Classifications

• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B26—HAND CUTTING TOOLS; CUTTING; SEVERING
  • B26B—HAND-HELD CUTTING TOOLS NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • B26B21/00—Razors of the open or knife type; Safety razors or other shaving implements of the planing type; Hair-trimming devices involving a razor-blade; Equipment therefor
  • B26B21/54—Razor-blades
  • B26B21/58—Razor-blades characterised by the material
  • B26B21/60—Razor-blades characterised by the material by the coating material
• • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
  • Y10—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC
  • Y10T—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER US CLASSIFICATION
  • Y10T428/00—Stock material or miscellaneous articles
  • Y10T428/31504—Composite [nonstructural laminate]
  • Y10T428/31678—Of metal
  • Y10T428/31681—Next to polyester, polyamide or polyimide [e.g., alkyd, glue, or nylon, etc.]

Definitions

• RAZOR BLADES This invention relates to razor blades and to methods for their production.
• a razor blade having a discrete coating of nitride of an alloy of chromium (as herein defined) and if desired a discrete coating of an alloy of chromium (as herein defined) on and/or adjacenta cutting edge thereof.
• a discrete coating means a coating of a material which is the same as or different from that of the basic blade and when of the same material as the basic blade, the coating is additional thereto.
• the basic blade is preferably of steel.
• the chromium alloys which may be used include those of chromium with at least one element of Group VIII of the Periodic Table, for example iron, cobalt, nickel or a noble metal, i.e., ruthenium, rhodium, palladium, osmium, iridium or platinum, manganese, rhenium or two or more thereof. Some commercially available alloys may be used.
• the alloy contains more than 12 percent by weight of chromium.
• the chromium preferably constitutes more than 50 atomic percent of the alloy.
• an alloy of chromium is meant to include alloys of chromium with one or more of the specific metals hereinbefore set forth for use in such alloys.
• Small quantities of at least one further alloying element which may be either metallic or nonmetallic, may be present in the alloy in an amount which does not significantly adversely affect the shaving properties of the razor blades of the invention, for example not more than 5 atomic percent.
• chromium alloys are those alloys which are commonly referred to as stainless and these are generally stainless steels or stainless irons.
• Iron/chromium alloys which may be used should in general contain at least 12 percent by weight of chromium conveniently less than 30 percent by weight.
• a preferred class of iron/chromium alloys contain from 16 to 20 percent by weight of chromium with the balance being made up, for example, of from 6 to 12 percent by weight of nickel with the remainder being a major proportion of iron and possibly low concentrations of further alloying elements.
• One preferred alloy contains about 18 percent by weight of chromium and about 8 percent by weight of nickel with the balance iron and a low concentration of at least one further alloying element, for example carbon.
• an iron/chromium alloy is used herein to refer generally to alloys containing both iron and chromium and it is intended to include alloys which contain one or more further alloying elements. In general, however, the iron and chromium should together form a major portion of the iron/chromium alloy (i.e. at least 50 percent preferably more than percent by weight).
• the further alloying elements may be metallic or non-metallic.
• Metallic alloying elements may be selected, for example, from amongst the elements (other' than iron) of Group VIII of the Periodic Table, e.g., cobalt, nickel, ruthenium, rhodium, palladium, osmium, iridium or platinum, or from amongst other metallic elements such as, for example, titanium, zirconium, vanadium, niobium, tantalum, molybdenum, tungsten or manganese.
• the relative amounts of iron, chromium and, when present, one or more further alloying elements are preferably selected to provide alloys which are referred to in the metallurgical art as stainless. These alloys include stainless irons and stainless steels.
• the chromium should be present in an amount of at least 12 percent by weight in the iron/- chromium alloys.
• a preferred class of iron/chromium alloys for use'in the present invention contains from 16 to 20 percent by weight of chromium. However, up to 30 percent by weight or even more chromium may be present.
• the iron/chromium alloys used in the present invention should generally contain a major proportion of iron and chromium.
• the other alloying elements, when present will then constitute less than 50 percent, preferably less than 30 percent by weight, of the alloy.
• Carbon is preferably present in only small amounts, e.g., 0.1 percent by weight of the alloy, especially when the chromium content of the alloy is low (i.e. less than about 14 percent).
• a preferred class of iron/chromium alloys contains from 16 to 20 percent by weight of chromium with the balance being made up, for example, of from 6 to 12 percent by weight of nickel with the remainder being a major proportion of iron and possibly low concentrations of further alloying elements.
• One preferred alloy contains about 18 percent by weight of chromium and about 8 percent by weight of nickel with the balance iron and a low concentration of carbon.
• iron/chromium alloys which may be used may be selected from the alloys listed in Table I below.
• Aluminium l27r Chromium 0.10 max 1.0 max l.0 max 0.50 max ll.5/l4.0 (HO/0.30 0.l07 Carbon max. 0.08 max 0.08 max 0.80 max 0.50 max l2.0/l4.0 0.l0/0.30
• Nitrogen Other alloys which may be used include, for example a chromium/nickel alloy containing about 80 percent by weight of nickel (commonly referred to as Nichrome) and a chromium/cobalt/nickel alloy containing about 20 percent by weight of chromium, about 40 percent by weight of cobalt, about 15 percent by weight of nickel, about 7 percent by weight of molybdenum, about 2 percent by weight of manganese and 65 about 0.15 percent by weight of carbon with the balance being iron (an alloy also known as Elgiloy). Chromium/platinum alloys may also be used.
• the nitrided alloys of chromiii m may be? selected from the nitrides of the alloys of chromium hereinbe- 60 fore set forth.
• the composition may extend from l to 55 atomic percent nitrogen.
• the nitride of the alloy of chromium may form either a single coating on a blade, preferably having an outermost covering of a polymer of copolymer which improves the shaving characteristics of the blade, or it may be one of a plurality of coatings.
• the alloy of chromium may be present as a first coating on a razor blade base and the nitride of the alloy of chromium may be present as a coating upon the first coatmg.
• a chromium alloy is used as a first coat of a dual coated blade it is believed to act as an edge strengthening coating.
• the second coating is generally chosen to provide a better substrate for adhesion of a subsequently applied polymer coating and/or to facilitate crystallisation of the polymer coating, upon deposition, in a manner which results in an improved polymer coating.
• Two coatings other than a polymer or copolymer may be used and the outer of these two coatings is preferably a nitride of the alloy of chromium.
• the other coatings which are preferably other than a nitride of an alloy of chromium are preferably metallic, being either of a substantially pure metal (e.g. chromium) or an alloy thereof, for example an iron/chromium alloy as hereinbefore described.
• an alloy coating it is preferably the same alloy as that from which the nitride is derived.
• the alloy may be an iron/- chromium alloy of the type hereinbefore described and the nitride coating is then preferably derived from the same alloy.
• alloy and nitrided alloy coatings may be derived from chromium/platinum alloys.
• the iron/chromium alloy coatings and the nitrided coatings may be produced by known methods. lonsputtering methods have been found convenient although vapour deposition methods may, if desired, be used.
• a source of nitrogen is required to form the nitride and this may, for example be nitrogen alone or a gas containing nitrogen such as cracked ammonia or air.
• the gas composition can vary widely depending upon the alloy being deposited.
• the nitrogen or other nitrogencontaining gas may be diluted with an inert gas such as argon, for example with up to 95 volume percent of argon.
• Sputtering may be directcurr ehtor radio frec uency sputtering and, in the latter case, sputtering may be direct from a chromium alloy or a nitride of a chromium alloy in an inert atmosphere as appropriate.
• a pressure of from 0.1 to 10 microns of mercury may in general be used to effect sputtering.
• the chromium alloy coating and/or the nitride coating together with any further coating, other than the possible polymer or copolymer coating, should generally have a total thickness of not more than 500A and preferably from 50 to 450A, advantageously not more than 300A. When a plurality of coatings is used, each coating is preferably from 50 to 450A thick.
• An outer polymer coating may be applied to the blade having a nitrided chromium alloy coating by known methods.
• Any of the conventional polymer coatings used to improve the properties of razor blades may be used, for example those comprising polytetrafluoroethylene or a copolymer of thiocarbonyl fluoride and tetrafiuoroethylene.
• the blades according to the invention were generally preferred since they were found to give a more comfortable shave from the first shave.
• a razor blade having at least one cutting edge carrying a discrete coating of a prereacted nitride of an alloy of chromium containing at least 12 percent by weight of chromium.
• I nitride is a nitride of an iron/chromium alloy.
• a razor blade having a cutting edge, a first coating of an alloy of chromium on said cutting edge and a second coating of a prereacted nitride alloy of chr0- mium containing at least 12 percent by weight of chromium on said coating of an alloy of chromium.
• each discrete coating is from 50 to 450A thick.

