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EP0591339B1
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Razor blade and process for forming a razor blade
Assignee: Gillette Co LLC
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Filing: 1992-06-11
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Granted: 1998-08-12
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Expires: 2012-06-11
Abstract
Abstract A razor blade includes a substrate (50) with a wedge-shaped edge at a distance of forty micrometers from the sharpened tip (52), and a layer of diamond or diamond-like material (60) defined by facets (66, 68) that have an included angle of less than seventeen degrees that has a thickness of at least twelve hundred angstroms from the sharpened tip (52) of said substrate (50) to a distance of forty micrometer from the sharpened tip (52), and an ultimate tip defined by facets (62, 64) that have lengths of at least about 0.1 micrometer and define an included angle of at least sixty degrees, and that defines a tip radius of less than about 400 angstroms, an aspect ratio in the range of 1:1-3:1, a hardness of at least thirteen gigapascals and an L5 wet wool felt cutter force of less than 0.8 kilogram.
Inventors
- 👤 C. Robert Parent
- 👤 John Madeira
- 👤 Steve Syng-Hi Hahn
- 👤 Chong-Ping Peter Chou
- 👤 Lamar Eugene Brooks
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-24 09:11
CPC Classifications
B; B26; B26B; B26B21/00; B26B21/54; B26B21/58; B26B21/60
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 8
Claim 1
Independent Claim
239 words
A process for forming a razor blade (16, 20, 44) including mechanically
abrading a substrate (50) to form a wedge-shaped sharpened edge thereon having a tip
(52) with a radius of less than twelve hundred angstroms, and forming a layer of
diamond or diamond-like carbon material (60) on said sharpened edge of said substrate
by positioning said substrate and a solid target member (98) in a chamber (74), and
sputtering said solid target member to generate carbon atoms for forming said layer of
diamond or diamond-like carbon material (60) on said sharpened edge of said substrate
from said carbon atoms while applying an RF bias to said substrate, said layer of
diamond or diamond-like carbon material (60) forming an ultimate tip (70) having an
aspect ratio of 1:1 - 3:1, said layer of diamond or diamond-like carbon material having
a thickness of at least 1200 Å (angstroms) from the sharpened tip of the substrate to a
distance of forty micrometers from the sharpened tip, said wedge-shaped
sharpened edge being formed with a sharpened tip having an included angle of less
than 17° at a distance of 40µm (micrometers) from a tip of said sharpened edge,
characterized in that said
ultimate tip (70) has a radius of less than 400 Å (angstroms) and is defined by
two facets (62, 64) each having a length of at least about 0.1 micrometer and defining
an included angle of at least sixty degrees.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
84 words
A process for forming a razor blade according to claim 1, characterized
in that said solid target member (98) is a highly pure graphite target, said sputtering
step including aligning a shutter (116) between said highly pure graphite target (98) and
said substrate in an inert gas environment, applying electrical energy to said highly pure
graphite target and opening said shutter (116) for a predetermined period of time while
applying said bias to said substrate to form said layer of diamond or diamond-like
material.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
107 words
A process for forming a razor blade according to any one of claims 1-2,
characterized by the step of depositing an interlayer of molybdenum on said wedge-shaped
sharpened edge to a thickness of 300 Å (angstroms) or less prior to depositing
said layer of diamond or diamond-like carbon material, said step of depositing said
interlayer of molybdenum including positioning a molybdenum target (96) in said
chamber (74) and positioning a shutter (114) in alignment between said molybdenum
target (96) and said substrate, applying electrical energy to said molybdenum target
(96) and opening said shutter (114) for a predetermined period of time to deposit said
interlayer of molybdenum.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
35 words
A process for forming a razor blade according to any one of claims 1-3,
further including the step of depositing an adherent polymer coating (72) on said layer
of diamond or diamond-like carbon material (60).
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
208 words
A razor blade (16, 20, 44) including a substrate (50) having a wedge-shaped
sharpened edge formed thereon, said wedge-shaped sharpened edge including a
sharpened tip (52) and a layer of diamond or diamond-like carbon material (60) formed
on said sharpened edge of said substrate, said layer of diamond or diamond-like carbon
material (60) having a thickness of at least twelve hundred angstroms from the
sharpened tip (52) to a distance of forty micrometers from the sharpened tip (52), said
layer of diamond or diamond-like carbon material (60) includes an ultimate tip (70)
having an aspect ratio ranging from about 1:1-3:1, said sharpened
tip (52) having an included angle of less than seventeen degrees at a distance of forty
micrometers from the sharpened tip (52), characterized in that said sharpened tip (52) has
an L5 wet wool felt cutter force of less than
0.8 kilogram, dry wool felt (ten cuts) edge damage of less than fifty small edge damage
regions and no damage regions of larger dimension or depth, and a radius at the
ultimate tip of less than 400 Å (angstroms), said ultimate tip (70) being defined by
facets (62, 64) having a length of at least about 0.1 micrometer and an included angle
of at least 60°.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
50 words
A razor blade according to claim 5, characterized by an interlayer of
molybdenum (58) deposited on said wedge-shaped sharpened edge, said interlayer of
molybdenum deposited to a thickness of 300 Å (angstroms) or less, said layer of
diamond or diamond-like carbon material (60) being deposited on said molybdenum
interlayer (58).
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
27 words
A razor blade according to any one of claims 5-6, further including a
layer of adherent polymer (72) on said layer of diamond or diamond-like carbon
material.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
62 words
A shaving unit (10,30) including a support structure (12, 32) defining
spaced-apart, skin-engaging surfaces (14, 26, 34, 36), one or more razor blade
structures (40, 42) mounted to said support structure and being disposed between said
skin-engaging surfaces, each said one or more razor blade structure (40, 42) including a
razor blade (16, 20, 44) according to any one of claims 5-7.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
No citation records indexed.
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