Razor Inspiration Found While Shaving

King Camp Gillette.

King Camp Gillette (January 5, 1855 – July 9, 1932), was an American businessman popularly associated with the safety razor, although several models were in existence prior to Gillette's design. Gillette's innovation was the thin, inexpensive, disposable blade of stamped steel. Gillette was born in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin in 1855 and raised in Chicago, Illinois. When King Camp Gillette's family house was devastated by the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. To make living Gillette became a traveling salesman for the Crown Cork and Seal Company in the 1890s, Gillette saw bottle caps, with the cork seal he sold, thrown away after the bottle was opened. This made him recognize the value in basing a business on a product that was used a few times, then discarded.

As existing, relatively expensive, razor blades dulled quickly and needed continuous sharpening, a razor whose blade could be thrown away when it dulled would meet a real need and likely be profitable.

In 1895, after years of trying, thinking and reject the discovery possible, Gillette suddenly had a brilliant idea while shaving in the morning. A shaver that is safe, inexpensive and with a sharp knife that can be discarded when it is worn. Gillette took 6 years to evolve ideas. During that time, technical experts say that it is impossible to produce steel is strong, thin, and cheap enough to be made commercially as a disposable razor.

Gillette safety razor blades.
(Picture from: http://www.uh.edu/)

Safety razors had been developed in the mid-19th century, but still used a forged blade. In the 1870s, the Kampfe Brothers introduced a type of razor along these lines. Gillette improved these earlier safety-razor designs, and introduced the high-profit-margin stamped razor blade steel blade. Gillette's razor retailed for a substantial $5 (about $134 in 2006 dollars) — half the average working man's weekly pay — yet sold by the millions.

The most difficult part of development was engineering the blades, as thin, cheap steel was difficult to work and sharpen. This accounts for the delay between the initial idea and the product's introduction.

Then in 1901, a graduate of MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), William Nickerson agreed to try out the idea of ​​Gillette. On 15 November 1904, with patent no. 775,134 were granted to King C. Gillette razor for the discovery of a safe place to shave.

Gillette safety razor blades.
(Picture from: http://davidszondy.com/)

To sell the product, Gillette founded the American Safety Razor Company on September 28, 1901 (changing the company's name to Gillette Safety Razor Company in July 1902). Gillette obtained a trademark registration (0056921) for his portrait and signature on the packaging.

Production began in 1903, when he sold a total of 51 razors and 168 blades. The following year, he sold 90,884 razors and 123,648 blades, thanks in part to Gillette's low prices, automated manufacturing techniques and good advertising. By 1908, the corporation had established manufacturing facilities in the United States, Canada, England, France and Germany. Razor sales reached 450,000 units and blade sales exceeded 70 million units in 1915.

In 1918, when the U.S. entered World War I, the company provided all American soldiers with a field razor set, paid for by the government. Production of the Gillette safety razor and shaving blades begin at Gillette Safety Razor Company started its operations in South Boston. The company continues in the present day as the Gillette brand of Procter & Gamble. *** [FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | SEPTI | PIKIRAN RAKYAT 11102012]

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