Gaston County Museum Gaston County Museum Object of the Week On December 3rd 1901 the Safety Blade was first patented. The first safety razor was actually designed towards the end of the 1700’s by Jean-Jacques Perret, a Frenchman. Throughout the 1800’s razors were continually being developed, particularly in England and Germany. However, in 1901, King Camp Gillette, a salesman from Wisconsin, patented the first razor with disposable blades. Before this, men had to shave with a straight edge razor, which was kept sharp by using a leather strap. Nicks to the skin were a lot more common! This innovation came at a great time, as by the turn of the century the clean- shaven look was coming back into fashion, particularly for the younger generations. The new razors had a guard that prevented the blade from cutting the skin and could be disposed of afterwards. During the First World War, Gillette provided safety razors to every man who had enlisted, as part of their standard- issue belongings. So by 1918 3.5 million razors were being used by the military.

This particular razor in our collection is from the early 1900’s. There is the reusable razor handle and the packet of disposable blades. This Day in Wisconsin History | Wisconsin Historical Society This Day in Wisconsin History On This Day: January 5 1813 - Utopian Community Leader Warren Chase Born On this date the founder of a Fourierite Utopian community in what is now Ripon was born. Their inspiration came from the writings of Charles Fourier, a French Socialist who urged the rebuilding of society from its foundation as the only cure for economic ills such as the depression of 1837. The idea was supported by Horace Greely in New York and caught the eye of Warren Chase . Chase and others built a successful, non-religous communal society in which everyone recieved wages according to their skill, need, and work ethic. The community reached their greatest population (180) in 1845 but soon dissipated when members began moving toward agriculture as an economic tool. Families gradually left the community to live in their own houses and work their own land in the same area.

In 1850, theï¿½community disbanded and $40,000 in assets was divided among the remaining members. Warren Chase moved around the country and finally settled in California, where he held many public offices. [Source: Wisconsin Saints and Sinners by Fred L. Holmes, p. 94-104] 1835 - Olympia Brown Born On this date Olympia Brown , a well-known suffragist and the first woman ordained a minister in the U.S., was born in Kalamazoo County, Michigan. In 1878, Reverend Brown moved to Racine to become minister of the Universalist Church of the Good Shepherd. After nine years there, she resigned to work primarily in the women's movement, though she served as minister in several Wisconsin towns: Mukwonago, Columbus and Neenah. She continued her activism for women's rights , and wasï¿½president of the Wisconsin Woman Suffrage Association for 28 years. She helped found the Federal Suffrage Association (1892) which became the Federal Equality Association (1902).

[Source: Famous Wisconsin Women Volume III by Women's Auxiliary, State Historical Society of Wisconsin] 1838 - Canal Chartered On this date the Milwaukee and Rock River Canal was chartered under Byron Kilbourn in 1838. Territorial governor Henry Dodge signed the doomed legislation.ï¿½ The enterprise was poorly managed and ended in failure after only a short stretch had been dug. [Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel] 1855 - King Camp Gillette Born On this date King Camp Gillette was born in Fond du Lac. He worked for many years as a traveling salesman. After much experimentation, he developed a disposable steel blade and razor. He established the Gillette Safety Razor Company in 1901. Sales for his product skyrocketed. Gillette remained president of his company until 1931 and was a director until his death the following year. [Source: Lemelson-MIT Program ] 1864 - (Civil War) Skirmish at Lawrence Mills, Tennessee The 1st Wisconsin Cavalry fought in a skirmish at Lawrence Mills, Tennessee. 1923 - William H. Collins Dies On this date prominent Wisconsin lumberman William H. Collins died.

