Word: autostrop
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...blades, carrying the dollar-proud face of King Camp Gillette. Last week he still had reason to be proud. Gillette Safety Razor Co. is the undisputed world-leader in the industry. But also justifiably proud was another inventor, likewise a razor-maker: Henry Jaques Gaisman, founder and head of AutoStrop Safety Razor Co. Inc. Last week Mr. Gaisman brought to what seemed a triumphant conclusion the corporate battle between his company and mighty Gillette...
...spurred on by the memory of the $300,000 George Eastman paid Inventor Gaisman in 1914-for his writing-on-film patent. But his most profitable inventions have been in the razor field. He has created processes for making blades, has designed blades and razors. In 1906 he founded AutoStrop Safety Razor Co. which soon became important in the industry. Its chief product was the Valet AutoStrop Razor. For years the relations between AutoStrop and Gillette were as between any two competitors. But last winter, as shavers great and small remember, Gillette prepared to market a new razor & blade...
This was the Probak "butterfly" blade (so called because of a filigree design in its center), invented by Henry J. Gaisman (also inventor of the autograph system used in Eastman Kodaks), chairman of AutoStrop Safety Razor Co., manufacturers of Probak. This blade, which fits the Gillette razors, was patented in 1928; a patent was reissued for it in January 1930. New Gillette blades bear the legend "Patents Pending," are, therefore, not patented...
Fortnight ago what every razorman had been expecting occurred. AutoStrop filed suit against Gillette for patent infringement, asked I) that Gillette discontinue manufacture of its new blade & razor; 2) that Gillette turn over to AutoStrop all profits earned from the new blade & razor; 3) that Gillette pay damages to AutoStrop for loss of AutoStrop sales caused by Gillette's blade & razor. Gillette had been awaiting the suit. In March a statement to shareholders said, in part: "We are not only prepared for any legal controversy but we invite it." As in the case of the Youngstown-Bethlehem steel merger...
Rumors that AutoStrop had surreptitiously obtained plans of the new Gillette razor, had quickly designed a blade to fit it, are roundly denied. AutoStrop claims that its blade will fit any double-edge razor. In November 1929 when first AutoStrop's Probak blades were marketed they fitted the following razors: Elite, Loew, Renard, Darwin, Holtz, H & T, Kace, Via and, of course, Gillette. Probak manufactures its own holder but has not advertised...