Patent ID: 8033894

Claim:
A device for sharpening razor blades, comprising, a housing having an upper casing and a lower casing defining an interior space, the upper casing having an opening, and a lid to cover the opening, a reciprocating carriage disposed in the lower casing below the opening for receiving a razor blade unit containing a razor blade with a shaving edge facing downward, a sharpening wheel coated on its outer circumference with an abrasive material, the sharpening wheel being fixedly disposed in the lower casing beneath the reciprocating carriage for rotation around an axis simultaneously with the reciprocating carriage, a mechanism to reciprocate the carriage, a mechanism to rotate the sharpening wheel, a power supply to operate the reciprocating and rotating mechanisms, a switch to activate the device to reciprocate the carriage and rotate the sharpening wheel simultaneously, wherein when the razor blade unit with the razor blade is inserted through the opening into the carriage and power is turned on by the switch, the sharpening wheel rotates and the carriage holding the razor blade reciprocates at the same time, with the shaving edge of the razor blade traversing the abrasive material on the outer circumference of the rotating sharpening wheel as the carriage moves in one direction thereby evenly sharpening the shaving edge of the razor blade, and when the carriage reciprocates in the other direction, the abrasive material on the rotating sharpening wheel re-contacts the razor blade to clean the razor blade of shaving residue.