Collins founded and served as president of the Collins Brothers Lumber Company and the Ellefson Lumber Company, which controlled eleven lumberyards throughout the state. He was directly involved in much of Madison's commercial and civic growth in the late 19th century. He served as director of the Bank of Wisconsin and owned coal yards and virgin timber in both Michigan and Wisconsin. [Source: Bishops to Bootleggers: A Biographical Guide to Resurrection Cemetery, p.49] 1938 - Anna Carrier McSpaden Blaine Dies On this date Anna Carrier McSpaden Blaine, wife of Governor John J. Blaine, died in Boscobel. She was born on August 18, 1875, in Boscobel.ï¿½ She attended UW-Madison from 1895-1896, and Platteville Normal School, andï¿½later she taught elementary school in La Crosse, West Bend, and Boscobel. She met her future husband while he was mayor of Boscobel. She married John J. Blaine on August 23, 1904 in Boscobel.

Anna Blaine served as first lady of Wisconsin from 1921 to 1927. She was a devoted supporter of the Woman Suffrage movement, campaigning for the cause throughout Wisconsin with Belle Case La Follette. She also took an active role in her husband's political career, campaigning for his re-election and various political causes. She maintained an in-depth understanding of politics and issues, and sought election to the state senate after her husband's death in 1936. She won the Progressive party's nomination for the 16th district but was defeated in the general election. Anna Carrier McSpaden Blaine died of pneumonia in 1938. She is buried beside her husband in Boscobel. [Source: First Ladies of Wisconsin-The Governors' Wives by Nancy G. Williams, p.141] . The Histories of Best Known Razors and Shavers By Mary Bellis Updated August 04, 2016. Men have been slaves to their facial hair – trimming it or getting rid of it entirely – pretty much since they first walked upright. A couple of inventors have made the process easier over the years and their razors and shavers are still widely used today.

Gillette® Razors Patent No. 775,134 was granted to King C. Gillette for a “safety razor” on November 15, 1904. King Camp Gillette was born in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin in 1855 and became a traveling salesman to support himself after his family’s home was destroyed in the Chicago Fire of 1871. This work led him to William Painter, the inventor of the disposable Crown Cork bottle cap. Painter told Gillette that a successful invention was one that was purchased over and over again by satisfied customers, and Gillette took this advice to heart. After several years of considering and rejecting possible inventions, Gillette suddenly had a brilliant idea while shaving one morning in 1895. An entirely new razor flashed in his mind—one with a safe, inexpensive and disposable blade. American men would no longer have to regularly send their razors out for sharpening. They could toss out their old blades and reapply new ones. Gillette’s invention would fit neatly in the hand, minimizing cuts and nicks. It was genius, but it took another six years for Gillette’s idea to reach fruition.

Technical experts told Gillette that it was impossible to produce steel that was hard enough, thin enough and inexpensive enough for commercial development of the disposable razor blade. Then MIT graduate William Nickerson agreed to try in 1901. By 1903, Nickerson had succeeded. Production of the Gillette® safety razor and blade began when the Gillette Safety Razor Company began operations in South Boston. Sales grew steadily. The U.S. government issued Gillette safety razors to the entire armed forces during World War I, and some 3.5 million razors and 32 million blades were put into military hands. An entire nation was converted to the Gillette® safety razor by the end of the war. Gillette began sponsoring international sporting events in the 1970s, including the Gillette Cricket Cup, the FIFA World Cup and Formula One racing. Schick® Razors Inventive U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel Jacob Schick first conceived of the electric razor that initially bore his name in 1921. Colonel Schick patented the first such razor in November 1928 after deciding that a dry shave was the way to go. The Magazine Repeating Razor Company was born.

Schick subsequently sold his interest in the company to American Chain and Cable who continued to sell the razor until 1945. AC&C introduced the Schick Injector Razor in 1935 for which Schick held the patent. The Eversharp Company ultimately bought the rights to the razor in 1946. The Magazine Repeating Razor Company became the Schick Safety Razor Company, using the same razor concept to launch a similar product for women in 1947. Teflon-coated stainless steel blades were introduced in 1963 for a smoother shave. All the while, Eversharp slid its own name in on the product, sometimes in conjunction with the Schick logo and finally on its own before going back to Schick in 1965. King Camp Gillette Biography (Business Personality/Inventor) Birthplace: Fond du Lac, Wisconsin Best known as: Inventor of the disposable safety razor King Camp Gillette was an American salesman and inventor who introduced the disposable safety razor in the first years of the 20th century. Raised in the Chicago area, he spent his early career as a traveling salesman.

