Founder of The Gillette Company. Gillette history Gillette history

Gillette history

King Camp Gillette, the inventor of the disposable razor and founder of the company that bears his name, has proven that big money can be made from small things - household items that are cheap but used on a daily basis.

Simple as a cork

Surprisingly, but own business, who quickly made him a millionaire, founded King Camp Gillette only on the eve of his fiftieth birthday. Prior to that, he worked as a traveling salesman for 30 years.

The future "razor king" (parents prophetically named their son King) was born in 1855 in the town of Font du Lac in Wisconsin. His father, a hardware store owner, was literally obsessed with invention, constantly improving everything that came to hand. The King's brothers did the same. Shortly after a fire destroyed Gillette Sr.'s shop in 1871, he obtained a job as a patent agent in New York. His 16-year-old son also moved there. He began earning money on his own, becoming a traveling salesman delivering hardware products.

For many years running around the country and trading in a wide variety of goods, Gillette acquired a tremendous experience of persuasion, which later helped him a lot. All this time he did not stop inventing - the original mechanism of a piston and a sleeve for a water tap, several types of electrical conductors, a new valve made of soft rubber ... All these were useful things in everyday life, but acquired patents big money the inventor was not brought. Gillette later admitted that he did not have enough time or money to promote his new products himself, and the money was usually received by others. Another invention was needed that would immediately revolutionize the market and make its author a millionaire.

Gillette's search was directed by his boss, William Painter, owner of the Baltimore Crown Cork & Seal. Painter himself invented one valuable and still in demand thing - the Crown Cork, which was a tin lid with a gasket attached to it. Seeing his salesman trying in vain to invent something, Painter advised Gillette to think about something as practical, cheap, and disposable as his cork. Over something that the buyer will not regret to throw away so that he can immediately head to the store for the next purchase.

“After this memorable advice, the invention of a new fast-moving consumer goods became an obsession for me,” Gillette recalled. - I went over in memory almost all human needs, all spheres of human activity, but to no avail.

And only in the summer of 1895 it dawned on him.

Valuable waste product

One morning, while performing a daily male ritual, the salesman found that his razor had once again become dull. I had to carry her to the grinder again, waste time and money.

“I stood with the razor in my hand,” King Camp later wrote. - And suddenly I quite clearly imagined the future Gillette machine! In a matter of seconds, many questions flashed through my head, but the answers were found instantly, as if it all happened in a dream. "

Gillette first noticed that only a thin blade works in a razor, and the rest serves to support it - although the manufacture of a handle also takes time and money. At that time, the handle was made of expensive steel and decorated with carving, embossing and other excesses. Why not come up with a more economical way of holding the blade, and he himself will increase the duration? Or maybe go even further - go to replaceable cheap blades?

This is how the idea of \u200b\u200ba replaceable blade, sharpened on both sides, was born, as well as a cheap T-shaped handle with clips. Before that, the design of the razor had not changed for centuries, and its use was a risky and unpleasant procedure - it is no coincidence that the razor was called “dangerous” for a long time. Only in the mid-1870s, the Kempfe brothers in Germany invented a “safe” one, but forged and with a blade that required constant sharpening.

Gillette was thinking about a fundamentally different machine with a different blade - thin, strong, lightweight and cheap, so that it could be thrown away and replaced after every shave. All adult men in the world, regardless of their nationality, wealth and education, were to become potential buyers of such a product. This was an ingenious invention, a patent for which could enrich an inventor overnight.

Gillette began experimenting and immediately ran into the main obstacle - all the specialists he turned to for advice unanimously argued that modern industry simply does not produce the steel necessary for a new razor - at the same time thin, durable and cheap. The inventor did not yet know that special steel would be required, the cost of which would be much more expensive than the estimated one. Nor did he know that laboratory tests alone would cost a quarter of a million dollars. When Gillette realized this, the enthusiasm of potential investors dropped to zero.

Six years have passed in fruitless search. Gillette went around all the grinders, all the specialty stores in Boston and New York, trying to figure out how to harden thin steel, at what temperature it is best to harden it to avoid the curvature of the blade. Even experts from one of the most authoritative scientific centers - Massachusetts Institute of Technology - shyly shrugged. And friends and colleagues advised him to get this crazy idea out of his head.

Finally, in 1901, fate brought Gillette to the mechanical engineer William Nickerson, who invented the technology of strengthening and sharpening the steel tape. After that, the business got off the ground - a patent was obtained for a T-shaped safety razor (which can be opened to change a dull blade to a new one) and a company for its production was founded - American Safety Razor Company (in July 1902, it changed its name to Gillette Safety Razor Company). However, the initial capital quickly dried up, and partners - Gillette and Nickerson with two of their friends - went public, raising another $ 5,000. But those soon disappeared, and the cost of razors was still too high for a disposable item.

