TobyC
Gem Star
Old stick in the mud.
Posts: 2,400
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Post by TobyC on Dec 10, 2019 17:10:13 GMT -6
The Micromatic came along and screwed everything up, had to put a hole and two slots in the blades to make it work.
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Post by ordinaryshaver on Dec 10, 2019 17:15:41 GMT -6
Great stuff guys!
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rayr
Blade King
Posts: 427
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Post by rayr on Dec 10, 2019 17:36:31 GMT -6
... it's a losing battle without radical changes in razor and blade design. Not in the old fashoned SE world. New blades (Twin Injector, Artist Club) bring different opportunities. But real progress is just in the hi-tech modern razors. Just to see the dozens of patent of Gillette in the last few decades. Blade, cartridge, head, handle, lubrificant, absorber, skin-tying fins, and so on ... That's a good reason the ASR GEM SE razors were eventually doomed, ASR didn't continue to innovate new GEM blade designs past the MIcromatic period. if it wasn't for the fact that the GEM style SE blade had found popular use in so many industries, we wouldn't have new blades today or even new GEM style SE razors on the market. The same is true with injector blades. Real progress is driven by competition and the potential for profitability, even though progress can sometimes be in the form of patented gimmicks instead of true innovations, or just one company trying to monopolize the market for a bit on a new thing until competitors play catch up with competitive new products of their own. Just because something is promoted as "Hi-Tech", the latest and greatest isn't going to be necessarily highly popular with the consumers. Band razors were once the latest and greatest hi-tech of the 60's but never really caught on in a big way for men, ASR did however later capture a substantial portion of the women's market with the Ficker band razor which had a long production run. I think Gillette learned a hard lesson from their run in with the ingenious Henry Gaisman of Autostrop and Probak fame that patenting every variation of something is a good business move to keep competitors from out smarting you and having the upper hand.
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riverrun
Lather Catcher
sɐǝɹpu∀
Posts: 888
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Post by riverrun on Dec 10, 2019 17:39:26 GMT -6
The Micromatic came along and screwed everything up, had to put a hole and two slots in the blades to make it work. Worth it. Everytime I load a blade into the Micromatic I smile because it is so darn clever. It was the most advanced razor of its time. An absolute classic. Only the 1912 is more elegant.
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TobyC
Gem Star
Old stick in the mud.
Posts: 2,400
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Post by TobyC on Dec 10, 2019 17:46:47 GMT -6
The Micromatic came along and screwed everything up, had to put a hole and two slots in the blades to make it work. Worth it. Everytime I load a blade into the Micromatic I smile because it is so darn clever. It was the most advanced razor of its time. An absolute classic. Only the 1912 is more elegant. Oh I agree! Love my Micromatic, but I wish they also made disposable SE blades with no cutouts.
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Post by jayaruh on Dec 10, 2019 19:28:25 GMT -6
The Micromatic came along and screwed everything up, had to put a hole and two slots in the blades to make it work. Worth it. Everytime I load a blade into the Micromatic I smile because it is so darn clever. It was the most advanced razor of its time. An absolute classic. Only the 1912 is more elegant. It is very clever. I like the double edge blade they made. I got a box of them, but they were all roached out. I had wondered about putting a double edge blade in the Micromatic, but then I realized it was those side cutouts and the locators on the cap that pushed the blade forward leaving the other edge protected. But, then, the blade was not rostfrei.
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mrconklin
Lather Catcher
First to Break One
Posts: 725
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Post by mrconklin on Dec 10, 2019 23:38:14 GMT -6
Gillette offered blades the user didn't need to sharpen and that had two edges. Even if an SE blade could be used as many times I don't think it mattered because in the average consumers mind 2 edges should give twice the number of shaves. Gillette also offered easy blade handling to keep your fingers safe. I don't know all SE by any means, but it seems like the Injector system was the first to have safer handling. The rigidity of SE generally leads to a superior shave, but I have found a couple of unmentionables the clamp the blade so tightly I can't tell the difference.
The advantage I think SE had/still has at least in the Injector format and they could have done this with GEM too... Why the tall blades, why not half width Gems ala injectors. You could build razors that are some much more maneuverable. Unmemntionables are more maneuverable than a lot of the razors that take Gem blades, but not than Injector and AC.
I also think a HUGE factor was Gillette supplying soldiers. In that day and age once you had something that worked, you didn't go looking to change it.
I like both formats and it's only when I bought a couple of higher end newer unmentionables that I got shaves as good as or better than SE offered from the get go.
Maybe SE was a better format overall, but maybe the unmentionables where VHS to the SE's Betamax. I don't really care, I just shave with what I like. I have no hill to defend or die over.
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godek
SE Super Freak
Posts: 72
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Post by godek on Dec 11, 2019 1:21:04 GMT -6
Worth it. Everytime I load a blade into the Micromatic I smile because it is so darn clever. It was the most advanced razor of its time. An absolute classic. Only the 1912 is more elegant. Perhaps that is another reason why SE drowned. A 1912 looks really old against a late model Gillette [Fred was here] or its even newer brothers. May not be a problem, may even be desired for us today, but it the light of atomic age, space travel and other modern things becoming a trend in the late 50ties it probably just was boring old stuff. Just trying to figure this out, I was born too late to have experienced it. This may also be a reason why canned goo took off so well, it was modern and convenient. So people bought it and used it even if it was less efficient then soap/ cream. br godek
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Post by IschiaPP on Dec 11, 2019 2:45:16 GMT -6
... in the average consumers mind 2 edges should give twice the number of shaves. Quantity over quality, mass product It's all there !!!
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