Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1904-12-13

velopment of standing armies, signif1-
canoe of another Kind was attached to
mans hirsute appendages. For
years a clean-shaven chin and long
mustaches were the distinguishing
marks of a soldier, and it is only COM
paratively recently that mere civilians
have ventured to adopt this style. On
the other hand, the mustache is today
the sign of a gentleman on the CONT
nent of Europe. Il must let my mus
tache grow before l go home, said
young Belgian the other day. feellng
his upper lip, which had been clean
shaver during his stay here. IF l
don't, my people will ask me II l was
coachman or waiter in America"
While fashion has been juggling through
the centuries with mans appearance, the
manner in which her DEGREES nave peeh
carried out has not. until very recently,
been materially altered. The method rec
commended by Pepys in his diary OF l1tz, OF
trimming ones self with pumice stone,
which | learned of Mr.; March, and L
1ouno II very easy speedy ana pieasaht,
h3s not come into common use what the
Egyptians used to rid themselves so care
fully of their boards We do not know,
but in Etruscan tombs archaeoloSlsts
have found razors of flint and bronze
which must have been placed there as
early as 500 b. C. Bronze raZors OF pecu-
liar shape have been found in the British
isles. Cortes found the Aztecs diligently
chorping OFF their boards with pieces OF a
natural volcanic substance known as ob-
sidian. which must have been even worse
than the flint and other extraordinary
substitutes for steel have been adopted
by suffering humanity
1t remained for American inventors TO
upset the customs of the centuries in or
a. rn h.1, IL -hn i4l
The first step was designed merely to pro-
tect the unskillful and, by placing the
blade III a sort OF cage. the Saiety razor
was made. Then King &. Gillette, recog-
nizinS the fact that the average mans
greatest difficulty when he shaves is the
sharpening of the razor bent MS energies
10 the production of blade which could
be used ten, fifteen or twenty times with
| out losing its edge. His first attempt was
edge. 1t worked well enough to encour-
age him to continue his experiments, and
later he succeeded IN producing blades
| which, while no thicker than piece of
| paper and no larger than one Of the post
age stamps struck to commemorate a
worlds fair. could be used not once, but
many times. Thus the possessor of
| bunch of blades and a handle with which
| to hold them would have potential ShaveS
Of a number sufficient to keep his chin
and cheeks smooth for months. and when
all the blades were dulied they could be
| exchanged for Others.
The making of such razor blades called
| for new machines and processes. From
| the ages of stone and brass down to the
| present, the razor maker has held the
| flint, obSdian or steel i'll his own fingers
as he shaped and ground it,, and raZors
| have been Stropped by hand under the
| shadows of the pyramids and in the bar
! Der shops of imperial Rome. but today
| fingers of steel are taking the place of
human hands. One device cuts the blades
| from a long strip of the metal; another
cuts holes in them; still another smooths
away rough edges. A young woman tend
ing three small machines will grind 500
| razor blades in a day it would be bet
ter to put it that the machines do the
work, for the young womans part con-
sists merely in supplying the material and
taking away the finished product. The
man who has patiently or impatiently
strorped his own razor finds much for
admiration in the machines which hone
and Strop IA raZOrs a time.
These devices. which grind, hone and
Strop razor blades by the hundred, were
invented by Mr.. Nickerson, a graduate
of the Massachusetts Institute of Tech
nology, and are only an example Of the
several appliances whose invention had
TO plecede the entrance of the razor into
the heid of machlne-nlade products. New
make piece of steel Of the thickness of a
sheet of paper that would nevertheless
40 the work of shaving. Steel of that
thickness tempered in the ordinary way
would curl up at the eoges exactly like
so much paper, and a method of tenn
perinS had to be worked out to make
'f,-ACi Inc ny TASK OF the ma n
VINO shaves himself The ordinary razor
blade is concave in shape. These paper
bladeS-they might not inapnrOpriately be
called such-are made concave when in
use because they are held in curved pieces
of brass, turned with mathematical ex-
acthesS so great that the variation Of the
thousandth part Of an inch is taken into
consideration. This work is done by a
contrivance hardly larger than an old
fashioned letter press, Yet it eXertS upon
the brass pressure of fourteen tons
picking M the pieces. giving them the
proper shape and throwing them aside
when finished.
How rapidly razors may be made by
machinery is curiously shown by the
capacity of the machine which is used in
Cleaning and securing them. 1t looks
like a collection of ten-gallon gasoline
chinery. Securely bottled up inside are
the razor blades. as vet unsharpened,
mixed in with the various substances
used for removing them. each tank con-
tanning about 5000 little razor blades |
Pefore these razor blades go to the peo-
pie whose boards they will remove they
must be all finally tested. The man who |
plucks hair from his head in order to
use it in testing the blade is following a
time-honored practice. and this is one
that has been continued in the making
OF the razor of today, although in this |
case the testing is done by the young
women and the hair is bought for the |
purpose. Razor testing, moreover. is a |
wonderful eye educator, and the person !
who is skilled at this occupation will de- |
tect blemishes which to the ordinary in |
dividual would be invisible except through
a n1rnifyipf frlacc