The company was saved by the gift of persuasion possessed by a traveling salesman with thirty years of experience. Gillette managed to attract investors, and in 1903 the serial production of his razors began. However, the start of the newborn company was not encouraging - only 51 machines and 168 blades were sold in the first year. The head of the company did his best to retain investors, assuring them that it takes time for a new product to win the buyer's favor. And his expectations were justified - already in next year more than one hundred thousand Americans bought Gillette products, and by 1908, profits exceeded $ 13 million.

Bait and hook

Disposable world

Shortly before his death, in 1926, when the 25th anniversary of Gillette was celebrated, its founder stated: “I do not know of any other everyday consumer goods like our safety razor. In my travels, I have met her everywhere - from a fishing village in northern Norway to the Sahara Desert. " However, even in his wildest dreams, Gillette hardly knew how widely his invention would be used. Having dreamed of utopian projects all his life, Gillette was able to change the world - although not in the direction he thought about. He turned shaving from a daily torture into an easy, uncomplicated procedure. Moreover, Gillette's invention gave mankind a new vector of development - disposable razors were inevitably followed by disposable pens, disposable tableware, disposable clothing.

Gillette celebrated its centenary anniversary as one of the world leaders in the market not only for shaving accessories, but also for dental care, perfumery and household hygiene - even writing instruments and household electrical appliances! Today the “brand portfolio” of the company includes almost a thousand items.

The annoying advertisement made us famous a millionaire named Gillette. King Camp himself was a very unusual businessman. And first of all, he dreamed not of wealth, but of the creation of an ideal state in which everything would be common.

At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, in Europe and America, many ideas were born and brought to life, each of which changed the world in its own way. The author of one of them was King Camp Gillette, "the king of blades", the founder of the Gillette razor empire.

What is being replicated sells well. Gillette was one of the first to realize this, focusing precisely on the ease of production and the availability of razors to everyone. His invention, according to researchers, opened the era of "disposability".

However, the very personality of the king was very extraordinary. Having absorbed from his father a desire to change life for the better and inheriting a strong character and mobility of mind, King Gillette never sat still and, until the end of his life, invented new things and improved the old. Some of his ideas remained unfulfilled, while others are still being developed by followers.

The birth of a king

King Camp was born on January 5, 1855 in the family of a successful entrepreneur, the owner of a hardware store, George Gillette. The inventor spent his childhood in Wisconsin in the small provincial town of Font du Lac, whose name translates from French as “the bottom of the lake”. Life in a quiet settlement was calm and measured, every day is similar to the previous one - established customs, church visits on Sundays, family dinners ...

George knew that boredom would sooner or later ruin him and his growing son. That is why, after consulting with his wife, Gillette Sr. decided to move to Chicago, a large industrial city with wide opportunities. During the years of their life in Font du Lac, Gillettes accumulated a large sum of money. It was enough to not only settle in a new place, but also to open a business. The family moved from selling hardware to the maintenance and repair of sewing machines.

The work brought considerable income and promised the family a comfortable life, but the merciless Chicago fire of 1871 made its own adjustments to these plans. Together with the burnt down quarters of the city, George's workshop also disappeared. Gillette Sr., heartbroken, sought solace at the bottom of the bottle and died soon after. 16-year-old Gillette Jr. was left as the only man in the family, and he had to take care of his mother.

It should be noted that King's mother, Fanny Camp, did not sit idly by. From an early age, passionate about cooking, in 1887 she published a book of unusual recipes called "White House Kitchen" and received a considerable fee for it. The money raised came in handy - it allowed the Gillettes to pay off their debts and even buy King a business suit.

The future inventor went into trade. He got a job as a traveling salesman in a modest Chicago company selling household items and since then traveled a lot around the country and the world. Gillette Jr. liked the job. Trading various goods - from toothpicks to bar soap - he has signed many contracts with European countries. Business of the company went uphill, and King Camp, whose merit in this was incredibly great, was listed in good standing. But in the soul of the energetic and successful young man, dissatisfaction with himself grew. He did not want to sell the fruits of other people's creations all his life - he wanted to invent something unique himself. And if his father once failed, he, King, will definitely succeed. He will become as famous as his contemporaries Bell and Edison. But what to think of? This question has not yet been answered.

On the way to a dream

At 35, King Gillette married the daughter of oil entrepreneur Atlanta Gaines. Together with her, he moved to Boston, where, in the same position as before, he joined Crown Cork & Seal. He now sold corkscrews, corrugated brass beer caps, and lined wine lids that owner William Painter had invented and launched.

Many envied Painter because he was a very successful entrepreneur, but King admired his boss so sincerely and genuinely that they quickly became friends. Soon their Sunday dinners together became a good tradition. Friends came together on the basis of interest in the latest inventions, engineering, and over a glass of French cognac or a glass of Californian wine, they did not hesitate to share their dreams and fantasies. And then one day, when it came to his own achievements, Painter asked Gillette: “King, you want to invent something unusual. Do you know what came to my mind? After all, perhaps the main charm of my cork is its cheapness and fragility. I opened the bottle, twisted it back and forth a couple of times, and that's it.- in the trash. Think about it!".

