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Gillette Aristocrat(US) - 1934

Hello,

I have been a little lucky and was able to score this beautiful Gillette ‘Aristocrat’ set from 1934. After some cleaning and polishing the razor and case look great. I would say it turned out to be a solid 8/10. I’m pretty happy about the purchase and especially for the price:

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As you can see on the attached picture I’m quite the ‘Aristocrat’-fanatic. Both the British and American ones 🙂

IMG_0537.jpg

I have taken multiple of them apart, adjusted bent guards, lazy doors etc. The 1934 ‘Aristocrat’ is my first 1.generation TTO razor from Gillette and I thought to myself that I would take it apart just like the 2.generation ones with the special screw at the bottom:

IMG_0531.JPG
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Then I ran into problems 🙁

I wanted to take it apart to clean it 100% and after hours of soaking and using different lubrication the TTO mechanism works pretty great, but not perfect. The razor by no means shows any signs of being dropped which eg. could result in bent teeth, corners or drop-knob.

For that reason I find it quite frustrating that the TTO mechanism isn’t working perfect. Hopefully this picture shows that it looks like they used some kind of pressfit with the 1.generation and NOT a special screw like the 2.generation to hold the “T-bar” down:

IMG_0535.JPG

I have never seen anyone talk about disassembling any of these 1.generation ‘Aristocrats’ so something tells me it can’t be done?

It’s like when I press the knob up a bit when using the TTO mechanism there is a little less resistance and it works perfect, but as I said it doesn’t look like an example of “drop-knob”.

Hopefully someone will be able to clarify what I’m up against 🧐
 
Lovely looking OC crat. A razor I am still waiting to add to my collection. Unfortunately they seem to go into treble figures for even an average example .. I'm scared to ask what you paid for one in such great condition, and with nice looking case ..

No idea about dismantling them sorry
 
Lovely looking OC crat. A razor I am still waiting to add to my collection. Unfortunately they seem to go into treble figures for even an average example .. I'm scared to ask what you paid for one in such great condition, and with nice looking case ..

No idea about dismantling them sorry

Thank you!

It's a beautiful razor an of course quite important since it was the first TTO razor produced by Gillette. It's just fantastic how this piece of history has survived since 1934.

Unlike others I have no problem telling the story and price of a razor:

I live in Denmark and I was actually extremely lucky to acquire this specimen from a gentleman in Germany who had found it on antic market. There is some vintage 'Rotbart'-razor blades in the little dispenser which could indicate that this razor probably got imported to Germany and has been there its whole life...

Since both Denmark and Germany is part of the EU I avoided VAT, customs and import fees and after some negotiations my final price including shipping was 210USD. The case is in really great condition and after some cleaning/polishing I took the razor from 6,5/7 to 8/8,5.

Compared to this one I think I got a pretty good deal 🙂

 

luvmysuper

My elbows leak
Staff member
Hello,

I have been a little lucky and was able to score this beautiful Gillette ‘Aristocrat’ set from 1934. After some cleaning and polishing the razor and case look great. I would say it turned out to be a solid 8/10. I’m pretty happy about the purchase and especially for the price:

View attachment 1287422
View attachment 1287423
View attachment 1287424

As you can see on the attached picture I’m quite the ‘Aristocrat’-fanatic. Both the British and American ones 🙂

View attachment 1287430

I have taken multiple of them apart, adjusted bent guards, lazy doors etc. The 1934 ‘Aristocrat’ is my first 1.generation TTO razor from Gillette and I thought to myself that I would take it apart just like the 2.generation ones with the special screw at the bottom:

View attachment 1287426
View attachment 1287429
View attachment 1287427

Then I ran into problems 🙁

I wanted to take it apart to clean it 100% and after hours of soaking and using different lubrication the TTO mechanism works pretty great, but not perfect. The razor by no means shows any signs of being dropped which eg. could result in bent teeth, corners or drop-knob.

For that reason I find it quite frustrating that the TTO mechanism isn’t working perfect. Hopefully this picture shows that it looks like they used some kind of pressfit with the 1.generation and NOT a special screw like the 2.generation to hold the “T-bar” down:

View attachment 1287428

I have never seen anyone talk about disassembling any of these 1.generation ‘Aristocrats’ so something tells me it can’t be done?

