CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS ON RAZORS
Year: 1804

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD
GREAVES, of Sheffield, in the County of York, Razor Manufacturer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS His present Majesty King George the Third, by His Letters
Patent, under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland bearing date at Westminster, the Fourth day of August now last past,
hath given and granted unto me, the said Edward Greaves, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, special licence, full power, sole privilege and
authority, to make, use, exercise, and vend, within that part of the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England, Wales, and Town
of Berwick-upon-Tweed, during the term of years therein expressed, niy
Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS ON RAZORS;" in which said Letters
Patent is contained a proviso obliging me, the said Edward Greaves, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, to cause a particular descrip-
tion of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within one
calendar month next after the date of the said recited Letters Patent, as in and
by the same (relation being thereunto had) more fully and at large appears.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Edward Greaves, in compliance with
the said proviso, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly described and
ascertained in the above Drawings, Sections, Plans, or Plates, and the follow-
ing description thereof (that is to say):
Plate 1, Figure 1, represents the razor with the spring and catch. a is the

page_text: blade; h, the handle; b, the catch; and i is the spring. A pin passes
through the hole of the catch at b, and is rivetted in the handle h. Upon
this pin as a centre the catch bis moveable; also the spring i presses against
the catch at g, by which means the return end thereof is pressed in the
notch f. In this Figure the razor is represented as shutt, and is kept so by
the pressure of the spring i against the end g of the catch b.
Figure 2 shows the blade a, with the notches c, d, e, and f, and also the
catch 6, together with part of the handle h; and the razor in this Figure is
represented without the spring, and the catch not in use.
Figure 8. In this Draught is shewn .the blade, the handle, the catch, and
the spring; the razor is represented in the position in which it is generally
used. In this position the catch 6 secures the blade a by the pressure of
the spring i against the end g of the catch b.
Plate 2, Figure 1, represents the handle a and the blade b, also the spring.
c, d, e, f, g, h, and i are holes in the blade tang; and m are hollows in the
tang, in which the pin n of the the spring c slides when in contact with the
tang of the blade.
In Figure 2 is shewn the blade b, so situated (with respect to the handle)
that the pin n of the spring c is in the hole f. In Figure 3 is seen the
pin n in the hole d.
Figure 4 shews the pin n of the spring c in the hole i. In the positions
of Figure 2, and Figure 8, the blade is secured in those positions by the pin n
of the spring c in the hole f, in Figuro 2, and in the hole d in Figure 3.
Also the blade is shown in Figure 4, (where the blade is represented as shut in
the handle); the pin n secures it in that situation by being in the hole i.
Figure 5 is the profile view of a razor, in which the blade may be secured in
any position (with respect to the handle) by means of a screw and a nut. The
head of the screw is denoted by the letter o.
Figure 6. shews the handle, &c. of the razor viewed edgeways. In this
representation q is the rivet at the end of the handle, and r is the rivet passing
through the tang at the other end; s is the screw, and t is the nutt. In this
Figure at p is shewn the nut and the screw in use.
Figure 7 is is a spring which may be substituted for the spring c in Figure 1.
Figure 8 is a section of the spring in Figure 7. x is a pin passing through
the slit in Figure 7 to prevent the spring rising above the surface of the
handle, and the slit in Figure 7 allows a motion in that spring. At u a pin
passes through the hole and the handle, and a person, by pressing upon the
projecting piece at w, will raise the pin out of the hole in the tang of the
blade.

page_text: Figure 10 is a similar spring, in two pieces, the coloured part denoting onc
piece, and the dotted line denoting the other.
Figure 9 is the same in section, where the spring presses against the
other at &; the latter being secured, prevents the pin y leaving the hole in
the tang of the blade, therefore if you press upon the piece at &, the pin at
y is raised.
My Invention is not confined to any particular kinds of razors, the improve-
ments being applicable to all; neither is it confined to any particular number
of notches on the back of the tang, but may be made with one, two, three, or
more, as may be required or fancy suggest; nor is it confined to the exact
shape or form of the springs, as it must evidently apper to every intelligent
workman that the same may be varied without departing either from the
particular or general principle of any of the improvements above set forth and
shewn in my said Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Greaves, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fourth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and four, and in the forty-fourth year of
the reign of King George the Third
Inrolled the same Fourth day of September, in the year above written.