Conventional safety razors have blades mounted in holders of metal or of rigid or semi-rigid plastics material.

The present invention represents a substantial departure from conventional practice and resides broadly in a safety razor in which a multi-edged blade means is mounted in a holder of resilient readily deformable material which presents a skin engaging surface surround ing the blade means, different edges of the blade means being displaceable, relative to each other, to follow local deformation of the said surface.

The blade means can, of course, take various forms. In some of the embodiments illustrated below, th blade means comprise one or more flexible foils having, or each having, a plurality of apertures, preferably circular, with sharpened edges. In another embodiment, the blade means comprise individual blade strips present ing a plurality of rectilinear edges, preferably arrange in opposed pairs, the strips being interconnected by flexible straps.

In presently preferred form of the invention, the support comprises a shaped block of plastics foam material. The holder is held by the user in the manner of a small sponge which is simply rubbed, for example with a generally circular motion over the skin surface.

Such a razor is particularly, though not exclusively, designed for use by women, for example in removing hair from the legs whilst bathing. It has been found that, when used in this manner, users report the efficient removal of hair is achieved, but that the sensation is no different, or very little different from rubbing the skin with a bath sponge.

The fact that the holder is readily deformable makes it very easy to grasp, even in soapy bath water, and also enables it to conform easily to the skin contours.

One material which has already proved to be suitable for the holder is a polyethylene foam, which is readily deformable and also produces a pleasant sensation in the skin. Many other materials could, of course, be satisfactorily employed, and it would be possible to use a material having a surface layer of a different material. For example, a very soft rubber could be covered with a "pimpled" surface layer, or with a layer of foam material.

Some forms of razor in accordance with the invention will now be described in detail, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a perspective view of one form of safety razor;

Figure 2 is a perspective view of the holder of the razor of Figure 1 ;

Figures 3 and 4 are view, corresponding to Figures 1 and 2, of a second form of safety razor;

Figures 5 to 12 are exploded perspective views of some further embodiments of the invention; and

Figures 12A and 12B are scrap-sections on the lines AA and BB in Figure 12. The razor shown in Figure 1 comprises a holder 1

in the form of a disc of polyethylene foam material, having set in its upper face blade a member 2 in the fo of a rectangular foil of conventional blade material, such as stainless steel, having a relatively large numbe of circular apertures whose edges are sharpened. The foil is set in a flat condition, but is capable of flexing, with the holder, to conform to local skin contours.

As shown in Figure 2, the holder has a rectangular cavity 3 in its upper surface to receive the blade member and some through holes 4 to allow shaving debris to escape through the body of the holder.

The razor shown in Figures 3 and 4 is of the same general construction but comprises a larger block o foam material whose upper, skin engaging surface is generally rectangular in plan and slightly convex in sid elevation. The holder is also formed with some lateral holes 6 near the upper end of its side walls, to ensure adequate deformability of the holder. The razors of Figures 5, 6 and 7 are all generally similar to that of Figure 1 , but incorporate blade members of different forms.

In Figure 5, the blade member again comprises a unitary foil 2, but it is extensively slotted at 2A between adjacent rows of apertures to increase the flexi bility of the foil.

In each case described above, the holder, parti cularly in its skin engaging region, is highly deformabl and able to conform closely to the skin contours. Because the foil is highly flexible, it is able to follo local deformations of the holder, so that the sharpened edges of the foil apertures in some regions of the foil are displaced relative to those in other regions.

In Figure 6 , two separate foils 2 are provided each comprising a single row of sharp edged apertures,

the foils being independently mounted in respective recesses 3 in the holder 1.

The razor of Figure 7 comprises a blade member 2 presenting a plurality of rectilinear blade edges. Over the major part of its length, the blade member comprises three narrow blade strips 7, 8 and 9 held in spaced parallel relation by thin, flexible connecting straps 11. The outer strips 7 and 9 have sharpened inner edges 7A, 9A, facing the respective sharpened edges 8A, 8B of the central strip 8.

At each end of the blade member there is provided a spaced pair of blade strips 12 having their inner, adjacent edges sharpened, these strips extending transversely to the length of the blade strips 7, 8 and 9.