In the late 1890s he was inspired to create a disposable shaving razor, partly out of personal interest and partly out of a desire to create a product consumers could dispose of before buying another one. He teamed with a machinist-inventor named William Nickerson, and in 1901 Gillette formed American Safety Razor, which was soon changed to Gillette Safety Razor. Awarded a patent in 1904, Gillette's business was so successful he effectively retired in 1910, while keeping a figurehead position with the Gillette company. After leaving the business world, Gillette turned his attention to planting the seeds for a socialist utopia, writing books and spending money to advocate a "world corporation" that would supercede an international system based on national borders. Copyright © 1998-2017 by Who2?, LLC. All rights reserved. King Gillette facts, information, pictures | Encyclopedia.com articles about King Gillette COPYRIGHT 2004 The Gale Group Inc. King Camp Gillette Prior to the beginning of the twentieth century, shaving was a nuisance, and sometimes even dangerous.

That changed when King Camp Gillette (1855-1932) founded the Gillette Safety Razor Company in 1901 and began selling his safety razors with disposable blades two years later. In his book The Man and His Wonderful Shaving Device—King C. Gillette, biographer Russell B. Adams, Jr. noted, "King C. Gillette had thought he might be remembered as one of history's social and economic reformers. Instead, he is recalled as the inventor of the safety razor, with its disposable blade and as the founder of the major American corporation that bears his name." One hundred years later, the Gillette Company and its name are known world-wide, and razors remain a necessary tool for maintaining personal grooming. Early Life King Camp Gillette was born in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, on January 5, 1855, the son of George Wolcott Gillette and Fanny Lemira Camp. He was the youngest of three sons, and also had two sisters.

Biographer Adams wrote, "His royal first name honored a Judge King who was a friend of George Gillette's." Adams described Gillette's father as "a sometime postmaster, weekly-newspaper editor, and inventive thinker," and his mother as "serene" but also a "stern disciplinarian, always in control of her household." Adams asserted, "It was probably under her influence that King Gillette developed his lifelong belief in efficiency, and his hatred for wasting time." The Gillette family moved to Chicago, Illinois, and young Gillette was raised and educated there. Adams wrote, "The Gillette boys were encouraged to work with their hands, to figure out how things work and how they might be made to work better." In October of 1871, a fire devastated the city of Chicago. Gillette's father lost everything, and decided to move his family to New York City. Adams noted that the 17-year-old Gillette stayed in Chicago and clerked for a wholesale hardware company. Two years later, he took a position in New York City. He then moved to a Kansas City, Missouri company, who promoted him to a traveling salesman position when he was 21-years-old.

Gillette the Salesman For the next 20 years, Gillette worked in a succession of jobs, and became a prosperous and successful traveling salesman. He enjoyed "tinkering" and tried to invent new products, often without success. Gillette was also an avid reader and had strong political views. He wanted to see radical changes in the social and economic systems of the United States. In 1890, Gillette married Atlanta Ella Gaines (nicknamed Lantie), who was the daughter of an Ohio oilman. They would have one son, King Gaines Gillette, nicknamed Kingie, but called "Babe" by his father. Gillette joined the Baltimore Seal Company as the salesman for New England and New York. Not long after, Gillette joined the company, its president, William Painter, invented an improved stopper, a crown bottle cap that would crimp over a bottle top. The stopper became the standard in the bottling industry, and Painter changed the company's name to Crown Cork and Seal Company.

