and clear the honing surface.-

Other objects, advantages, and meritorious features 'will more fully appear from. the description, appended claims; and accompanying drawing wherein:

Fig. 1 isa plan of device embodying the inventionshowing'the razor blade mounted thereon.

Fig. 2 isa transverse'sectional view taken-on the line 22 of Fig'. 1.

ll)- providedwith upstanding side walls 12 which serve as a handle or finger gr pp g p rtion. In Figs: 1, 2 and 3. this base is shown as consistin of an upper layer and a lower layer of material which layers may be formed of sheet metal or any other suitable material. The lower layer is foldedover the upper layer at the rear end as shown at M for securement thereto. It is apparent that the base might be formed of a single sheet of material.

A bladeholding lug l'6 extends upwardly from the base adjacent to its forward edge. This lug or part i adapted to be received through the linear slot formed in a razor blade l8. In Figs. 1, 2 and 3 such a blade [8 is shown as supported flat upon the base engaged over the lug i6 and projecting forwardly of the forward edge of the base as shown particularly in Fig. 2. In Figs. 1, 2 and 3 the lug is shown as extending rearwardly as well as upwardly so as to tend to hold the blade down against the base when the blade is urged forwardly over the base against the lug.

Blade depressing mechanism in the form of a yoke-like element 20 is pivoted at 22 to'the side walls l2. This yoke-like element has a flat front portion 24 which is of a length to extend through out the length of the blade adjacent and parallel to its front margin as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. The arms of this yoke 20 lie fiat across the upper surface of the blade at the endsasshown in Fig.

These is provided with side walls l2 and with an upwardly projecting lug i6 adapted to engage a blade [8 to support the blade to project forwardly of the forward edge of the base in a man ner similar to that hereinabove described. Ihis particular base is also shown as formed of two thicknesses of sheet metal and the folded over edge I4 of the outer thickness receives there under, as illustrated in Figs. 6 and 7, a spring element 30. This spring element is adapted to engage the rear portion of the blade to hold the same yieldingly downwards against the base as shown in Figs. 6 and '7.

Fig. 4 shows the front portion 24 of the pivoted yoke 20 as being swung downwardly depressing the blade so as to bring the forward beveled edge of the blade into engagement with the honing surface 32 upon which the base rests. An operator' may grip the side walls i2 of the base with one hand and with one or more fingers urge the front portion 24 of the yoke downwardly to bring the beveled edge of the blade into honing contact with the surface 32. The arms 30 of the yoke serve to hold the blade fiat against the base as shown in Figs. 2 and 4.

Inasmuch as the portion 24 of the yoke 20 has a length equal to the length of the blade and engages the blade adjacent to its forward beveled edge, the blade is held against the honing surface throughout its length evenly and properly.

In Figs. 5, 6 and 7 the forwardly projecting portion of the blade may be urged down against the honing surface 32 through direct pressure of the fingers thereagainst as shown in Fig. 5. The spring member 30 tends to hold the rearward portion of the blade flat against the base. In the structure shown in these figures, a blade which is relatively inflexible might be sharpened through the blade being permitted to tilt against the resistance of the spring 39 to bring its forward edge into proper contact with the honing surface. Tilting to bring the forward edge into honing engagement instead of flexing for the same purpose is an alternative method of operation.

The thickness of the base and the position of the blade engaging lug is such that when a razor blade is supported upon the base and engaged by the lug, one edge portion of the blade projects forwardly beyond the forward edge of the base such a distance that when such edge p rtion is depressed toward the surface upon which the base rests it will contact such surface along its beveled edge only. Normally the blade when not depressed projects forwardly beyond the forward edge of the base in a plane parallel to the plane of the base and spaced above the surface upon which the base rests a distance equal to the thickness of the base.

4 One preferred-method of operation is to move the holder forwardly and backwardly along a line parallel to the section line 2--2 and hold the blade down in honing contact with the surface 32 during its rearward movement and to release the downward pressure of the fingers therefrom during the forward direction of movement. Upon release of this downward pressure the forward portion of the blade will spring'upwardly to the position shown in Fig. 2 so as not to burr up the edge of the blade as it is moved forwardly.

The base is preferably shown as formed of two thicknesses or layers of material which are separable at the forward edge. Though as heretofore stated it might be formed of a single thickness of material. With two separable thicknesses it is possible to preserve during use the proper thickness of base to insure the beveled edge of the blade being properlyurged against the flat honing surface. A thin shim l3 of any suitable substance may be inserted between the lower layer and the .upper layer at the forward edge to take up for wear of the bottom face of the lower layer. Such shim is shown in Fig. 2 of the drawing and it is apparent that it might be inserted between these two layers at. the forward edge of the base by spreading these layers apart and that shims of varying thickness might be used.