And King really thought about it. But it's true, it was not necessary to invent something completely new, you can simply change the view of already existing things. The ones that we use every day and that we often buy. And to reduce them to a simpler model of "made - used, used or broken - thrown away, thrown out - bought new". This is what the era demanded from inventors.

But which of the items of frequent use can be simplified to this diagram? In search of an answer, King, as in his school years, turned to the dictionary. He looked for words, read them deeply and analyzed them from all sides.

From the memoirs of King Camp Gillette: “The invention of a new consumer goods with a short life span has become an obsession for me. I went over in memory almost all human needs, all spheres of human activity, but almost to no avail. "

So Gillette came up with a new rubber gasket for the crane, consisting of a piston and a sleeve, several types of electrical conductors, a convenient rubberized valve - but all this certainly could not bring him fame and wealth. Something more substantial was needed, but nothing came to mind. Yet Gillette did not despair. He knew for sure that sooner or later the image of a new invention would appear on its own. And so it happened.

Through hardship to the stars

The idea came up quite by accident during a morning shave. Later, Gillette himself recalled: “I looked in the mirror and, starting to shave, immediately found that my razor is hopelessly dull. She was not just dumb, she was hopeless. I was not able to sharpen it myself. You had to go to the hairdresser or the grinder. I stood, bewilderedly looking at the razor, and it was then in my head that an idea was born. Or a painting. I do not know. In any case, I know for sure that at that moment the Gillette razor was born. I saw it in its entirety, in one second I asked myself dozens of questions and answered each of them. Everything happened quickly, as in a dream, and looked more like revelation than rational thought. "

The new razor had to get rid of the shortcomings of the familiar thing. Firstly, to become compact in order to take up as little space as possible in a suitcase and easily fit into any pocket; secondly - to be cheaper than any other razor, so that everyone can afford a new Zhillette one; third - to finally become safe.

Historical background: The fashion for shaving was introducedScipio, famous for his final victory over Hannibal in 202 BC. It was he who began to use the razor every day, setting an infectious example to all his subordinates. Later, the lack of a beard became almost hallmark noble strata of Roman society.

By the end of the 19th century, razors had undergone almost no changes since their invention in ancient Egypt, when they were made of copper or bronze. A little later, the blades became iron, no less dangerous, but more suitable for daily use. The razor was a vertically soldered razor into the handle. Gillette's idea was to sharpen the blade on one side, move it, and possibly a pair of blades, to a horizontal position and attach the handle perpendicular to them. At the same time, as soon as the blade becomes dull, it can be thrown out and replaced with a new one.

There could be no mistake, King finally found what he was striving for! In his memoirs, he wrote: “I stood and smiled like the last fool. Actually, I was a fool. I didn’t understand anything about razors, and I knew even less about the properties of steel ”.Yes, it's one thing to invent, and quite another to bring it to life. It was necessary to calculate the thickness of the steel blade so that it was both flexible and durable at the same time, to understand how it could be sharpened, what shape and from what to make the machine, and most importantly, with which to fix the blade on it. But what if there is no relevant knowledge in the field of engineering? King's call to his wife, who was at that time in Ohio, with the words “Done. Our future is secured! " was clearly hasty. After all, the newly minted inventor, who at that time did not have any clear plan, decided to act by trial and error.

Everything and more!

King went on a field trip to the hardware store. He walked between the counters and thought.

For the blades, a steel band, which is commonly used to make watch springs, is fine. From a pound of such a 16-cent strip, by conservative estimates, there should be at least 500 blades! You also need to acquire carpentry tools and materials from which the handle could be made. And for sketches, you will definitely need paper, a ruler and a drawing pencil. Sparing no time and effort, Gillette completely immersed himself in work. But the first week of his hard work did not produce results.

From the memoirs of King Camp Gillette: "Without receiving a technical education, I did not even suspect that I needed a special quality steel, much more expensive than the one with which I began my experiments."

Back then, King did not even think about turning to professional engineers for help. Breaking cheap blades over and over again, Gillette spent more than $ 25,000 on experiments. He set up a laboratory in his office and sat there all his free time for many years. It needed a different steel and technology, someone's fresh look. But friends, whom he told about his idea, considered it pointless and even painfully intrusive. And when the inventor nevertheless asked the experts for advice, they replied that it was simply impossible to harden blades made of steel of this thickness - they would still crumble. But Gillette did not take their arguments seriously. He had a gut feeling that there must be a way to get what he wanted.

"Gillette - for successful men"

King met a suitable person only 6 years after that momentous morning. It turned out to be a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, William Nickerson, who, imbued with the ideas of the inventor, was finally able to get things off the ground. William not only found the right steel and figured out how to fix it on the handle, but he also created a machine for sharpening the required type of blades with his own hands.

