CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF RAZORS FOR SHAVING
Year: 1847

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
S. HENSON, of No. 27, New City Chambers, in the City of London, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Seventeenth day of July, in the
eleventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said William S. Henson,. Her especial licence that
I, the said William S. Henson, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or to such others as I, the said William S. Henson, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from
time to time and at all times during the term of years therein expressed,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England,
Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and also within all Her
Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, my Invention of " CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF RAZORS FOR SHAVING;" in which said
Letters Patent there is contained a proviso obliging me, the said William S.
Henson, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, particularly
to describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the same to be enrolled
in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months
next and immediately after the date of the said recited Letters Patent, as in
and by the same, reference 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
William S. Henson, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are described and
ascertained by the Drawing in the margin hereof, and the words following,
that is to say :-
My Invention consists of Certain Improvements in the Construction of
Razors for Shaving, the important feature of novelty being in attaching a
comb tooth guard or protector, to the ordinary razor used for shaving. This
guard or protector is placed in close proximity to the cutting edge of the razor
in such a manner as to prevent the possibility of the person shaving to cut
himself or herself. Another important feature is, that the guard or protector
can be attached or detached at pleasure.
In order to render the Invention more intelligible, I have attached to these
Presents one Sheet of Drawings, and have delineated the razors and comb
tooth guards or protectors in their several shapes and forms, shewing the manner
in which the comb tooth guards or protectors are attached to and detached
from the razor blades.
Figure 1 is a side view of the razor, with the comb tooth guard or protector
attached, marked B, B. Figure 2 is a side view, without the comb tooth
guard or protector. Figure 3 is a front view of the guard or protector.
Figure 4 is a plan of the same, shewing the form of the slot or opening in the
back of the guard, as marked (a²), to receive the pin on the back edge of the
razor, marked (61), being the mode of fastening the guard or protector to the
razor blade.
The before-named Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4 represent the whole of my
Invention as connected with my improvements on the ordinary razor.
Figure 5 represents the side elevation of a razor of another form, the
cutting blade of which is at right angles with the handle, and resembles
somewhat the form of a common hoe. A, A, the handle; B, B, the comb
tooth guard or protector; C, C, the cutting blade.
. "
Figure 6 represents the handle and comb tooth guard or protector without
the cutting blade, shewing the manner in which the cutting blade is fastened
to the guard or protector by the screw on the end of the handle, as marked D.
Figure 7 represents a plan of the razor and comb tooth guard or protector.
Figure 8 is a reverse view of Figure 7, shewing the projection of the comb
teeth of the guard or protector below the cutting edge of the razor.
I do not claim as new the use or adaptation of a guard or protector to the
ordinary razor for the purpose of preventing the person shaving cutting him-
self; but what I do claim as of my Invention is,―

page_text: Firstly, the comb tooth guard or protector, as adapted to the common razor,
as is fully shewn in Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4; and,
Secondly, the new form of razor, as represented in Figures 5, 6, and 7, with
the comb tooth guard or protector in combination, all of which is shewn on the
Drawings attached, and described in this Specification.
In witness whereof, I, the said William S. Henson, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Tenth day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-eight.
WILLIAM S. HENSON. (L.S.)
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Tenth day of January, in the
eleventh year of the reign of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, the said William S.
Henson came before our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknow-
ledged the Instrument aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained
and specified, in form above written. And also the Instrument aforesaid
was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made in the fifty-fifth year
of the reign of His late Majesty King George the Third.
Inrolled the Fifteenth day of January, One thousand eight hundred
and forty-eight.