It’s like when I press the knob up a bit when using the TTO mechanism there is a little less resistance and it works perfect, but as I said it doesn’t look like an example of “drop-knob”.

Hopefully someone will be able to clarify what I’m up against 🧐

I can't read the patent numbers on the bottom just above the knob but below the handle, can you write those here?
Using the re-issue patent number at the top, you can get the patent drawing from Google.




USRE18955-drawings-page-1.png
 
I can't read the patent numbers on the bottom just above the knob but below the handle, can you write those here?
Using the re-issue patent number at the top, you can get the patent drawing from Google.




View attachment 1287474

wow that is cool!

I can't quite see how to use the numbers, but this is what I read.

Bottom band: PAT. NOS. 1912461 1918227 1919794 1922072 1928364

Top band: PAT. NO. 1956175 REISSUE PAT. NO. 18955
 
Am I completely lost or isn't this the part I'm looking for?

"J ournaled centrally in the forked head 18 is an elongated spindle 36 having at its lower end a knurled nut 42 shouldered to enter the lower end of the barrel 20 and affording convenient means for operating the spindle 36."
 

luvmysuper

My elbows leak
Staff member
Am I completely lost or isn't this the part I'm looking for?

"J ournaled centrally in the forked head 18 is an elongated spindle 36 having at its lower end a knurled nut 42 shouldered to enter the lower end of the barrel 20 and affording convenient means for operating the spindle 36."

Looks like it is press fit together, so disassembly seems problematic.
 
Looks like it is press fit together, so disassembly seems problematic.

Sadly it does, but on the other hand that is new information about these 1.generation 'Aristocrats' at least for me. It's good to know when I hopefully will get my hands on a British made one in the nearest future.

Like I said earlier I really think it's quite cool with these patent documents so many thanks buddy 👍
 
R

romsitsa

Hello, the knob is slightly dropped. That looks like screw, a press fit would be problematic. Threads of the rod would expand under the pressure.
 
Hello, the knob is slightly dropped. That looks like screw, a press fit would be problematic. Threads of the rod would expand under the pressure.

Thanks for your reply and since so little is known about this and it isn't described in the patent documents I guess it could be possible.

Although the 3 little marks that you maybe are referring to could be small dents from a screwdriver so don't let that fool you.

I guess I will have to try fixing the knob at some point like described here:


https://www.reddit.com/r/wicked_edge/comments/pf3jd
 
R

romsitsa

The little wings (holding the T-bar in place when the screw is removed) are present on the 1934 and all razors up to the late 60ies were secured with a screw.
 
The little wings (holding the T-bar in place when the screw is removed) are present on the 1934 and all razors up to the late 60ies were secured with a screw.

That makes good sense. It's just frustrating that's impossible to see what kind of screw Gillette has used since it nothing like on the British 2.generation 🤔

It could be very interesting if someone with 1.generation British made 'Aristocrat' could take a picture like mine to see how that screw looks 🧐
 
R

romsitsa

The British is a double screw, there is an outer smooth tube with a center slotted smaller screw in it’s middle.
 
My aristocrat should be here anyday now. From pictures and description it looks in very good condition and for $32 i took a chance. Looking towards my shave with it
 
My aristocrat should be here anyday now. From pictures and description it looks in very good condition and for $32 i took a chance. Looking towards my shave with it
I can't really see how that will help me with my problem, but big congratulation with your purchase 👍

Is it because you have bought the exact same one? Because if you have that price is outrageous 🙂
 
I can't really see how that will help me with my problem, but big congratulation with your purchase 👍

Is it because you have bought the exact same one? Because if you have that price is outrageous 🙂
I didnt know this was about a problem guess i should read it more. If outrageous price is good i guess i scored "haaaa "
 
I didnt know this was about a problem guess i should read it more. If outrageous price is good i guess i scored "haaaa "
No problem buddy, but please do tell more 🙂

I guess you live in USA? Where did you find it if it's being send to you?

Do you have any pictures of the beauty from the seller?
 
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