The dream of the future shaving king came true! Now it was possible to start producing the first batch of goods. However, first, he and Nickerson needed to raise seed money to buy materials. Gillette spent all his savings over the years of experimentation, and the poor graduate did not have a penny to his heart. Therefore, they turned to their friends for help, among whom was even the "beer" genius John Joyce. King convinced his friends of the success of the campaign, and they, still feeling distrustful, agreed to give money to register the company. Which is exactly what happened in September 1901. So the beginning of the century was marked by the opening of the American Safety Razor Company. But there were still not enough funds for production.

However, Gillette's adventurous mind found a solution. The inventor announced that their company, which had only 8 employees, was worth at least half a million dollars. Of course, it was a gamble, but it attracted the attention of investors, and 40% of the shares put on sale at the lowest price were instantly sold out. So in the hands of the razor inventor was 5 thousand dollars, and in October a patent was received for the production of disposable blades.

And when, it would seem, nothing could prevent shareholders from getting rich overnight, the fashion for beards returned again. The European elite seemed to have conspired against Gillette. Now here and there photographs of bearded aristocrats began to appear, and all young people tried to imitate them. To go against the current meant failure. Both King and his associates decided to find something in between that would not argue with fashion, but would not infringe on the interests of the company. Then a mustache appeared on Gillette's face and company logo. This did not leave without a caustic remark Theodore Roosevelt, to whom Gillette a little later, in 1910, offered a million dollars to lead one of his projects in the state of Arizona. But the president refused: “ I would gladly, - he joked, - but to be honest, I don't really trust the person who makes razors and wears a mustache».

"Every military man should have it!"

The first Zhillette razors were launched for $ 5, which at that time was not cheap at all - average salary in the United States was then about $ 100. Therefore, only 51 razors were sold that year. The practically impoverished King was forced to look for work again. Fortunately, William Painter did not abandon his old friend and not only took him back to Crown Cork & Seal, but also offered to head one of the British branches of the firm.

However, King did not quit his business. After a short rest, Gillette rushed into battle again. As an experienced and resourceful traveling salesman, the inventor approached the sale of razors outside the box. He began to give away the machines below cost in the hope of making good money on the sale of blades, which buyers would change much more often. And so it happened. Already in 1902, the name of the inventor began to appear in the name of the company, and in 1903 a factory for the production of machine tools and blades Gillette was opened in Boston. That same year, fortunately for shareholders, sales increased to 50 machines and 168 replacement blades. Rave reviews quickly spread throughout America, and two years later, Gillette sold 91,000 razors and 123,000 blades to them. The company was doing well. By 1908, the whole world drew attention to the American invention, and the company was already selling goods for 13 million dollars a year. Production started in Canada, Germany, England and France.

The company finally developed during the First World War. Then, for the sake of hygiene, all soldiers were obliged to shave cleanly, and the constant movement of troops from place to place required mobility and ease of use. The government was not stingy and ordered 36 million machines and blades from Gillette.

By the end of the war, the company was already selling about 120 million blades a year, and young people were instilled in the new fashion for a "clean and close shave". Then the first gift Baskets in tin boxes.

"Gillette- no better for a man "

Gillette was one of the first to advertise his inventions, giving them away to people for free. Moreover, he not only donated machines and blades, but also applied small bonuses to them: folding knives, sweets and chocolates, canned food, coffee and chewing gum. This has increased the demand for Gillette products to an unprecedented level. Other companies are also interested in production. Now that patent expiration was inevitable, competitors were quickly rebuilding their factories to also make disposable blades. Gillette's empire could fail, because rivals, as intelligence reported, were going to sell their goods several times cheaper.

The mobile mind of the inventor also found a way out of the situation here. Gillette refined the machine and blade models and brought them down to $ 1. Six months before the expiration of the patent have become the most profitable in the history of the company.

From the memoirs of King Camp Gillette: “I do not know of any other product of everyday demand that is the same as our safety razor. On my travels, I met her everywhere - from a fishing village in northern Norway to the Sahara Desert. "

Competition has taken a heavy toll on business. But instead of attacking and defending, the firm decided to take a more cunning path. In 1930, it merged with its main rival, the Auto Strop company of Henry J. Geisman, who established the production of double-sided blades.

Gillette expanded its holdings until World War II. New improvements have given the shaver a different look. The machine itself began to be made exclusively of plastic, and the blade was already fixed in the body. The razor was now completely disposable and thrown away after use. The production of various creams, lotions and shaving accessories was also adjusted to the new model. Razors for women have also entered life. These innovations were among King's latest achievements. Then he sold most of the shares and bought a house in a quiet location surrounded by healing orange orchards. In 1932, Gillette died in California, leaving behind people who were not indifferent to the shaving business.