Gillette and Painter had a close personal and business relationship, and Adams described them as "kindred inventive spirits." Adams recounted that in 1891, Gillette and Painter had a very important conversation; Painter encouraged him to begin working on a product that would be thrown away after its use, which would keep consumers coming back for more of the product. Adams continued, "Gillette did think about it. Indeed, he confessed later that Painter's words became an obsession with him." In the 1890s, Gillette was a very busy man. He had a family to care for. He had dreams of a utopian (perfect and ideal) society. He also continued to work on his invention. By the time he first conceived of the idea that would change his life in 1895, Gillette was already well known in radical political circles. Perhaps motivated by his mother who, after 35 years of collecting and testing recipes and household tips, had written the best-selling White House Cookbook, Gillette was determined to complete his book of ideas and political views. In 1894, Gillette finished The Human Drift, a manifesto of his utopian world.

However Gillette's political views and visions would never equal the success of his invention, which was about to become the most important idea in his life. The Salesman Became an Inventor History shows that men have been shaving since ancient times. Cave paintings show that sharp objects were used as razors. Gold and copper razors have been found in Egyptian tombs. In the 1700s, the steel straightedge razor was created in England, yet shaving with this sharp, unprotected blade was a dangerous procedure. Others tried to invent better and safer instruments, but the old straightedge razor remained in use until Gillette's disposable blade in 1901.

As recounted by Adams, "One early spring morning while in the midst of shaving, his face well slathered with warm soap, he [Gillette] had conceived the disposable razor blade." That same day, Adams continued, Gillette rushed to a hardware store and "bought steel ribbon, some pieces of brass, files, and a small vise, and began making a model of his brainchild." Adams added that Gillette then wrote a letter to his wife, who was visiting her family in Ohio and stated, "I have got it; our fortune is made." Gillette set high goals for himself. Adams wrote that he planned "to build first a better world and then a better razor blade." He struggled to achieve both his goals over the new few years. On August 11, 1899, Adams noted, "he filed for the first patent on the device he conceived four summers earlier, calling it 'new in the art of razor manufacture and use."' In the meantime, technical experts told Gillette that it was impossible to produce steel hard, thin, and cheap enough to make disposable blades. Gillette was not dissuaded. His luck changed in early 1900.

Through mutual business associates, Gillette met William Emery Nickerson, a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Adams described Nickerson as a "clever inventor but not much of a businessman" but added that he "was known for taking a small idea and making it reality." Nickerson agreed to work on the project. According to Adams, the two men clashed along the way. They disagreed about what to name the company. The Gillette Safety Razor Company was organized in September of 1901, and Gillette was named president. Adams reflected, "If Gillette was a king, he was without a real kingdom, for his top-lofty title as president of the Gillette Safety Razor company was only in name." The company still did not have a product to sell. By 1903, Nickerson had developed the necessary design and machinery to produce the razor blades, while Gillette had secured the necessary financial backing. The next dilemma was what to name the product.

As noted on the "King Camp Gillette" section of the Engines of Our Ingenuity website, Gillette believed "if they called a razor blade a Nickerson, that was too suggestive of nicked skin." In the end, Gillette's name was put on the product. The razor would prove to be an instant success. The Gillette Safety Razor Company By the end of his second year in business, Adams noted, Gillette had produced 90,000 razors and 12,400,000 blades. The disposable razor was a huge success, and sales grew quickly. Gillette became one of the best known men in the world, Adams added, as his photo was printed on billions of blade wrappers. Men who used the product highly recommended it and appreciated what it did. Adams noted that one user wrote, "The razor gives you a clean, smooth shave that makes your face as soft as velvet." Another user wrote that his Gillette razor cut his shaving time from 20 to 5 minutes. Despite this glowing praise, there was trouble at the top. The two principal owners of the company were John Joyce and Gillette. They frequently clashed.

Gillette disagreed with Joyce's proposal to sell overseas rights to the razor. For a time, Adams noted, Gillette resigned as president and went to England. It was perhaps ironic Adams wrote, that "World War I, proved to be a boon for the Gillette Safety Razor Company." By the end of 1917, all recruits were given Gillette shaving equipment, along with their uniforms and weapons. In an article on the Fortune magazine website, Christine Chen and Tim Carvell added "During World War I, Gillette supplied 3.5 million razors and 36 million blades to U.S. soldiers, creating a base of customers who kept coming back for refills long after the Treaty of Versailles." Gillette was a wealthy man and the company prospered. In 1926, to commemorate the company's 25th anniversary, Gillette wrote (as cited on the Gillette Company website) of the company's flagship product, the safety razor, "There is no other article for individual use so universally known or widely distributed.

