A NEW OR IMPROVED METHOD OF AND APPARATUS OR APPLIANCES FOR SHAVING OR REMOVING HAIR FROM THE BEARD OR OTHER PART OR PARTS OF THE HUMAN BODY, APPLICABLE ALSO TO OTHER SHAVING OR CUTTING PURPOSES."
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Monks, of the City and County of
Gloucester, for the Invention of "A NEW OR IMPROVED METHOD OF
AND APPARATUS OR APPLIANCES FOR SHAVING OR REMOVING HAIR FROM THE
BEARD OR OTHER PART OR PARTS OF THE HUMAN BODY, APPLICABLE ALSO
TO OTHER SHAVING OR CUTTING PURPOSES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Monks at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
6th November 1874.
I, JOHN MONKS, of the City and County of Gloucester, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "A NEW OR IMPROVED METHOD
OF AND APPARATUS OR APPLIANCES FOR SHAVING OR REMOVING HAIR FROM THE
BEARD OR OTHER PART OR PARTS OF THE HUMAN BODY, APPLICABLE ALSO TO OTHER
SHAVING OR CUTTING Purposes,” to be as follows :—
The primary object of my Invention is to provide a safe and effectual
means for shaving the beard or removing hair from the face or from any
other part of the human body; at same time apparatus or appliances

page_text: constructed according to my Invention are applicable for the purpose
of removing hair or other matters from the bodies of animals, as well
as for shaving or removing hair or wool from skins and fibres, or other
extraneous matter from textile of felted fabrics.
•
The blade knife or cutting edge is carried in a frame, from which it
can be easily removed when required; it is kept in its place by a spring
clasp or other convenient means. The frame in which the cutting blade
is held is made in a piece with or secured to a blade or frame bent or
set at or nearly at right angles to the frame holding the cutting blade,
and this blade or frame acts as or forms a handle for the apparatus.
On and free to move over this blade or frame in guides provided for the
purpose there is a guard plate terminating at one end in rake-like pro-
jections or forks, which can be brought close up to the edge of the
cutting blade or be removed from it as required. This plate with rake
can be removed from the plate along which it slides at pleasure after
the cutting blade has been taken out of its frame. When the cutting
blade is in its frame the rake portion of the plate can be moved the
distance from the cutting blade to the frame, whatever that may be.
The rake portion of the guard may be made with the teeth close together
or far apart.
To use the apparatus I first slip on or in the guard plate or frame.
I then place the cutting blade, being first well sharpened, into its frame,
the guard frame with rake is finally pushed up to the cutting blade; the
apparatus is then ready for use. If to be used for shaving the beard
the face is lathered in the usual way (or the apparatus might be used
dry), the apparatus held by the hand is then drawn over the parts to
be shaved, when it will be found next to impossible to cut the face
or other parts over which it may be drawn; when required to remove
the lather or beard, or both, the apparatus is dipped or shaken in water
instead of being wiped, as an ordinary razor would.
To wipe or clean the apparatus, draw back the guard, remove the blade
and guard, and wipe or wash all the parts, when they are easily then
replaced in position.
To sharpen the blade, whether it is to be ground or stropped, I have
a handle with a socket at its end into which the blade is slipped; this
done, it has the appearance of a short knife blade with a long handle;
when properly sharpened the blade is removed from its handle with the
greatest facility.

page_text: The apparatus may be kept in a box or case containing strop, handle
for blades, place or spaces for blades, and rag or other material for
cleaning the apparatus, or such other articles as may be considered
useful for shaving or toilette purposes.
The cutting blade may be of any desired size, but I prefer to make it
when the apparatus is used for shaving the beard or other parts of the
human body of from one inch to one inch and a half, or thereabouts, in
length, although I do not, of course, limit myself to this size. When the
apparatus is used for other purposes than shaving the beard, the blade,
as well as the apparatus itself, may be made of any convenient size
suitable to the purpose for which it is intended to be used.
The blades may be forged, tempered, and ground down to the desired
size and shape, or they may be made of thin steel of "one uniform thick-
ness well tempered, and afterwards, any back, whether of brass or other
metal, may be fitted to same to act as a support; or the blades may be
made in a soft state with notches in same to hold the back, and sub-
sequently tempered, or they may be made in any other approved way.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Monks in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 6th May 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
MONKS, of the City and County of Gloucester, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of November, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the
thirty-eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said John Monks, Her special
licence that I, the said John Monks, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said John Monks, my executors, admi-
nistrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others,
from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term therein
expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend,
within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel
Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "A NEW OR IMPROVED METHOD
OF AND APPARATUS OR APPLIANCES FOR SHAVING OR REMOVING HAIR FROM THỊ

