SAFETY RAZOR

Abstract: A novel safety razor including a handle (11), a head (12) and a razor blade (15), in which the edge of the blade is protected by a guard (19) afixed to and depending from a cap (16). The guard (19) may be easily removed from said razor by twisting it in relation to the razor and breaking the two lugs (20) that secure the guard to the cap. Preferably the razor is manufactured of plastic, the cap and guard being moulded as one component. The safety razor is intended as a disposable unit that is used once only.

Description: SAFETY RAZOR TECHNICAL FIELD This invention relates to improved safety razors and in particular to lightweight plastic disposable safety razors such as are used in surgical procedures. Such procedures dictate the need for an extremely cheap razor that may be discarded of after one use. BACKGROUND ART Previously, razors which attempted to fulfill the foregoing object comprised a handle to which is attached a head, said head comprising a base integrally moulded with said handle, a known double edged razor blade mounted on said base, and a cap clipped over said razor blade. The cap is adapted to secure the blade within the head by means of lugs which affix said cap to said base and which pass through appropriate orifices in said blade. Such razors are packaged by means of a small cardboard box which was provided with open ends and which was of a size adapted to neatly slip over and encompass the head of the razor. The purpose of the cover was to protect the user from cuts by the razor blade which is exposed ready for use. It has been found that the foregoing system frequently lead to slight injury by the user, in that when slipping the cardboard off the cap, the user's fingers frequently protrude over the open end of the packaging as it was withdrawn sideways off the head of the razor. The user's finger tip thus ran along the edge of the exposed razor blade and suffered injury. It is an object of our invention to provide an improved safety razor in which removal of the packaging cannot cause injury to the user and which is cheap to manufacture. DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION In broad terms, our invention provides a safety razor including a handle, a head and cutting means, in which the OMPI head is provided with a removable guard for protecting the operating edge of said cutting means. In one embodiment the protective ring cover is provided with a tab and in another embodiment the tearoff ring is moulded to the cap. In use the protective ring is merely broken off and discarded, thus exposing the edge of the razor blade. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS A preferred embodiment of our invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:- Figure 1 is a plan view of the head of a safety razor made in accordance with our invention; Figure 2 is a side elevation of the cap, integrally . moulded cover and razor blade; Figure 3 is a plan view of the base; Figure 4 is a plan view of the safety razor; Figure 5 is a side elevation of the safety razor; Figure 6 depicts the nature of the invention. PREFERRED MODE OF CARRYING OUT INVEMTIUM With reference to the accompanying drawings, there is provided a safety razor 10 shown generally in Figures 4 and 5 comprising a handle 11 and a head 12. The base of the head 12 is provided with a plurality of protruberances 13 which space the edge 14 of a razor blade 15 away from the surface to be shaved as best shown in Fig. 3. The razor blade 15 is secured onto the base 12 by means of a push-on cap 16 having two lugs 17 which pass through appropriate holes in the razor blade and into orifices 18 in the base. Slight pressure on the cap against the resiliency of the razor blade causes the said lugs to irreversibly clip into the orifices 18. The cap is of a width narrower than the base, thus allowing the edge 14 of the razor blade to protrude outwardly from underneath the edge 22 of said cap to a position just within the ends of the protruberances 13. A shaving action may then be performed by appropriate tilting of the razor about the tips of the protrubrances and drawing it across the surface to be shaved. Our invention provides a protective guard or skirt 19 which is integrally moulded into the cap 16 and secured thereto by frangible lugs 20. The guard protects both the upper surface and the extremity of the edge 14 of the razor blade as shown best in Figure 2. It is spaced away from the edge of the cap by approximately 0.01 inches, except where it is attached. In use, and as is shown in Figure 6, a tab 21 is used to break the guard 19 away from the cap 16 by breaking the lugs 20. The guard may be discarded and the razor is ready for use. The invention overcomes the need to have a separate packaging means such as a cardboard cover as is provided in prior art. This allows the goods to be shipped and stored without the need of any extra packaging steps at all, thus reducing the cost. It is to be appreciated that although we have described our invention relative to the provision of a protective ring guard for safety razors secured by two• lugs, other applications are possible without departure from the spirit of our invention.

Claims: The claims defining the invention are as follows:- 1. A safety razor including a handle, a head and cutting means, in which the head is provided with a removable guard for protecting the operating edge of said cutting means. 2. A safety razor as claimed in claim 1 wherein said cutting means is a razor blade. 3. A safety razor as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2 wherein said guard protects both exposed cutting edges of said razor blade. 4. A safety razor as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein the guard is provided with a tab for assisting removal of said guard from said razor. 5. A safety razor as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein said guard cannot be reaffixed to said head. 6. A safety razor generally as described herein with reference to the accompanying drawings. OMPI

Inventors: KOCH W, WAITE R
Applicants: KOCH W, WAITE R
Application year: 1980
Main classification: B26B21
IPC codes: B26B21