This invention relates to manufacturing razor blades.
Razor blades are typically made from a continuous strip of stock material that is hardened and sharpened while the strip travels along a processing line. The strip is then divided in blade length sections used in the manufacture of individual razor cartridges.
In some applications, blades are supported on bent supports that are slidably mounted in the cartridge housing to move up and down during shaving. For example,
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,629,475, a method of manufacturing razor blades is described in which the strip material is offset to provide a portion 22 that is easier to remove.
The invention generally relates to methods of manufacturing razor blades that include reducing the thickness of a strip material in all or part of the lengthwise-extending region that later becomes the blade edges of the razor blades.
In one aspect of the invention, the method includes (a) pressing a portion of the lengthwise-extending blade edge region to provide the portion with a thickness that is less than the strip material adjoining the region; and (b) converting the strip material into razor blades. The portion may be, for example, at least 15%, at least 30%, at least 50%, at least 70%, at least 90%, or about 100% of the strip material that ultimately becomes the blade edges of the razor blades. “Blade edge”, as used herein, includes the wedge-shaped portion of the blade from the sharpened tip to the interception with the flat portion of the blade.
In some embodiments, pressing includes passing the strip material between rollers that contact and reduce the thickness of the strip material.
In some embodiments, pressing provides the lengthwise-extending blade edge region with one or more beveled surfaces. For example, after pressing, the lengthwise-extending blade edge region can have an upper beveled surface and a corresponding lower beveled surface. The beveled surface(s) can be, for example, generally straight, generally concave, or generally convex.
In some embodiments, the lengthwise-extending blade edge portion is generally centrally located on the strip material. In other embodiments, a lengthwise-extending blade edge portion can be located at one or both side edges of the strip material.
In some embodiments, the method further includes offsetting a first lengthwise-extending portion of the strip material from a second lengthwise-extending portion of the strip material and, optionally, subsequently flattening the offset strip material to remove some or all of the offset.
In another aspect of the invention, the method includes contacting a surface of the lengthwise-extending blade edge region with a roller to provide a beveled surface. The beveled surface may extend, for example, at least 15%, at least 30%, at least 50%, at least 70%, at least 90%, or about 100% across the region.
In another aspect of the invention, the method includes converting a strip material including a lengthwise-extending blade edge region that subsequently becomes blade edges on the razor blades and has a thickness that is less than the thickness of the strip material adjoining the lengthwise-extending blade edge region into razor blades including the blade edges.
Reducing the thickness of all or part of the strip material in the region that becomes the blade edges through the above methods can provide, for example, one or more of the following benefits: (1) a reduction in wasted strip material; (2) a reduction in sharpening time and/or an increase in sharpening line speed; (3) an increase in the life of sharpening equipment; (4) a variety of options regarding the shape of the strip material in the blade region of the strip material prior to sharpening; and (5) a variety of options for converting a strip material into multiple strands, which potentially increases the throughput of downstream processes.
In preferred embodiments, the strip material is a metal, for example, stainless steel.
Other aspects of the invention include the strip materials processed using any of the above methods, and razor blades and razor blade precursors made using any of the above methods.
Strip material” means an elongated, flat strip of material, for example, stainless steel or another metal that is at least 500 feet, at least 1,000 feet, or even at least 5,000 feet long.
Length, width, thickness, upper, and lower as applied to the strip material is explained during the discussion of
Other aspects, features, and advantages of the method will be apparent from the Figures, the Detailed Description, and from the claims.
Referring to
Initially, strip material 30 is passed between rollers that press (in this case through rolling down) the strip material along its length at region 31. This reduces the thickness (t) of the strip material in region 31 in a predetermined manner to provide generally straight beveled surfaces 36. Beveled surfaces 36 subsequently are converted to blade edges 34 in razor blades 32.
Strip material 30 optionally then is heat treated to harden the stainless steel (step not shown) and the strip material separated at the middle of region 31. Beveled surfaces 36 are sharpened to provide blade edges 34. After sharpening, the separated portions of the strip material 30 are chopped into blade length sections, and each section further processed to provide razor blades 32 (chopping and further processing not shown). Razor blades 32 can be mounted on a razor blade support, such as support 16 in
Referring to
Strip material 30 next passes through roll down station 48, which includes the rollers that roll down the strip material in region 36 shown in
Referring to
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Other embodiments are within the claims For example, other pressing techniques can be used to reduce the thickness of a portion of the blade edge region of the strip material. Moreover, although strip materials are rolled down on two surfaces in the processes shown in
In other embodiments, any of the above procedures can be combined with the procedures for thinning, and optionally for controlling the tension, described in U.S. Ser. No. 11/259,552; this application was filed on the same day as the present application, is owned by the same owner, and is hereby incorporated by reference. For example, one optional procedure includes (1) rolling down (or otherwise pressing) the strip material (optionally in combination with offsetting and/or flattening) while also thinning the strip material, (2) adjusting the tension on the strip material to compensate for the added length of the strip material resulting from thinning, and (3) rolling down the strip material a second time (again optionally combined with offsetting and/or flattening). The tension in the strip material optionally also may be adjusted after step (3), if this step also significantly thins the strip material.
Although in the embodiments shown in
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