"Of all the great inventions, the disposable razor is the greatest of little things!" - he said to the world at last.

"Gillette is the best of all time"

After World War II, the Gillette razor changed dramatically. Safe multi-row cassettes have supplanted replaceable blades. And 10 years later, a sensational novelty blew up the world from television screens: a movable Mach head with three super-sharp blades. The 40 billion-dollar sales were the result of an excellent half-century of work by the company, which absorbed about fifty small firms. A century later, Gillette boasted not only the production of razors and accessories for them, but also Oral-B dental care products, Parker fountain pens, Duracell household batteries, and Braun electrical equipment.

Gillette employed over 40,000 people and had an annual turnover of $ 9.25 billion. In 2005, the firm, valued at $ 57 billion, was acquired by Procter & Gamble.

Gillette's utopian dreams

Gillette's fantasies extended beyond inventions. Back in the days when he was looking for an idea for a new product, King built an image of a perfect world in his head. The thoughts accumulated for many years in 1894, he outlined in the book "Where is humanity going."

The modern world, according to the inventor, needed a reorganization and complete destruction of capitalism, and the sooner the better.

From the memoirs of King Camp Gillette: "If I believed in the devil, I would be sure that competition for profit is his most ingenious invention."

As Eden, the shaving king chose the Canadian province of Ontario - a cozy, quiet place surrounded by the Great Lakes. There, Gillette believed, a huge, perfect skyscraper city, Metropolis, should be built, capable of accommodating the entire population of the United States. People in it will work in state monopolies for the good of society, have breakfast, lunch and dinner together, and in the evenings they will have a civilized rest in the foyer. At Niagara Falls, King planned to install an environmentally friendly power plant that would supply power to all homes and businesses indefinitely. The residents of the ideal city will have no money, but at the same time everyone will be the sovereign shareholder of Metropolis. People will be alienated from envy, competition and wars. And their souls will be filled with happiness and serenity. According to the inventor's idea, Metropolis, sooner or later, was to serve as a positive example for other countries, which would also unite into cities, and later merge and become one whole world without borders - a Single Society.

Gillette returned to his ideas later, already a successful and wealthy businessman. In 1910 he wrote the second book - "World Corporation". But this time, King didn't stop at just words. He went to Arizona, and, without wasting time, registered there an organization with the same name, which Gillette and invited Theodore Roosevelt to head. Now King was ready to spend all his honestly earned $ 200 million to make his dream come true. But the president, having reduced the answer to a joke, refused the position offered to him. The inventor was not supported by both ex-president William Taft and the automobile genius Henry Ford, who called King's idea "sheer absurdity." Gillette held on to his dreams for many years, and they ultimately led the king out of his razor empire. The New York Times wrote about King Camp Gillette : “It is difficult to take seriously a man who owns villas, limousines and remarkable capital when he says that 'we are wasting our lives on the accumulation of capital.'

In fact, all of Gillette's money was kept not in expensive houses and cars, but in company shares. His fortune almost burned out during the Great Depression, and the family business was continued by the inventor's only son, King Jr.

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This is a series of materials prepared by Vladimir Voronov together with experts from 5 areas. Our illustrated articles will help you develop leadership skills and become a real leader for others. Every day we will publish a new lesson for a future leader and accompany it with a story about an outstanding leader. Also, at the end of each article, you will find exercises that will help you develop your leadership skills!

When King Gillette was twenty-one, he began to invent all sorts of things. His father and brothers were also inventors. But they made all sorts of trinkets that did not bring them any income. Like many people in his position, Gillette blamed everything for his failures - lack of time, money and much more, but not himself.

At 36, King Gillette got a job as a traveling salesman. For many years, wandering around the country and selling a wide variety of goods, the future "razor king" acquired a colossal experience of persuasion, which later helped him a lot.

King invented the famous razor at the age of 40. Almost immediately he founded The Gillette Company, which began manufacturing a disposable safety razor in 1903.

The invention has revolutionized! In just two years, Gillette became a millionaire. Today, Gillette razors and razors are in multi-billion dollar sales.

Read also:

From an interview with King: “For a while, I lived in Brooklyn and was constantly thinking about how to invent something that people would have to throw away after use and then buy again.

One fine morning, when I started to shave, I found that my razor was dull, and so much so that the strap could not fix anything. I realized that the razor would have to be taken to a grinder or a hairdresser. And while I stood holding it in my hand, my gaze fell on it, and as if a bird had flown into the nest - the Gillette razor was born! In a second, I saw everything at once: I saw how the blade was attached, then the idea came to sharpen both ends of a thin strip of steel, then, as if by themselves, the plates that fasten the blade and the handle located between its edges came up with. "

King also dreamed of creating a unified world government. He offered to take the post of head of Theodore Roosevelt, William Taft and Henry Ford. They refused, greatly disappointing the shaving mogul. He planned to spend $ 200 million on a dream, but now he did not know where to invest the money. He did not like to spend money on luxury goods.