In my travels, I have found it in the most northern town in Norway and in the heart of the Sahara Desert." The Social Reformer As noted in the internet article Gillette, Ideal City Proposal, "Before perfecting his invention of the safety razor and founding what became a major American industrial and sales enterprise, Gillette authored several books and pamphlets calling for radical changes in the country's economic and social system." After Gillette retired from active participation in his company in 1913, (remaining president until 1931), he shifted his focus to writing books, in which he publicized his views on utopian socialism. In addition to The Human Drift (1894), Gillette's books included The Ballot Box (1897), World Corporation (1910), and The People's Corporation (1924). His views were also discussed in two other books, Gillette's Social Redemption (1907) and Gillette's Industrial Solution (1908), written by Melvin L. Severy.

According to the "King Camp Gillette" section of the Engines of Our Ingenuity website, prior to World War I, Gillette envisioned his "World Corporation" in the Arizona Territory, with former U.S. President Teddy Roosevelt serving as its leader. Roosevelt wasn't interested, so he subsequently turned to social reformer and writer Sinclair Lewis and auto maker Henry Ford, to no avail. That essentially ended the vision of a "World Corporation." Gillette also imagined, Adams recounted, a "Utopian city", a "Metropolis," which would be located near Niagara Falls for maximum efficiency and water supply. The population would live in huge apartment buildings and house millions of people. Mundane day-to-day tasks would be minimal because of the housing set-up. There would be "universal cooperation" Adams noted, and no economic competition. Although some of Gillette's ideas, such as government-provided work for the unemployed, have been realized, his plans for a "World Corporation" and "Metrpolis" did not become a reality.

Adams concluded, "The world was more interested in the clean, close, safe shaves that Gillette's razors gave, than in his philosophy, so his curious economic and political notions have been all but forgotten." Retirement and Later Years Gillette had other interests to keep him busy in his later years. He had become wealthy from real estate interests in southern California. Adams added that in the late 1920s, Gillette was an enthusiastic supporter of President Herbert Hoover and his ideas. In April of 1931, Gillette resigned as president of the company that bore his name, citing his age and declining health. A little over a year later, on July 9, 1932, with his wife and son by his side, Gillette died in Los Angeles. He is remembered chiefly for his important invention. Biographer Adams concluded, "The Gillette Company, beginning with the first safety razor with disposable blades, has been a part of daily life in America and much of the rest of the world for more than three-quarters of a century." Books Adams, Russell B. Jr., The Man and His Wonderful Shaving Device—King C.

Gillette, Little, Brown and Company, 1978. Gale Encyclopedia of U.S. Economic History. Gale Group, 1999. World of Invention, Gale Research, 1994. Online Gale Encyclopedia of U.S. Economic History COPYRIGHT 2000 The Gale Group Inc. GILLETTE, KING CAMP Before the beginning of the 1900s, when the only means of shaving a beard was the straight razor, shaving was a nuisance and even dangerous. That changed, however, in 1903, when the disposable razor made its debut. No one has done more to alter the face of men's fashions than King Camp Gillette (1855–1932), inventor of the disposable razor. Gillette was born in Fon du Lac, Wisconsin, on January 5, 1855, and raised in Chicago, Illinois. His family lost everything in the Chicago Fire of 1871, and he was forced to go to work. For the next 20 years Gillette worked in a succession of jobs ranging from traveling salesman to hardware store employee.

