AN APPARATUS FOR SHAVING, WHICH I DENOMINATE THE USEFUL AND ELEGANT FACILITATOR
Year: 1824

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
RYALLS, of Sheffield, in the County of York, Warehouseman, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty did, by His Letters Patent under
the Great Seal of that part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland called England, bearing date at Westminster, the Eighth day of April,
One thousand eight hundred and twenty-four, in the fifth year of His reign,
give and grant unto me, the said Thomas Ryalls, my exors, admors, and
assigns, His special licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I,
the said Thomas Ryalls, my exors, adññiors, and assigns, during the term of
years therein mentioned, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my
Invention of "AN APPARATUS FOR SHAVING, WHICH I DENOMINATE THE USEFUL
AND ELEGANT FACILITATOR;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained.
a proviso that if I, the said Thomas Ryalls, shall not particularly describe
and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the.
same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
seal, and cause the same to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of
Chancery within two calendar months next and immediately after the date of
the said Letters Patent, that then the said Letters Patent, and all liberties
and advantages whatsoever thereby granted, shall utterly cease, determine, and
become void, as in and by the same, relation being thereunto had, will more
fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in. compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Thomas Ryalls, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly de-
scribed and ascertained in the following description thereof (that is to say) :-
The advantages
I hereby describe my Invention of the "Useful and Elegant Facilitator," as
now improved and perfected; it consists of one or more razors and a buff or strop
contained in a case, together with a little book describing the advantages, &c.
of the Facilitator. The peculiar merits of the razors and buff (for which this
Patent has been granted) are, that the first possesses a metalic slide, moveable
backwards or forwards at pleasure along the back of the razor. The Drawings
hereunto annexed will fully shew its nature and use.
attending it are that it affords the opportunity of regulating with facility
at all times the' degree of tightness with which the blade of the razor is held
by the scales; it moreover prevents the scales from warping and catching
the fine edge of the blade in shutting, which the common razors are very
apt to do. It likewise. keeps the scales from working loose on or from the
pins and rivets at either end. The peculiar merits of the buff or strop are, that
they are not only much more efficacious than all others, but they are so far
'from being subject to get the worse for wear that the more they are used (even
for fifty years) the better they will become. All buffs or strops covered with
mineral or metalic compositions are not only liable from the first to injure
the razor, but they soon become totally useless. My buff or strop is simply
a slip of the best buff leather, about the length of the razor, and about an
inch broad. It is slightly rubbed over on one side with a composition of
fine oil and pure virgin wax (but little of the latter). The leather is then
hammered upon an iron anvil, so as to drive the composition into the
leather, and at the same time (by closing the pores) render it smoother.
The leather is then fastened with glue upon one side of a thin slip of wood
of the same size, the other side of which is covered with fine woollen cloth,
for the purpose of cleaning the razor blade upon before it is stropped. The
Buff or strop is made to open and shut between two scales (which serve for
a handle and to keep it clean) like a razor.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
No. 1 is the razor seen in front. A is a flute or rib worked on the back
edge of each scale. This rib, the metal slide is made to clasp, as seen in
No. 3, and along which it slides backwards or forwards. No. 2 is the razor
back. It will here be perceived that the two scales of the razor are both of
the same thickness, and the same from one end to the other, but that they

page_text: are farther from each other at B than at C; so that the nearer the slide is
pushed towards the end B, the firmer and tighter it will press the blade
at B. No. 3 is a section of the razor and the slide. By this it will be
clearly seen how the slide fits and slides upon the scales of the razor.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Ryalls, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of May, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and twenty-four.