The vest loved to travel. All his life he was faithful to his wife. He spent his old age in California, where he founded an orange plantation farm.

The 77-year-old founder of disposable, shortly before his death, humbly remarked: "Of all the great inventions, the disposable razor is the greatest of little things." The trifle turned out to be truly great - the famous seller of the moment left one of the largest fortunes in America as a legacy to his family.

The main rule of success for King Camp Gillette: Slowly but persistently moving towards the goal, you can achieve phenomenal success.

Read also:

Exercise tasks for future leadersby a coach Describe the relationship between dream and success using the example of King Kemp Gillette. What qualities led King Kemp Gillette to wealth? And what qualities did he lack to maintain his position? Do you think that if King Camp Gillette had not become an inventor, he would have achieved success? Why do you think so? These tasks were prepared by the coach

King Kemp Gillette didn't just invent and spin the safety razor. He instilled in customers a new culture of consumption - when a thing is simply thrown away after use, and does not serve for years. He came up with a new ideology, opened the era of disposable handkerchiefs, lighters, cups and plates. A brilliant idea that still bears fruit. Every year, the ideological followers of Gillette master new areas of production, making the world of things more and more disposable.

One summer morning in the distant 1895, he looked in the mirror at his overgrown face and muttered a short and sonorous curse, different versions of which are pronounced every day by all men, regardless of language, country and profession. They all hate morning shaving equally. Especially with a dull razor.

This time the performer of the traditional aria was 40-year-old sales agent King Camp Gillette, a successful distributor of new bottle caps. However, he was attracted by other shores. He dreamed of inventing something. Something so simple and beautiful.

He was born and raised in a provincial town with a resounding French name Fond du Lac (Lake Depth), in the state of Wisconsin. Here everything smelled of moss and solidity. Unhurried life, patriarchal foundations, serious bearded faces, long winter evenings. It was not for him. As, however, and not for his father, from whom he inherited a liveliness of mind and considerable pride. To go into business and educate his son, Gillette's father moved the family to Chicago: big city - great opportunities, he used to say. There, Gillette Sr. opened a workshop for the repair and maintenance of sewing machines. She brought in a good income, and this inspired hope for the best. Everything collapsed because of the Chicago fire of 1871 - a legendary disaster in American history that shuffled the cards and melted many destinies. The workshop burned down, and with it the whole thing. Soon the father started drinking, and King had to take over the family's maintenance.

He found a job quickly. Small company for the sale of household items - from toothpicks to soap - took a smiling and energetic young man to the position of a sales agent. King knew how to sell and quickly gained a reputation as a promising employee. He traveled with goods not only across the American expanses, but also mastered England, cutting through the company for which he honestly worked, a window to Europe. But his childhood dream of becoming an inventor did not leave him. Time only spurred his passion: the end of the last century was the era of inventions - telephone and radio, light bulbs and cars.

In 1891 Mr. Gillette moved to Baltimore and took a job at new job in the company Baltimore Seal Company, which produced corkscrews and plugs. He befriended William Poynter, the inventor of the corkscrew and the brass lid with an inner cork seal - the one most associated today with a vodka bottle. On the first Sunday of the month, he invited King to dinner. Soon Sunday dinners became regular - friends discussed engineering innovations, fantasized from the heart.

The conversation about the next discovery was certainly accompanied by the opening and drinking of a bottle of Californian wine or even French cognac. One day, opening another bottle and looking at the elegant cap of his own invention, Painter remarked:

- King, you all want to invent something like that. Do you know what came to my mind? After all, perhaps the main charm of my cork is its cheapness and fragility. He opened the bottle, twisted it back and forth a couple of times, and everything was in the trash. Think! King liked this idea. There was something new about her. He said many times that it was time to discard the ambitions of the inventors of the past centuries, who claimed to be eternal. He sincerely believed that it was necessary to be simpler. No sooner said than done. Done - Used. Used - thrown away. Very in the spirit of the times. There was enough ideology and inspiration, but a scientific approach was required. The vocabulary seemed to be the quintessential rational method. In the evenings, King leafed dreamily through it, reading every word for an object. "Noun" - something emerged from the depths of school childhood. "A" is a diamond to cut glass. No, there is already such a thing. "B" is a bottle for which I sell corks. "B" is a bicycle. Why am I going to reinvent the wheel in my old age? He yawned and closed the dictionary.

And the next morning ...

