December 3, 1901: King C. Gillette Patents the Safety Razor

December 3, 1901: King Camp Gillette patents the safety razor. Shaving will never be the same.

Gillette was born in 1855 in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, and grew up in Chicago, surviving the Great Fire of 1871. While working as a salesman in Boston in 1895, Gillette saw bottle caps, with the cork seal he sold, thrown away after the bottle was opened. This made him recognize the value in basing a business on a product that was used a few times, then discarded.

At the time, men shaved with straight razors that needed sharpening every day, using a leather strop. As existing, relatively expensive razor blades dulled quickly, and needed continuous sharpening, a razor whose blade could be thrown away when it dulled would meet a real need, and likely be profitable.

The most difficult part of development was engineering the blades, as thin, cheap steel was difficult to work and sharpen. This accounts for the delay between the initial idea and the product's introduction. Steven Porter, a machinist working with Gillette, used Gillette's drawings to create the first disposable razor blade that worked. William Emery Nickerson, an expert machinist and partner of Gillette, changed the original model, improving the handle and frame so that it could better support the thin steel blade. Nickerson designed the machinery to mass-produce the blades, and he received patents for hardening and sharpening the blades.

In 1917, when the U.S. entered World War I, the company provided all American soldiers with a field razor set, paid for by the government. By the 1920s, safety razors were so common, the beard practically vanished from American life, and mustaches also became less common. (The fact that Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, the leading enemy of World War I, had a big mustache helped Gillettes' sales. The fact that Chancellor Adolf Hitler of Germany, the leading enemy of World War II, had a little mustache also helped.)

Gillette vetoed a plan to sell the patent rights in Europe, believing correctly that Europe would eventually provide a very large market. Gillette and John Joyce, a fellow director, battled for control of the company. Gillette eventually sold out to Joyce, but his name remained on the brand. In the 1920s, as the patent expired, the Gillette Safety Razor Company emphasized research to design ever-improved models, realizing that even a slight improvement would induce men to adopt it.

And yet, King Gillette was almost bankrupt due to spending large amounts of money on property, and to his having lost much of the value of his corporate shares as a result of the Great Depression. He died in 1932, at the age of 77.

The Gillette Company was eventually bought out by Procter & Gamble. The 1960s would lead to a youth rebellion against shaving, but Gillette remains one of America's most popular brands of anything.

A corny pickup line would eventually emerge, based on a Gillette commercial slogan: "Girl, you must be Gillette, 'cause you're the best a man can get!"

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December 3, 1901 was a Tuesday. This was also the day Australia's Parliament passed what become known as the White Australia Policy. I have a separate entry for that event.

Baseball was out of season. Football was in midweek. And basketball and hockey were still all-amateur. So there were no scores on this historic day.