page_text: BEARD OR OTHER PART OR PARTS OF THE HUMAN BODY, APPLICABLE ALSO TO
OTHER SHAVING OR CUTTING PURPOSES," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said John Monks, my executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and
seals, should particularly describo and ascertain the nature of the said
Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and
cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Monks, do hereby declare ;
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings
and to the letters of reference marked thereon, that is to say :-
The primary object of this Invention is to provide means for shaving
'the beard or removing hair from the face or from any other part of the
human body. At the same time apparatus or appliances constructed
according to my Invention are applicable for the purpose of removing
hair or other matters from the bodies of animals, as well as for shaving
or removing hair or wool from skins or fibres, or other extraneous matter
from textile or felted fabrics.
The cutting blade is carried in a frame, from which it can be easily
removed when required; it is kept in its place by a spring clasp, or by
other convenient means. The frame in which the cutting blade is held
is made in a piece with or secured to a plate or frame bent or set at or
nearly at right angles to the frame holding the cutting blade, and this
plate or frame acts as or forms a handle for the apparatus. On and free
to move over this plate or frame in guides provided for the purpose there
is a guard plate terminating at one end in rake-like projections or forks,
which can be brought close up to the edge of the cutting blade or be
removed from it, as required. This guard plate can be removed from the
plate along which it slides at pleasure after the cutting blade has been
taken out of its frame.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings is a view in plan of a plate
of metal as it appears when stamped or cut out to form the frame of a
an apparatus or appliance to be made according to my Invention;
Figure 2 is a view in plan of the same piece of metal with the edges

page_text: turned over to form the frame; Figure 3 is an ond clevation, and
Figure 4 is a side elevation of the same frame.
Figure 5 is a plan, and Figure 6 is a section of the frame, with some
few additions thereto to provide means for holding the cutting blade in
same.
Figure 7 is a plan of the guard plate, which I call an interstitial
guard plate, as it appears when cut out of the metal.
Figure 8 is another plan, showing same plate with the rake-like pro-
jections bent up to form the interstitial guard plate; and Figure 9 is a
side view of same.
Figure 10 is a front, and Figure 11 is a side view of the cutting
blade.
Figure 12 is a plan of the top side, and Figure 13 is a plan of the
under side of the apparatus complete; and Figure 14 is a vertical
longitudinal section of same.
Figure 15 is an isometrical perspective view of one side of the 6.
apparatus, and Figure 16 is a similar view of the other side of the same
apparatus.
Similar letters of reference refer to like parts in all the figures.
a is the frame proper or handle portion of the apparatus; b is that
rigid portion thereof which forms the cutting blade carrier; c is the
cutting blade placed in carrier b, where it is held in a groove, see
Figures 6 and 14; d is a spring for retaining the cutting blade c in
position, and for holding it in its frame b; e, e, are the turned over
portions of the frame, which form grooves for the insterstitial guard
plate to slide in; f is the "interstitial" guard plate, the rake-like pro-
jections are shewn at Figures 9 and 14 set at the angle, which in practise
I have found to answer best, but the ribs, teeth, or rake-like projections
which form the intervals between the interstices of the interstitial guard
plate may be made as shown at f, Figure 9, or as shown at x, y, Figures
9, and of other shapes, and both the intervals and interstices of the
interstitial guard plate may be made either wider or narrower than
shewn, according to the purpose to which the apparatus is to be
applied.

page_text: in its proper position in frame 6; the interstitial guard plate f is then
pushed up to the cutting blade when the apparatus is ready for use.
For shaving the beard with this apparatus the face may be lathered in
the ordinary way, or the face may be shaved dry without the use of
lather. The apparatus held by the hand, as shown at Figure 17, is
drawn over the parts to be shaved, and it will be found next to im-
possible to cut the face or other parts over which it may be drawn.
To sharpen the blade, whether it is to be ground, set, or stropped, I
have a handle, as shewn in side elevation at Figures 18, and in end view
at Figure 19, with a socket at its end, into which the blade is placed; 1
this done, it has the appearance of a short knife blade with a long
handle, as shewn at Figure 20; when properly sharpened the blade is
removed from its handle with the greatest facility.
The cutting blade may be of any desired size, but I prefer to make
it, when the apparatus is used for shaving the beard or other parts of 1
the human body, of from one inch to one inch and a half, or thereabouts,
in length, although I do not, of course, limit myself to this size when the
apparatus is used for other purposes than shaving the beard. The blade,
as well as the apparatus itself, may be made of any convenient size
suitable to the purpose for which it is intended to be used.
The apparatus itself may be made of any suitable material, such as
of gold, silver, brass, copper, tin, or other metals, and be ornamented in
any way as fancy or taste may dictate.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I do not limit myself
to the precise shape or form of the apparatus or appliance described, as
modifications of the same may be made without in any way departing
from the essential features of the Invention, but I claim,―
First. The mounting or fixing of a cutting blade in or to a frame,
and so as to retain it securely in its proper position for the purpose of
shaving or removing hair from human or other bodies, substantially
as described and illustrated with reference to the accompanying
Drawings.
Second. The application to a cutting blade fixed in or to a frame of
an interstitial guard plate, the ribs, bars, teeth, or rake-like projections 8
of which are placed in contact, or nearly so, with the edge of the cutting

page_text: blade, and adjustable thereto, all substantially as described with reference
to the accompanying Drawings.
Third. The application and employment of my interstitial guard plate,
substantially as described, to razors or other cutting blades for the
purpose of shaving or removing hair from human or other bodies.
Fourth. The combination of a cutting blade fixed in or to a frame
with an interstitial guard plate, and the method of combining the same
together with the socket handle for sharpening the blade, and the modes
of action of such apparatus or appliances, all substantially in the manner
and for the purposes herein-before described, together with any mere
modifications thereof.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Monks, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this First day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five.