20 years later, he recalled this morning: “I looked in the mirror and, starting to shave, immediately discovered that my razor was hopelessly dull. It was not just dull, but precisely hopeless. I could not sharpen it myself. go to the hairdresser or the grinder. I stood looking at the razor in bewilderment, and then an idea was born in my head. Or a picture. I don’t know. In any case, I know for sure that at that moment the vest razor was born I saw it in its entirety, in one second I asked myself dozens of questions and answered each of them. Everything happened quickly, like in a dream, and looked more like a revelation than a rational thought. "

American razors of the late 90s almost exactly repeated, surprisingly, their ancient Egyptian prototype. They consisted of a blade, the back of which was attached to the handle and was firmly soldered into it. Gillette's idea was that the back is unnecessary. It is enough to sharpen a thin strip of steel on both sides and secure it in a simple removable horizontal holder, which, in turn, would be attached to the handle perpendicularly. As soon as the blade became dull, it could be thrown out and a new one inserted. The design was extremely simple. "I stood and smiled like the last fool. Actually, I was a fool. I did not understand anything about razors, and even less understood the properties of steel."

“Done. Our future is assured,” he wrote to his wife, who was visiting relatives in Ohio. And, as always, he hurried. It took 11 years of trial and error before the invention made a penny. But King didn't know about it yet. Inspired, he flew into the nearest hardware store, bought a roll of steel tape for making clock springs, basic tools and drawing paper. With all this, he went home and a week later showed the world the first razor with disposable blades. The fight for blade durability has been replaced by the fight for cheapness. King was confident in the success of his venture. After all, a skein of ribbon cost only 16 cents a pound, and from a pound, according to his calculations, it should have made 500 blades.

"Having received no technical education, I did not even suspect that I needed a special quality steel, much more expensive than the one with which I began my experiments." But King literally became obsessed with his idea, making more and more new razor modifications. Over the next 8 years of experiments, in an exhausting struggle for the cheapness of the blade, he spent more than $ 25 thousand. He hardly saw anyone and spent whole days in the laboratory or over the drawings. They needed thin, strong and at the same time cheap steel. The experts he contacted advised to give up senseless searches. Hardening a steel strip that thick is like trying to sew a dress out of thread. If Gillette had received an appropriate technical education, he would have given up long ago and gave up.

But he did not back down. The matter got off the ground in 1900, when William Nickerson, a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, took up the technical embodiment of the Vilette idea. Nickerson developed a technology for strengthening and sharpening a steel strip. A few more months of work - and a solution has been found. Gillette finished developing the final model. When he finally crawled out of his voluntary confinement, his friends laughed at him:

You've gone wild, buddy. Have you even seen yourself in the mirror? He invented the razor, and he overgrown, as if you live in a forest.

He was not offended, but took note. He had already thought about it himself. The trouble was that, as if it were a sin, beards began to come into fashion again. Representatives of the royal families of Europe were the first to wear a beard, and then the wave reached America. It will not be possible to change fashion, but a compromise is possible. A mustache is not a compromise? This is how the famous vest mustache appeared, which became the company's trademark. But neither the owner of the mustache, nor those to whom he tried to offer his invention yet believed in their magic power. Friends joked, but investors and engineers remained indifferent and didn’t puff.

And yet, in 1901, Gillette managed to persuade several friends to invest small amounts of money in the business as initial capital. Having collected $ 5 thousand, he received a patent for his invention and opened a company. The first disposable razors hit the market in 1903. 51 razors and 168 blades were sold this year. The next one - 91 thousand razors and 123 thousand blades. By 1908, sales exceeded $ 13 million. During the First World War, the fashion for beards, of course, faded, and the demand for razors rose sharply. Gillette's finest hour has come. Wartime and field conditions required a simplified life. Disposable razors came in handy. They solved many problems at once: they were cheap, easy to use, did not require maintenance and, being disposable, guaranteed hygiene. In addition, along with them, there was no need for a regimental barber. Gillette razors began to sell in unprecedented numbers. By 1917, 1 million razors and 120 million blades were sold annually.

The war is over, and the habit of shaving on your own remains. The famous paradox "Who shaves a barber if he only shaves those who do not shave themselves?" went down in history. The year 1921 has come. The 20-year term of the original exclusive patent was expiring, which meant that the day after its expiration, any company could throw disposable razors onto the market and compete with Gillette. Intelligence reported that several manufacturers are ready to produce cheap imitation vest razors. The fate of the company hung in the balance. Six months before the expiration of the patent, Gillette designed and released a new model at a cost of $ 1 apiece (the previous ones cost from $ 5). The company had a record revenue that year.

By 1930, Gillette had merged with a major competitor. Until the outbreak of World War II, it continued to expand. The razor came into vogue, in which the blade was inserted into a one-piece plastic case. After use, they threw away the whole, not just the blade. In addition, the company began producing shaving accessories and shaving creams. In 1947, after the death of the inventor (he died in 1932), the disposable razor experienced a rebirth. The usual, oiled-paper-wrapped individual blades have been replaced by safety cassettes with integrated blades. Then, in 1957, the first Gillette razor with a movable head was introduced. The latest model of a vest razor with three blades, called Mach, has appeared many times in commercials on Russian TV screens. And we, like all progressive humanity, joined the civilized disposable channel, contributing to billions in sales of razors, 40 billion in sales of blades, to the work of thousands of factories, not only in America, but also in Argentina, Australia, Canada, Brazil, Mexico , England, France, Germany and Switzerland. Now in our homes there are packages with the famous mustache of the inventor of disposable razors, King Gillette. The 77-year-old founder of disposability and salesperson of the moment, shortly before his death, modestly remarked: "Of all the great inventions, the disposable razor is the greatest of little things."