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• Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
• Forests & Forestry (AREA)
• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
• Physical Vapour Deposition (AREA)
• Laminated Bodies (AREA)

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Cited By (27)

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Citations (6)

• 1971
  • 1971-04-13 GB GB1064971A patent/GB1352241A/en not_active Expired
• 1972
  • 1972-03-29 BE BE781399A patent/BE781399A/xx unknown
  • 1972-03-31 LU LU65093D patent/LU65093A1/xx unknown
  • 1972-04-01 DE DE19722216030 patent/DE2216030A1/de active Pending
  • 1972-04-04 CA CA138,765,A patent/CA951600A/en not_active Expired
  • 1972-04-04 CH CH487972A patent/CH553039A/fr not_active IP Right Cessation
  • 1972-04-05 IE IE431/72A patent/IE36250B1/xx unknown
  • 1972-04-05 FR FR7211878A patent/FR2136174A5/fr not_active Expired
  • 1972-04-05 US US00241446A patent/US3838512A/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 1972-04-06 AU AU40821/72A patent/AU473368B2/en not_active Expired
  • 1972-04-07 AR AR24136572A patent/AR201729A1/es active
  • 1972-04-08 IT IT942772A patent/IT953363B/it active
  • 1972-04-10 SE SE459872A patent/SE373776B/xx unknown
  • 1972-04-11 TR TR1737472A patent/TR17374A/xx unknown
  • 1972-04-11 PL PL1972154644A patent/PL83573B1/pl unknown
  • 1972-04-12 IL IL3920372A patent/IL39203A/xx unknown
  • 1972-04-12 BG BG020206A patent/BG20303A3/bg unknown
  • 1972-04-12 RO RO7052072A patent/RO62302A/ro unknown
  • 1972-04-12 DD DD16224972A patent/DD95336A5/xx unknown

Patent Citations (6)

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