With this arrangement, the blade member as a whole is highly flexible, so that different blade edges and different regions of individual blade edges are readily displaceable relative to each other. The con- necting straps 11 also act as skin guards.

The razor shown in Figure 8 comprises a generally cylindrical block body 1 having set into its end face a plurality of radially disposed foils 2 each presenting a single row of sharp edged apertures. One foil is shown in exploded perspective view for the sake of clarity.

Figure 9 illustrates a razor generally similar in form to that of Fig. 3, but whereas the latter assumes some form of bonding of the foil directly to the holder 1 , the razor of Fig. 9 employs a separate frame 13 for mounting the foil on the holder. The frame is of moulded plastics construction and is highly flexible. It is of generally rectangular shape, formed on its inner periphery with inwardly directed slots 14 to receive the margins of the foil. At its opposite ends the frame has

depending legs 16 which pass downwardly through the end holes 4, the lower ends of the legs being captured by slotted retainers 17 which are inserted through the end holes 6. The side members of the frame having dependin prongs 18 which are pushed into the foam and body at th bottom of cavity 3.

Figure 10 shows a further variant, in which th holder comprises a lower body portion 1A made up from t moulded casing halves of relatively rigid plastics material. Transverse internal walls 19 provide a suppor for an upper body portion 1B of readily deformable foam material. The foil 2 and frame 13 are as shown in Fig. but in this case the legs 16 clip into slots 21 formed i the walls 19. The razor of Figure 11 is of generally cylin¬ drical form, and comprises a relatively rigid lower body portion 1A, an upper body portion 1B of readily deform¬ able material and a plurality of separate foils 2 set in the portion 1B. The foils are of hexagonal form, each having a number of sharp edged apertures. The portion 1 is of inverted cup-shape and has a number of channel- section brackets 22 depending from its main wall surface to engage in slots formed in upstanding support legs 23 integral with the body portion 1A. The cylindrical side wall of the portion 1B is formed with recesses 24 which serve both to increase the flexibility of the portion an also to provide large passages for the clearance of the shaving debris. Flexibility is further enhanced by the provision of radial slots 26 in the upper surface of the portion 1B.

The razor illustrated in Fig. 12 is generally similar in form to that of Fig. 10 but it incorporates a additional component in the form of a rectangular frame 28 surrounding the foil and made of a material which supplies a skin conditioning agent, such as a lubricant

or a moisturizer. More specifically, the frame may comprise a solid mixture of a hydrophobic polymer and a hydrophilic polymer, the hydrophilic polymer dissolving out of the mixture when wetted during shaving. The hydrophobic polymer may be polystyrene and the hydrophilic material may be polyethylene oxide, which acts as a lubricant between the skin and the blade member.

As best seen in Figs. 12A and 12B, which are scrap sections on the lines AA and BB in Fig. 12, the foil 2 is again held by a frame 13 whose legs 16 extend downwardly through recesses in the foam body portion 1B, and clip into recesses 21 in the rigid, lower body por¬ tion 1A. The frame 13 also has depending projections 29 which engage in apertured lugs 31 integral with the frame 28 in order to clamp the latter in position.

The solid mixture material could, of course, alternatively be provided in other forms, such as in discrete elements distributed about the area occupied by blade means.

Various combinations of details of the individual embodiments described above will, of course, be possible within the scope of the invention.

Reverting to the question of the nature of the holder material, we have employed the following procedure to establish whether a given material has a suitable degree of flexibility.

A horizontal rourd bar, 40mm. long and 4.75mm. diameter is pressed into a block material 65mm. by 35mm. and 20mm. thick. The block is positioned on a flat anvil with the horizontal bar centred on the centre of the block with its length parallel to the long axis of the block. The bar is advanced into the block at the rate of 40mm. /min to a maximum depth of 2.5mm. and the rate of increase in the load is recorded. The deform-

ability is then quoted as the rate of increase in Newtons/mm.

We have found that most materials suitable for the purpose have a resultant value in the range of 1.5 t 10 Newtons/mm. and preferably in the range of 4 to 7 Newtons/mm.

As previously stated, polyethylene foam may be employed, but various thermo-plastic, cross-linked or thermo-setting materials could be used, such as polyure- thane, silicone rubber, ethyl vinyl acetate, polyvinyl chloride, polyester, polyether or blends of such materials.