Gillette could die in peace. After all, he left one of the largest fortunes in America as a legacy to his family.

One summer morning in the distant 1895, she looked in the mirror at her overgrown face and muttered a short and sonorous curse, different versions of which are uttered daily by all men, regardless of language, country and profession. They all hate morning shaving equally. Especially with a dull razor.

He was born and raised in a provincial town with a resounding French name Fond du Lac (Lake Depth), in the state of Wisconsin. Here everything smelled of moss and solidity. Unhurried life, patriarchal foundations, serious bearded faces, long winter evenings. It was not for him. As, however, and not for his father, from whom he inherited a liveliness of mind and considerable pride. To go into business and educate his son, Gillette's father moved the family to Chicago: a big city - great opportunities, he used to say. There, Gillette Sr. opened a workshop for the repair and maintenance of sewing machines. She brought in a good income, and this inspired hope for the best. Everything collapsed because of the Chicago fire of 1871 - a legendary disaster in American history that shuffled the cards and melted many destinies. The workshop burned down, and with it the whole thing. Soon the father started drinking, and King had to take over the family's maintenance.

He found a job quickly. A small company selling household items - from toothpicks to soap - hired a smiling and energetic young man as a sales agent. King knew how to sell and quickly gained a reputation as a promising employee. He traveled with goods not only across the American expanses, but also mastered England, cutting through the company for which he honestly worked, a window to Europe. But his childhood dream of becoming an inventor did not leave him. Time only spurred his passion: the end of the last century was the era of inventions - telephone and radio, light bulbs and cars.

In 1891, Mr. Gillette moved to Baltimore and took a new job at the Baltimore Seal Company, which made corkscrews and corks. He befriended William Poynter, the inventor of the corkscrew and the brass lid with an inner cork seal - the one most associated today with a vodka bottle. On the first Sunday of the month, he invited King to dinner. Soon Sunday dinners became regular - friends discussed engineering innovations, fantasized from the heart.

King, you all want to invent something like that. Do you know what came to my mind? After all, perhaps the main charm of my cork is its cheapness and fragility. He opened the bottle, twisted it back and forth a couple of times, and everything was in the trash. Think! King liked this idea. There was something new about her. He said many times that it was time to discard the ambitions of the inventors of the past centuries, who claimed to be eternal. He sincerely believed that it was necessary to be simpler. No sooner said than done. Done - Used. Used - thrown away. Very in the spirit of the times. There was enough ideology and inspiration, but a scientific approach was required. The vocabulary seemed to be the quintessential rational method. In the evenings, King leafed dreamily through it, reading every word for an object. "Noun" - something emerged from the depths of school childhood. "A" is a diamond to cut glass. No, there is already such a thing. "B" is a bottle for which I sell corks. "B" is a bicycle. Why am I going to reinvent the wheel in my old age? He yawned and closed the dictionary.

And the next morning ...

Best of the day

20 years later, he recalled this morning: “I looked in the mirror and, starting to shave, immediately discovered that my razor was hopelessly dull. It was not just dull, but precisely hopeless. I could not sharpen it myself. go to the hairdresser or the grinder. I stood looking at the razor in bewilderment, and it was then in my head that an idea was born. Or a picture. I don't know. In any case, I know for sure that at that moment the vest's razor was born I saw it in its entirety, in one second I asked myself dozens of questions and answered each of them. Everything happened quickly, like in a dream, and looked more like a revelation than a rational thought. "

You've gone wild, buddy. Have you even seen yourself in the mirror? He invented the razor, and he overgrown, as if you live in a forest.

Gillette could die in peace. After all, he left one of the largest fortunes in America as a legacy to his family.

Vest, there is no better razor
Valery 14.02.2018 04:00:43

Great article about a great man. King Camp Gillette, the inventor of the safety razor, has made life easier for not only men who shave every morning, but women also use his invention. I remember very well how my dad shaved with a straight razor, it was a whole ritual, starting from straightening the razor, steaming it with a hot towel soaked in hot water, shaving brush and soap shavings, alum .. I tried to shave with my father's Solinger razor, which he brought from Berlin and took care of it like the apple of my eye, but nothing worked for me.

I began to shave with domestic razors, blades Neva, Baltica, Sputnik, but unless you compare them with today's, even the cheapest hoes. And shaving gel or foam is a dream. Low bow and eternal memory to King Camp Gillette!