The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1919-04-16
THE FIRST SAFETY RAZOR.
It's Invention Claimed by Large Number
of Persons


As to the first safety razor and the
identity of its. inventor there has been
some conflicting testimony. In response
to the New Jersey inquiry published
several weeks ago one New Yorker saws
that the first safety razor was invented
and patented by German, who manu-
featured them at a place on East Twenty
third street. New York, twenty years
ago. The writer says that he has one
OF these originals which he would not
sell for its weight in radium." The
blade Is one inch by one and half, is a
quarter of an inch thick at the top, and
is so hard that if dropped on the floor
it breaks like glass. 1T has not been
honed in twenty years and is as keen as
ever"
The description would fit the first
safety razor we ever owned, except as
to the test for the hardness of the blade
We never tried it ON ours. But one has
to wonder how often this witness dropped
the blade on the floor and saw it break
like glass, and how, in spite of these
SCATTERING experiences, he was able to
bring it through twenty years "as keen
as ever" As we recall the eircum-
stances, one shave was enough to de-
stroy the edge of our blade, and after
that, while proper honing might have
restored its efficiency, it might have been
used few times as a can opener, but
we can conceive no subsequent use for
that razor except as an infants food
pusher. We have often wondered at the
purpose for which it was utilized by the
man to whom we frauduently sold it
for so cents, about a quarter of the orig
inal price, after we had badly sliced our
countenanee in a desperate effort to
achieve second shave with it.
A New York physician writes to his
paper: Il designed the first safety
razor more thar twenty-five years ago
and had a model made by knauth, the
Nassau Street cutler Among those tC
whom | exhibited my model and who
could see nothing in it, | would men.
ton firm of razor makers then located
at III William street, and now III the
Woolworth building. In fact | met will
so little encouragement from those sup
posed to know what was valuable to the
shaving public that | did not get my
idea patented
A Providence man who is an authority
on many of these matters of curious in
terest to antiquaTians declares that thu
first safety razor was undoubtedly tn
invention of the Brothers kampf OF
kempf Tor some such namel and wa.
manufactured in Brooklyn. 1t was about
1886 that this original safety razor wa.
! sold for the first time in any establish
ment i'll the world i'll Providence, Il. |.
The witness assails our suppositioi
that the first safety razor may have beer
"a crude safety device to be attached t
an old fashioned razor" and declares tina
it was an original invention. although thu
blade was like section of ordinary ra
zor, about an inch long. The safety de
vice, in general principle, was afterwar'
copied in attachments designed to be pu
on the ordinary razor.
1t Is also related that this origina
safety razor was making Indifferent
Roadway toward popularity when tn
late DIR. Oliver Wendell Holmes made
visit to Europe and some friend CAV
the old gentleman safety to use on ship
board He wrote about it enthusiastical
" in his Zone Hundred DAYS in Europe.
which first appeared serially in The At
lantic Monthly. and so the novelty 60
free advertising worth thousands OF dol
lars and began to catch the popular fancy
The BOOM however, was OF rattle
brief duration, for the new razor wa
, soon eclipsed by better devices. As
matter of historical interest there is
certain corroborative similarity in thes
: three bits of testimony. 1t seems to b
established, at least. that the first safe
ty razor was born in New York G
Broolllyn.-F H. Young in Proyidenc
Journal