USRE30913E — Safety razor with flexible blade cartridge

Claim 1

Independent Claim 87 words

A razor assembly comprising a blade assembly including a seat member and a blade disposed thereon, the seat and blade being bonded together and flexible about an axis substantially parallel to the plane of the blade and perpendicular to its cutting edge, a razor handle for holding the blade assembly, and coupling means for connecting the blade assembly to the razor handle and permitting the blade assembly to flex .[.in both convex and concave directions.]. .Iadd.selectively in the convex or concave mode .Iaddend.in response to shaving forces.

Claim 2

Dependent Claim 87 words

A razor assembly comprising a blade assembly including a seat member and a blade disposed thereon, the seat and blade being bonded together and flexible about an axis substantially parallel to the plane of the blade and perpendicular to its cutting edge, a razor handle for holding the blade assembly, and coupling means for connecting the blade assembly to the razor handle and permitting the blade assembly to flex .[.in both convex and concave directions.]. .Iadd.selectively in the convex or concave mode .Iaddend.in response to shaving forces.

Claim 3

Dependent Claim 83 words

The blade assembly of claim 1 comprising a seat member having a surface of substantially planar form, a blade having a sharpened cutting edge disposed on the surface, a cap member on the blade having a forward margin located rearwardly of the cutting edge, and a guard member located forwardly of the cutting edge, the seat, blade, cap and guard member being yieldingly bonded together and flexible about an axis parallel to the plane of the blade and perpendicular to the cutting edge.

Claim 4

Dependent Claim 165 words

A razor assembly comprising: a seat member having a substantially planar surface and a guard bar member integrally formed transversely along its forward margin, the guard and seat members formed of a flexible material; a flexible blade member having a sharpened edge along a transverse margin disposed on the planar surface with its edge parallel to and rearwardly located of the guard bar member; a cap member of flexible material having a substantially planar surface in contact with the blade and a front margin located rearwardly of the cutting edge, the seat, blade and cap members being yieldingly bonded together to form a blade assembly flexible about an axis substantially parallel to the plane of the blade and perpendicular to the cutting edge; a razor handle for holding the blade assembly; and pivot means for connecting the blade assembly to the razor handle and for .[.convex and concave.]. flexing of the blade assembly .Iadd.selectively in the convex or concave mode .Iaddend.in response to shaving forces.

Claim 5

Dependent Claim 165 words

A razor assembly comprising: a seat member having a substantially planar surface and a guard bar member integrally formed transversely along its forward margin, the guard and seat members formed of a flexible material; a flexible blade member having a sharpened edge along a transverse margin disposed on the planar surface with its edge parallel to and rearwardly located of the guard bar member; a cap member of flexible material having a substantially planar surface in contact with the blade and a front margin located rearwardly of the cutting edge, the seat, blade and cap members being yieldingly bonded together to form a blade assembly flexible about an axis substantially parallel to the plane of the blade and perpendicular to the cutting edge; a razor handle for holding the blade assembly; and pivot means for connecting the blade assembly to the razor handle and for .[.convex and concave.]. flexing of the blade assembly .Iadd.selectively in the convex or concave mode .Iaddend.in response to shaving forces.

Claim 6

Dependent Claim 12 words

The assembly of claim 3 wherein the pivot means includes linkage means.

Claim 7

Dependent Claim 58 words

The assembly of claim 3 wherein the pivot means includes two pins projecting outwardly of the coupling means coaxially aligned and in registration with a first channel and a second channel in the seat member, respectively, the first and second channels being in a plane parallel to the plane of the blade and perpendicular to the cutting edge.

Claim 8

Dependent Claim 29 words

The assembly of claim 5 wherein the seat member comprises a series of rib members interconnected by webs, and arrayed orthogonally to the front margin of the seat member.

Claim 9

Dependent Claim 29 words

The assembly of claim 6 wherein the guard bar member is a comb guard bar, the teeth of which are formed by forwardly extending portions of the rib members.

Claim 10

Dependent Claim 46 words

The assembly of claim 7 wherein the teeth of the comb guard bar member have a pitch dimension greater than approximately 0.090 inch and less than approximately 0.200 inch and the interconnecting web has a thickness greater than approximately 0.010 and less than approximately 0.030 inch.

Claim 11

Dependent Claim 30 words

The assembly of claim 8 wherein each tooth of the comb guard bar assembly has a width approximately greater than 25% and less than approximately 75% of the pitch dimension.

Claim 12

Dependent Claim 18 words

The assembly of claim 5 wherein the first and second channels have a center-to-center spacing greater than 40%.

Claim 13

Dependent Claim 62 words

The assembly of claim 10 wherein the first and second channels have center-to-center spacing less than 75% of the transverse length of the seat member, and the first channel has a transverse dimension greater than the transverse dimension of the pin in registration therewith so as to allow the pin to move transversely within the first channel during flexure of the assembly.

