AU605548B2 - Twin blade razor with dual cleaning means - Google Patents

Description

ii ,6AUSTRALIA6 0'5548 Form PATENTS ACT 1952 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION

(ORIGINAL)

FOR OFFICE USE Short Title: Int. Cl: Application Number: Lodged: Complete Specification-Lodged: Accepted: Lapsed: Published: r .i Priority: Related Art:

~I

Name of Applicant; Address of Applicant: Actual Inventor: Address for Service: TO BE COMPLETED BY APPLICANT WARNER-LAMBERT COMPANY, a corporation organized and existing under the laws of the State of Delaware, of 201 Tabor Road, Morris Plains, New Jersey, United States of America.

PETER BOWMAN EVAN N. CHEN Care of: COWIE, THOMSON CARTER, Patent Attorneys, 71 Queens Road, Melbourne, Vic., 3004, Australia.

Complete Specification for the invention entitled: TWIN BLADE RAZOR WITH DUAL CLEANING MEANS The following statement is a full dPscription of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to meo:- -1 SNote: The description is to be typed In double spacing, pica type face, In an area not exceeding 260 mm in depth and 160 mm in width, on tough white paper of good quality and it is to be Inserted inside this form.

1450991/7 L 1ri8ncd by C. J, TIIOMPSON, Cornnionwealth GoernlmCnt, Printer. Canbcrr

A:

ih Field of the Invention This invention relates to a twin bladed shaving system in particularly one having means for cleaning shaving debris from the top of each blade in the system.

Background of the Invnetion U.S. Patent No. 2,780,682 issued to K. T.

Grathwohl discloses a disposable razor having a fingered cap with angled slots positioned between the fingers which aid in the provision of a rinseable surface for the cap. This surface which is preferably ooo at an angle enables the removal of debris from the o o space between the fingers by rinsing the razor head. G0 0 0This slanted recessed area does help in the °removal of debris but does nothing to remove the debris 0 from between the blades in a twin bladed shaving system such as that disclosed in U.S. Patent 3,786,563 issued o to Dorion, et al. This shaving system which is becoming increasingly popular as both a disposable 0 oo 20 20 razor and also in a shaving cartridge features two relatively narrow blades separated by a spacer which maintains the spatial relationship between the blades.

The blades are mounted with the shaving edges parallel to each other with the top most blade being recessed from the bottom most blade. A seat which provides for p the bottom most blade has a guard bar extending outwardly from the seat beyond the edge of the bottom most blade, A cap is provided to help maintain the orientation of the shaving components and also protect the top surface. The alignnrment of the blades and the relative spacing is finally assured by either staking means which can be provided by projections downward from the cap through mating slots in the blades and spacer locking into suitable openings in the seat or, I 4 I I Cl 2 the process can be reversed using staking means upstanding on the seat.

An alternative means for maintaining alignment is disclosed in U.S. Patent 4,407,067 issued to Trotta, et al. which provides for the insertion of the blade and spacer and subassembly into what is basically a set of opposing leaf springs provided by the cap and seat.

The relative positioning of the blades and spacer is maintained by the compressing action of the opposing leaf springs, as well as a unitary back portion which is constructed as an upstanding element from the seat with the fingered cap forming a part of the back portion. The back portion, while providing a stop before the spacing of the blade subassembly, also Is eliminates the use of any moveable cleaning means for eliminating the debris which easily collects in the slot between the blades.

U.S. Patent 4,205,437 issued June 3, 1980 to Evar N. Chen and Bryan J. Goddard and U.S. Patent 4,344,227 issued to Evan N. Chen, James S. Emmett, Frank A.

Ferraro and Anthony J. Peleckis disclose a combination spacer/ejector. Both of these patents are hereby incorporated by reference in the subject invention.

They basically disclose the concept of a twin bladed razor such as Dorion with an open back and a spacer which is anchored in place by staking means extending downward from the cap through the upper blade assembly.

The spacer is an anchor for a biased unitary ejector bar which extends parallel to the blade edges and is reciprocally moveable to push shaving debris out from the top surface of the bottom blade as it is activated.

The ejector bar, which is biased against the anchoring portion of the spacer is activated in a forward direction against the bias by a thumb activator which 3 extends through the open back portion of the razor. The ejector bar, when activated, actually extent' beyond at least the edge of the upper blade and preferably beyond the edge of the lower blade, forcing out the debris which is collected between the blades.

While the combination ejector spacer is extremely efficient in the removal of debris collected between the blades, the conventional cap with an edge which is parallel to the blade edges tends to collect debris which can get lodged in the junction between the top of the blade and the cap. When very thin bladed upper blades are utilized, the distance between cap edge and upper blade edge is minimal and the possibility of the debris inhibiting upper blade performance is increased.