A turning point came in 1891, when Gillette's current employer, William Painter, the inventor of the crown bottle cap, encouraged him to begin working on a product that would be thrown away after its use, thereby keeping consumers returning for more. It took Gillette four years to come up with his invention. Seeing the need for a better way to shave, Gillette took the straight razor and improved upon it. He created a razor that housed a double-edged, thin metallic blade between two metal plates, which were then attached to a T-shaped handle. A crude first version of the razor was ready by 1895, but early proposals for the product met with skepticism. Nevertheless, he pushed on with the manufacturing of the razor, founding the Gillette Safety Razor Company, later renamed the Gillette Company, in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1901. In 1903 the company's first sale consisted of only 51 razors and 168 blades, but the razor was an instant success. Gillette went on to produce 90,000 razors and 12,400,000 blades by the end of his second year in business.

The disposable razor was such a sweeping success that sales quickly grew into the millions. Beards, once common on men, were soon on the decline as it became increasingly fashionable for men to be seen well shaven. Even though he retired in 1913 and moved to Los Angeles, Gillette remained president of his company until 1931. Although he continued to function as director, he shifted his focus to writing books; in these pages, he publicized his views on utopian socialism. Gillette believed that competition was a waste of time and resources. Instead he proposed that society should be restructured to adopt a system in which engineers plan out and organize all economic efforts. His views were similar to those expressed by Edward Bellamy, who envisioned a system based on the sharing of domestic functions within huge residential units, the planned utilization of advanced technology, and the organization of labor into efficient production groups. Although such views were never widely popular, Gillette did live to see his once small business expand into an enormous and successful company. Gillette died in Los Angeles on July 9, 1932.

See also: Chicago Fire of 1871, Gillette Company, Utopian Communities FURTHER READING Adams, Russell B. King C. Gillette, The Man and His Wonderful Shaving Device. Boston: Little, Brown, c1978. The Encyclopaedia Britannica. Chicago, IL: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc., 1994, s.v. "Gillette, King Camp." "Gillette, King C(amp)" [cited on June 30, 1999], available on the World Wide Web @ search.biography.com/. Gillette, King Camp. World Corporation. Boston: New England News, c1910. Webster's American Biographies. Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, Inc., 1984, s.v. "Gillette, King Camp." Cite this article King Camp Gillette Facts ADD TO WORD LIST King Camp Gillette Facts Prior to the beginning of the twentieth century, shaving was a nuisance, and sometimes even dangerous.

That changed when King Camp Gillette (1855-1932) founded the Gillette Safety Razor Company in 1901 and began selling his safety razors with disposable blades two years later. In his book The Man and His Wonderful Shaving Device—King C. Gillette, biographer Russell B. Adams, Jr. noted, "King C. Gillette had thought he might be remembered as one of history's social and economic reformers. Instead, he is recalled as the inventor of the safety razor, with its disposable blade and as the founder of the major American corporation that bears his name." One hundred years later, the Gillette Company and its name are known world-wide, and razors remain a necessary tool for maintaining personal grooming. Early Life King Camp Gillette was born in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, on January 5, 1855, the son of George Wolcott Gillette and Fanny Lemira Camp. He was the youngest of three sons, and also had two sisters.

Biographer Adams wrote, "His royal first name honored a Judge King who was a friend of George Gillette's." Adams described Gillette's father as "a sometime postmaster, weekly-newspaper editor, and inventive thinker," and his mother as "serene" but also a "stern disciplinarian, always in control of her household." Adams asserted, "It was probably under her influence that King Gillette developed his lifelong belief in efficiency, and his hatred for wasting time." The Gillette family moved to Chicago, Illinois, and young Gillette was raised and educated there. Adams wrote, "The Gillette boys were encouraged to work with their hands, to figure out how things work and how they might be made to work better." In October of 1871, a fire devastated the city of Chicago. Gillette's father lost everything, and decided to move his family to New York City. Adams noted that the 17-year-old Gillette stayed in Chicago and clerked for a wholesale hardware company. Two years later, he took a position in New York City. He then moved to a Kansas City, Missouri company, who promoted him to a traveling salesman position when he was 21-years-old.

