Patent ID: 7243576

Claim:
A method for manufacturing an inner cutter for a reciprocating electric shaver, said inner cutter being caused to make a reciprocating motion while a plurality of arch-shaped cutter blades disposed on said inner cutter are caused to make sliding contact with an inside surface of an arch-shaped outer cutter, said method comprising the ordered steps of: (a) press-stamping a flexible thin metal plate to obtain a thin metal plate element that has an outer contour of an unfolded shape of said inner cutter and a plurality of elongated openings that extend substantially perpendicular to a direction of a reciprocating motion of said inner cutter, thus forming a plurality of substantially straight bridging-portions between said plurality of elongated openings; (b) pressing said plurality of bridging-portions of said press-stamped thin metal plate element so that each of said plurality of bridging-portions has a final sectional shape of each of said cutter blades in a direction substantially parallel to a plane surface of said thin metal plate element; (c) twisting each of said plurality of bridging-portions while said thin metal plate element lies in said plane surface so that cutter surfaces of said cutter blades are aligned substantially to said plane surface of said thin metal plate element; (d) forming said thin metal plate element into substantially an arch shape with said cutter surfaces of said cutter blades facing outward; and (e) executing finishing-work on an outer circumferential surface of said arch-shaped thin metal plate element.