Claim 14

Dependent Claim 37 words

The assembly of claim 11 wherein the seat, guard bar and cap members are molded from a flexible polymeric material selected from the group consisting of polyvinyl chloride, polyethylene, ethylene vinyl acetate, silicone, urethane and thermoplastic rubbers.

Claim 15

Dependent Claim 24 words

The assembly of claim 12 wherein the assembly is yieldingly bonded with adhesives selected from the group consisting of acrylics, rubbers, silicones, and synthetics.

Claim 16

Dependent Claim 26 words

The assembly of claim 13 comprising a second blade disposed parallel to and rearwardly of the blade, and interposed between the blade and the cap member.

Claim 17

Dependent Claim 12 words

The assembly of claim 14 wherein the second blade is yieldingly bonded.

Claim 18

Dependent Claim 34 words

The assembly of claim 15 wherein the members are bonded by adhesive strips interposed between each of the members, and the assembly includes a spacer member interposed between the blade and the second blade.

Claim 19

Dependent Claim 70 words

The assembly of claim 16 wherein the substantially planar surface of the cap member is in contact with the adhesive strip engaging the second blade, the blade seat has a transversely extending rear margin perpendicular to the axes of the first and second channels which extend therethrough, the coupling means has a substantially planar surface from which pivot pins extend, which surface abuts and is parallel to the rear margin.

Claim 20

Dependent Claim 54 words

The assembly of claim 17 wherein the pivot pins have expanded heads on their distal ends, the first and second channels terminate in a plenum formed in the blade seat into which plenum the expanded heads of the pivot pins extend when the pivot pins are in registration with the first and second channels.

Claim 21

Dependent Claim 47 words

The assembly of claim 18 wherein the seat member comprises a series of rib members interconnected by webs, and arrayed orthogonally to the front margin of the seat member, and the first and second channels are contained in first and second ribs respectively of increased transverse dimension.

Claim 22

Dependent Claim 32 words

The assembly of claim 19 wherein the plenum is extended to form bifurcated members on both the first and second ribs, the bifurcated members extending to form teeth of the comb guard.

Claim 23

Dependent Claim 22 words

The assembly of claim 20 wherein projections are included at each end of the guard bar member to mask the blade edges.

Claim 24

Dependent Claim 33 words

The assembly of claim 3 having a shaving geometry as follows: tangent angle between approximately 15° and 40°; exposure between approximately -0.010 inch and +0.006 inch; span between approximately 0.030 and 0.080 inch.

Claim 25

Dependent Claim 31 words

The assembly of claim 22 wherein the tangent angle is approximately 20° to 24°, the exposure is approximately -0.004 to +0.002 inch, and the span is approximately 0.045 to 0.070 inch.

Claim 26

Dependent Claim 63 words

The assembly of claim 23 comprising a second blade disposed parallel to and rearwardly of the blade and interposed between the blade and the cap member, and wherein the shaving geometries of the blade and the second blade are as follows: tangent angle between approximately 15° and 40°; exposure between approximately -0.010 inch and +0.006 inch; span between approximately 0.030 and 0.080 inch.

Claim 27

Dependent Claim 36 words

The assembly of claim 24 wherein the blade and the second blade have a tangent angle of approximately 20° to 24°, exposure of approximately -0.010 to +0.006 inch, and span of approximately 0.045 to 0.070 inch.

Claim 28

Dependent Claim 22 words

The assembly of claim 25 wherein the tangent angle of the second blade is less than the tangent angle of the blade.

Claim 29

Dependent Claim 15 words

The assembly of claim 7 wherein the assembly is integrally molded from a flexible material.

Claim 30

Dependent Claim 15 words

The assembly of claim 27 wherein the blade is movably attached to the molded assembly.

Claim 31

Dependent Claim 40 words

The assembly of claim 28 comprising a second blade movably attached to a second complementary slot in the assembly and disposed parallel to and rearwardly of the blade, and interposed between the blade and the cap member of the assembly.

Claim 32

Dependent Claim 11 words

The assembly of claim 29 wherein the blades are adhesively bonded.

Annuity Stage	Window Opens	Payment Deadline	Surcharge Period Until	Estimated Fee	Status
3.5 Years (Year 4)	1985-04-26	1985-10-26	1986-04-27	$2000.00	Window Closed / Lapsed
7.5 Years (Year 8)	1989-04-26	1989-10-26	1990-04-27	$3760.00	Window Closed / Lapsed
11.5 Years (Year 12)	1993-04-26	1993-10-26	1994-04-27	$7700.00	Window Closed / Lapsed

Safety razor with flexible blade cartridge

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