Gillette the Salesman For the next 20 years, Gillette worked in a succession of jobs, and became a prosperous and successful traveling salesman. He enjoyed "tinkering" and tried to invent new products, often without success. Gillette was also an avid reader and had strong political views. He wanted to see radical changes in the social and economic systems of the United States. In 1890, Gillette married Atlanta Ella Gaines (nicknamed Lantie), who was the daughter of an Ohio oilman. They would have one son, King Gaines Gillette, nicknamed Kingie, but called "Babe" by his father. Gillette joined the Baltimore Seal Company as the salesman for New England and New York. Not long after, Gillette joined the company, its president, William Painter, invented an improved stopper, a crown bottle cap that would crimp over a bottle top. The stopper became the standard in the bottling industry, and Painter changed the company's name to Crown Cork and Seal Company.

Gillette and Painter had a close personal and business relationship, and Adams described them as "kindred inventive spirits." Adams recounted that in 1891, Gillette and Painter had a very important conversation; Painter encouraged him to begin working on a product that would be thrown away after its use, which would keep consumers coming back for more of the product. Adams continued, "Gillette did think about it. Indeed, he confessed later that Painter's words became an obsession with him." In the 1890s, Gillette was a very busy man. He had a family to care for. He had dreams of a utopian (perfect and ideal) society. He also continued to work on his invention. By the time he first conceived of the idea that would change his life in 1895, Gillette was already well known in radical political circles. Perhaps motivated by his mother who, after 35 years of collecting and testing recipes and household tips, had written the best-selling White House Cookbook, Gillette was determined to complete his book of ideas and political views. In 1894, Gillette finished The Human Drift, a manifesto of his utopian world.

However Gillette's political views and visions would never equal the success of his invention, which was about to become the most important idea in his life. The Salesman Became an Inventor History shows that men have been shaving since ancient times. Cave paintings show that sharp objects were used as razors. Gold and copper razors have been found in Egyptian tombs. In the 1700s, the steel straightedge razor was created in England, yet shaving with this sharp, unprotected blade was a dangerous procedure. Others tried to invent better and safer instruments, but the old straightedge razor remained in use until Gillette's disposable blade in 1901.

As recounted by Adams, "One early spring morning while in the midst of shaving, his face well slathered with warm soap, he [Gillette] had conceived the disposable razor blade." That same day, Adams continued, Gillette rushed to a hardware store and "bought steel ribbon, some pieces of brass, files, and a small vise, and began making a model of his brainchild." Adams added that Gillette then wrote a letter to his wife, who was visiting her family in Ohio and stated, "I have got it; our fortune is made." Gillette set high goals for himself. Adams wrote that he planned "to build first a better world and then a better razor blade." He struggled to achieve both his goals over the new few years. On August 11, 1899, Adams noted, "he filed for the first patent on the device he conceived four summers earlier, calling it 'new in the art of razor manufacture and use."' In the meantime, technical experts told Gillette that it was impossible to produce steel hard, thin, and cheap enough to make disposable blades. Gillette was not dissuaded. His luck changed in early 1900.

Through mutual business associates, Gillette met William Emery Nickerson, a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Adams described Nickerson as a "clever inventor but not much of a businessman" but added that he "was known for taking a small idea and making it reality." Nickerson agreed to work on the project. According to Adams, the two men clashed along the way. They disagreed about what to name the company. The Gillette Safety Razor Company was organized in September of 1901, and Gillette was named president. Adams reflected, "If Gillette was a king, he was without a real kingdom, for his top-lofty title as president of the Gillette Safety Razor company was only in name." The company still did not have a product to sell. By 1903, Nickerson had developed the necessary design and machinery to produce the razor blades, while Gillette had secured the necessary financial backing. The next dilemma was what to name the product.

As noted on the "King Camp Gillette" section of the Engines of Our Ingenuity website, Gillette believed "if they called a razor blade a Nickerson, that was too suggestive of nicked skin." In the end, Gillette's name was put on the product. The razor would prove to be an instant success. The Gillette Safety Razor Company By the end of his second year in business, Adams noted, Gillette had produced 90,000 razors and 12,400,000 blades. The disposable razor was a huge success, and sales grew quickly. Gillette became one of the best known men in the world, Adams added, as his photo was printed on billions of blade wrappers. Men who used the product highly recommended it and appreciated what it did. Adams noted that one user wrote, "The razor gives you a clean, smooth shave that makes your face as soft as velvet." Another user wrote that his Gillette razor cut his shaving time from 20 to 5 minutes. Despite this glowing praise, there was trouble at the top. The two principal owners of the company were John Joyce and Gillette. They frequently clashed.

