King Camp Gillette (what a name, huh?) is the name everyone knows when it comes to razors & blades. Although there were already several models of safety razors on the market, Gillette was the guy who is best-known for inventing the cheap, disposable razor blade, which is where he made his money: sell the razor cheap, and make profits off the blades. Just like HP does with printers and ink cartridges.
And he's made a ton of money ever since.
Our Founder
Anyway, Gillette double-edge razors come in a wide variety of models and sub-models. My personal collection consists of an Old Style, a NEW, a Goodwill (these three razors being open comb), six Techs (including two Contracts and an English-made), a 1941 Ranger Tech, a 1946 Ranger Tech hybrid (being a '46 Ranger head on a '48 SS handle), an Aristocrat, a dozen Super Speeds, and four adjustables. A good example of different sub-models are the Super Speeds: I have the Ranger hybrid, a standard 40's style (1954) Super Speed, two Milords (a no-notch '47 and a '51), two black-tips (steel and aluminum handles), a blue-tip, a red-tip, a '58 TV Special, and a black resin-handle. Even between my '56 and '61 flare-tips, there is a slight variation in the handle (the band above the TTO knob is wider on the '56 than on the '61).
A sampling of Super Speeds
Among my Tech (three-piece) razors, I have a pre-war Heavy (the slots in the safety bar are triangular; post-war Techs have oval-shaped slots), a post-war ball-end, a '65 English-made Tech, and two Contract Techs (Gillette suspended civilian production during WWII, and made several different models under government contract: my two are both fluted steel-handled, one being black with a nickel base plate and the other gold).
A few Techs
The four adjustable razors I have are a '59 "Fat Boy" (named for the slightly larger diameter handle, and also known as the "195" because it originally cost $1.95), a '65 Slim (with a slender handle), and a pair of '74 Super Adjustables (with black resin handles, one being a Super 84, 84mm handle length, and a Super 109, 109mm handle length).
My adjustables
There are two additional variations of the Fat Boy: a "Red Dot" (having a painted red dot for an adjustment marker), and the rare "bottom dial" (the adjustment dial is placed just above the TTO knob). Interesting, and costly. There is also the aforementioned Toggle adjustable, which comes in a 5-position and a later 9-position model. (The adjustment dial on all models sets the blade gap from "1", which is mild, to "9", or more aggressive.)
I've only three open comb razors: the Old style (which originally took the old three-hole blade), a Goodwill (more on that in a bit), and a NEW (made for the new Gillette slotted blade). My Old is a short comb, while the other two are long comb (the length of the (teeth) on the base plate). Old style razors were notorious for the handles splitting at both the bottom and top plugs, as they were separate pieces and pressed into the brass handle tube.
Open comb razors
Now, about the Goodwill: King Gillette gave these razors away when a customer bought a ten-pack of his new style slotted blades for $1. Mine, the 160, has two studs milled into the base plate which correspond to two indentations in the cap. Other models had holes cut in the cap to mate with these studs, while others still had slots at the center stud.
*whew*
Confused yet?
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