Summary of the Invention According to the present invention, there is provided a razor system having a bottom blade, a top blade parallel to and spaced from said bottom blade, wherein said top blade has its shaving edge parallel to but recessed from the shaving edge of said bottom blade, a blade seat upon which said bottom blade rests, a guard bar extending from said seat below and beyond the shaving edge of said bottom blade, a cap positioned over said top blade, and positioning means extending through said blades from either said cap or said seat to maintain the configuration of said blades, said cap •and said seat of said system, wherein said cap comprises a first blade cleaning means positioned over said top blade having a sloped surface with a slanted portion or slanted portions directly adjacent said top blade meeting the upper, planar surface of said top blade at an angle substantially greater than 900 as measured from said shaving edge, and a second blade cleaning means is movably positioned between said top ,blade and said bottom blade to remove shaving debris and for maintaining said spaced parallel relationship between said blades.

Brief Desipion of the Drawings The invention may be more readily understood by ieference to the drawings in which Fig; 1 is a plan view of the blade assembly;

CI

n .4 9 t ;cl ~-e _i i .i i rl :I .II l"r rnC4C 4 ;i4 44 4'4 4 46 if 4 if 4if if; Fig. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the shaving assembly; and Fig. 3 is a view in cross section of the razor system taken along line 3-3 of Fig. 1 according to this invention.

As can be seen by reference to the drawings in particular Fig. 1 and 2 the razor system of this invention includes a cap 12 having a raised central area of 17 with fingers 11 extending outwardly therefrom. Slots 15 taper outward from the recessed area between the fingers and sides 19 of cap 12 are designed to rest upon the longitudinal edges of support surface 41 of seat 10. Staking means 13 shown here are four separate stakes extend downward through two holes 23 with extended length in top blade 14. The staking means extend through the holes 33 providing anchor sites in the spacer/ejector 18 and through matching blade slots 43 in lower blade 16 and into seat holes 53 in seat 10. As can be seen by reference to Fig. 3, the stake has an extended bottom portion 13 which is positioned below the planar blade support portion 41 of seat 10. Guard bar 40 extends outward from seat 10 and is attached by ribs 43.

As can best be seen in Fig. 2 the ejector has a bar 32 wh'ich extends parallel to and approximately the same length as the blade shaving edge on blades 14 and 16. This ejector bar portion is connected to pusher bar 30 by perpendicular connector 38. Perpendicular connector 38 has beam spring 36 depending from either side and attached to the anchor portion 37 positioned around each hole 33. As can best be seen by reference to Fig. 3, when forces are exerted against pusher 30 it is dislodged in a linear forward direction against the bias provided by beam spring 36 to force the ejector 1 bar 32 forward thereby ejecting shaving debris which is collected in the site between the two blades. Release of the pressure against the thumb pusher member 30 allows the beam spring to bias the ejector assembly 18 backwards.

With regard to cap 12, the slots 15 are slanted and meet the upper planar surface of the blade 14 at an angle substantially greater than 900 as measured from the shaving edge of the blade, and preferably at an angle of about 1100 or greater.

One of the variants contemplated by this invention is the use of a web extending within the recessed area to a secondary edge of reduced thickness extending only slightly inward from the cap. The addition of the web tends to aid in the maintaining of the cap in a rigid position, Other variations will readily suggest themselves to those with reasonable skill in the art.

4 04 04 4 44 4s oa o 44a 4 4O p o 4 4444 0440 440 4 4~t 0 0 *9 0 .4 4 4 rlp a a i

Claims (4)

1. A razor system having a bottom blade, a top blade parallel to and spaced from said bottom blade, wherein said top blade has its shaving edge parallel to but recessed from the shaving edge of said bottom blade, a blade seat upon which said bottom blade rests, a guard bar extending from said seat below and beyond the shaving edge of said bottom blade, a cap positioned over said top blade, and positioning means extending through said blades from either said cap or said seat to maintain the configuration of said blades, said cap and said seat of said system, wherein said cap comprises a first blade cleaning means positioned over said top blade having a sloped surface with a slanted portion or slanted portions directly adjacent said top blade meeting the upper, planar surface of said top blade at an angle substantially greater than 900 as measured from said shaving edge, and a second blade cleaning means is movably positioned between said top blade and said bottom blade to remove shaving I fit debris and for maintaining said spaced parallel relationship between said blades, 4 t I 2. A razor system according to claim 1 wherein said cap has a series of fingers extending toward the blade edge, said fingers being separated by recesses with inclined back walls sloping toward said blade edge. 3S. A razor system according to claim 2 wherein the angle as measured from the plane of the blade to the inclined back walls of the recesses is at least 1100,

4. A razor system according to any one of claims 2 or 3 wherein a web extends within the recessed area between fingers. A razor system according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the second blade cleaning means is combined with an ejector means as a unitary I assembly, said ejector means having a unitary transversely extending ejector element extending parallel to and substantially along the length of said blade edges, said element being biased and reciprocally moveable parallel to said blades.

6. A razor system according to claim 5 wherein the ejector means is activated by pusher means extending beyond the rear portion of the razor assembly. 7

7. A razor system substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings. DATED this 5th day of October, 1990. WARNER-LAMBERT COMPANY. t t 1(1* *1 COWIE tART~F1 St HENDY /PATENT rRADtARK< AT TOnNEYS 71 QUFSNS ROAD, MELBOURNE, 3004, AUSTRALIA