Gillette disagreed with Joyce's proposal to sell overseas rights to the razor. For a time, Adams noted, Gillette resigned as president and went to England. It was perhaps ironic Adams wrote, that "World War I, proved to be a boon for the Gillette Safety Razor Company." By the end of 1917, all recruits were given Gillette shaving equipment, along with their uniforms and weapons. In an article on the Fortune magazine website, Christine Chen and Tim Carvell added "During World War I, Gillette supplied 3.5 million razors and 36 million blades to U.S. soldiers, creating a base of customers who kept coming back for refills long after the Treaty of Versailles." Gillette was a wealthy man and the company prospered. In 1926, to commemorate the company's 25th anniversary, Gillette wrote (as cited on the Gillette Company website) of the company's flagship product, the safety razor, "There is no other article for individual use so universally known or widely distributed.

In my travels, I have found it in the most northern town in Norway and in the heart of the Sahara Desert." The Social Reformer As noted in the internet article Gillette, Ideal City Proposal, "Before perfecting his invention of the safety razor and founding what became a major American industrial and sales enterprise, Gillette authored several books and pamphlets calling for radical changes in the country's economic and social system." After Gillette retired from active participation in his company in 1913, (remaining president until 1931), he shifted his focus to writing books, in which he publicized his views on utopian socialism. In addition to The Human Drift (1894), Gillette's books included The Ballot Box (1897), World Corporation (1910), and The People's Corporation (1924). His views were also discussed in two other books, Gillette's Social Redemption (1907) and Gillette's Industrial Solution (1908), written by Melvin L. Severy.

According to the "King Camp Gillette" section of the Engines of Our Ingenuity website, prior to World War I, Gillette envisioned his "World Corporation" in the Arizona Territory, with former U.S. President Teddy Roosevelt serving as its leader. Roosevelt wasn't interested, so he subsequently turned to social reformer and writer Sinclair Lewis and auto maker Henry Ford, to no avail. That essentially ended the vision of a "World Corporation." Gillette also imagined, Adams recounted, a "Utopian city", a "Metropolis," which would be located near Niagara Falls for maximum efficiency and water supply. The population would live in huge apartment buildings and house millions of people. Mundane day-to-day tasks would be minimal because of the housing set-up. There would be "universal cooperation" Adams noted, and no economic competition. Although some of Gillette's ideas, such as government-provided work for the unemployed, have been realized, his plans for a "World Corporation" and "Metrpolis" did not become a reality.

Adams concluded, "The world was more interested in the clean, close, safe shaves that Gillette's razors gave, than in his philosophy, so his curious economic and political notions have been all but forgotten." Retirement and Later Years Gillette had other interests to keep him busy in his later years. He had become wealthy from real estate interests in southern California. Adams added that in the late 1920s, Gillette was an enthusiastic supporter of President Herbert Hoover and his ideas. In April of 1931, Gillette resigned as president of the company that bore his name, citing his age and declining health. A little over a year later, on July 9, 1932, with his wife and son by his side, Gillette died in Los Angeles. He is remembered chiefly for his important invention. Biographer Adams concluded, "The Gillette Company, beginning with the first safety razor with disposable blades, has been a part of daily life in America and much of the rest of the world for more than three-quarters of a century." Books Adams, Russell B. Jr., The Man and His Wonderful Shaving Device—King C.

Gillette, Little, Brown and Company, 1978. Gale Encyclopedia of U.S. Economic History. Gale Group, 1999. World of Invention, Gale Research, 1994. Online

Question: Which Wisconsin salesman developed a safety razor in 1901?
Answer: King Camp Gillette