Patent GB-161173-A (GB)
Title: Combined razor and stropper
IPC: B26B21/50
Filed: 1921-03-23
Abstract: 161,173. McAuliffe, J. W. March 31, 1920, [Convention date]. Stropping-apparatus.-A combined safety razor and stropping-apparatus comprises a single-edged blade 6 held in a holder 7 pivotally mounted in the sides of a housing 1 having guard teeth 2 at its front edge. For shaving the blade is held on the guard by a cover 3 pivoted to the sides of the housing and held in position by a spring 5. The stropping-element consists of a plate 17 covered with leather &c. and carried by slotted arms 15 engaging a shaft 13, rectangular in cross section and journaled in the sides of the housing; springs arranged between the plate and shaft press the plate away from the shaft and against the blade, which, when being stropped, is turned into the housing between a stop 10 and spring catch 11 on the side thereof. The shaft 13 carries a pinion engaging a rack 22 reciprocated in the housing by a stud 23 protruding through a slot 24. A spring 27 normally forces the stropping plate into the lower position shown in full lines. By reciprocating the rack, the blade is oscillated between the stop 10 and catch 11 and stropped on both sides. The spring catch 11 allows the blade to be forced from the shaving to the stropping position or vice versa, but limits its stropping movement. The spring 5 also holds the cover 3 in the open position. The Specification as open to inspection under Sect. 91 (3) (a) comprises also another form in which the stropping element is in the form of a gapped cylinder journaled in the housing and oscillated to carry the blade from one side of the housing to the other and strop it on both sides. The blade holder is journaled in an upper slidable part of the housing and in the shaving position engages guard fingers at one side of the main housing, the sliding part being clamped to the main housing by a pivoted cam on the former engaging the side of the latter through a slot therein. By releasing the cam, the upper part may slide upwards and the blade turned so as to lie within the gap of the stropping cylinder when the upper part of the housing is again slid downwards and clamped in place. The oscillation of the stropping cylinder may be checked in both directions by a pawl-and-ratchet device, and springs within the housing may yieldingly press the blade against the cylinder while being stropped and into the gap to ensure its movement from one side of the housing to the other. The cylinder is oscillated by a detachable crank which may be housed in the handle of the apparatus. In a further form, the upper part of the housing is hinged to the back of the main part to allow the introduction therein of the blade for stropping and the crank is fixed to the cylinder shaft and has a slidable handle which may be pushed into the housing through an aperture therein. In still another form, the upper part of the housing is hinged to the side of the main part and a detachable crank, which may be housed in the handle of the apparatus, is used. The blade holder consists of two halves with half journals at either end which are clamped together by sliding collars. One half of the holder has studs engaging holes in the blade and recesses in the other half. In a further form, a double-edged blade is used and both edges are stropped simultaneously by a pair of gapped stropping-cylinders rotated in opposite directions, the edges of the blade being flexed as the cylinder are oscillated. The upper part of the housing is in two parts hinged to the sides of the main part containing the stropping-elements and in the closed position forming a guard seat for the blade which is held thereon by a clamping-plate secured by a shouldered rod screwing into a boss at the bottom of the housing. To strop the blade, the rod is unscrewed and the upper halves of the housing opened out to allow the blade, which has a rectangular aperture at the centre, to slide down to a seat upon the boss adjacent the stropping- cylinders. Upon closing the hinged halves of the housing, the lower parts thereof engage and clamp the blade upon the boss. The cylinders carry pinions engaging a pinion journaled in the side of the housing and rotated by a crank, the movement of which is limited by a stud in the side of the housing; the crank has a slidable handle which may be slid into the housing when not in use. This subject-matter docs not appear in the Specification as accepted.