What I-claimis:

1. A sharpening device for holding arazor blade during honing comprising a flat plate like base provided with a finger gripping portion and with a blade positioning part, said base having a flat bottom surface adapted to rest flat upon a honing surface and having a flat upper surface portion of a length to support a'razor blade throughout its length andadapted to support said razor blade engaged with said part and projecting forwardly beyond the forward edge of the base and with the forwardly proiecting portion normally occupying a plane parallel to the plane of the base and spaced above the flat surface upon which the base rests, said forwardly projectin portion of the blade adapted to be depressed to bring its beveled edge adjacent to its forward margin into honing contact with the flat surface upon which the base rests.

2. A-sharpening device for holding a razor blade during honing comprising a flat plate like base provided with a finger gripping portion and a blade positioning part, said 'base having a flat bottom surface adapted to rest flat upon a honing surface and having a fiat upper surface portion of a length to support a razor blade throughout its length and adapted to support a razor blade engaged with said part and projecting forwardly beyond the forward edge of the base and with the forwardly projecting portion spaced above a flat surface upon which the base rests and occupying a plane parallel to the plane of the base, said base having such a thickness compared with the thickness of the blade and with the forward projection of the blade beyond the base that upon depression of the forwardly projecting portion of the blade throughout a distance equal to the thickness of the base the beveled edge of the blade is brought into honing contact with the flat surface upon which the base rests adjacent only to the outer margin of said beveled edge.

3. A sharpening device for holding a razor blade during honing comprising a flat plate like base provided with a finger gripping portion and with an upwardly projecting blade positioning part, said base having a fiat bottom surface adapted to rest flat upon a honing surface and having a flat upper surface portion of a length to support a razor blade throughout its length and adapted to support a razor blade engaged with said part and projecting forwardly beyond the forward edge of the base and with said forwardly projecting portion spaced above a flat surface upon which the base rests and occupying a plane parallel to the plane of the base, and depressible means secured to the base engaging the blade spaced forwardly beyond the forward edge of the base and depressible to urge the forward beveled edge of the blade into honing contact with the surface upon which the base rests.

4. A sharpening device for holding a razor blade during honing comprising a fiat plate like base provided with a finger gripping portion and with a blade positioning part, said base having a flat bottom surface adapted to rest flat upon a honing surface and having a flat upper surface portion of a length to support a razor blade throughout its length and adapted to support a. razor blade positioned by said part projecting forwardly beyond the forward edge of the base and with the forwardly projecting portion spaced above a fiat surface upon which the base rests and normally occupying a plane parallel to the plane of the base, said device provided with blade depressing means having a part adapted to bear against the blade throughout its length and adjacent and parallel to the forward edge of the blade, said means adapted to be depressed to urge the beveled forward edge of the blade uniformly throughout its length against the fiat surface upon which the base rests.

5. A sharpening device for holding a razor blade during honing comprising a flat blade supporting base provided with upwardly projecting finger gripping side walls and provided with a blade engaging part projecting upwardly and rearwardly of the base adjacent to the forward edge thereof, said base adapted to support a razor blade engaged with said part and with the blade projecting forwardly beyond the forward edge of the base and with the forwardly projected portion of the blade spaced above a fiat surface upon which the base rests by a distance equal to the thickness of the base, blade depressing means pivotally supp rted between said side walls and having a blade engaging portion adapted to engage a blade throughout its length and adjacent to its forward margin and spaced forwardly beyond the forward edge of the base, said means being swingable to depress the forwardly projecting portion of the blade to bring its forward beveled margin into honing contact with the surface upon which the base rests.

6. A sharpening device for holding a razor blade during honing comprising a base provided with a finger gripping portion and a blade positioning part adapted to engage a blade supported upon the base with the blade projecting forwardly beyond the forward edge of the base in a' plane extending substantially parallel to the plane of the base and with the forwardly projecting portion of the blade spaced above the surface upon which the base rests by the thickness of the base, said forwardly projecting portion of the blade adapted to be depressed tourge the edge of the blade against the surface upon which the base rests, said base consisting of an upper and a lower thickness of material and means being provided for spacing said two thicknesses of material apart underneath the blade to adjust the thickness of the base below the blade.

7. A sharpening device for holding a razor blade during honing comprising a flat plate like base provided with a finger gripping portion and with a blade positioning part, said base having. a flat bottom surface adapted to rest flat upon a honing surface and having a fiat upper surface portion of a length to support a razor blade throughout its length and adapted to support a razor blade positioned by said part projecting forwardly beyond the forward edge of the base and with the forwardly projecting portion spaced above a flat surface upon which the base rests and normally occupying a plane parallel to the plane of the base, said device provided with blade depressing means having a part adapted to bear against the blade throughout its length and adjacent and parallel to the forward edge of the blade, said means adapted to be depressed to urge the beveled forward edge of the blade uniformly throughout its length against the flat surface upon which the base rests, said blade depressing means having a flexible part extending transversely of the blade and bearing thereagainst and holding that portion of the blade resting upon the base flat against the base.

PETER C. RHEGAS.