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Gillette Aristocrat(US) - 1934

R

romsitsa

Why can't they all just use the same screw.

Because the TTO was in continous development until the 50ies and the British and US company went different ways.
The early Aristocrats were very far from perfect from an engineering point of view.
 
Make a three pronged rod from brass, it should work.
I don't have the possibility to do that but wouldn't that also only be effective if they used some kind of press fit? Which you said they didn't? A pronged rod won't help with a screw?

Because the TTO was in continous development until the 50ies and the British and US company went different ways.
The early Aristocrats were very far from perfect from an engineering point of view.
I'm well aware of that, but it doesn't make it any less frustrating 🙂
 
R

romsitsa

It's a security screw, this is what you are looking for:

There are also readily available tri-bit screwdrivers, is you can figure out how big the screw is (guess the same as later bottom screws?).
 
It's a security screw, this is what you are looking for:

There are also readily available tri-bit screwdrivers, is you can figure out how big the screw is (guess the same as later bottom screws?).

I have a really hard time seeing how such a modification can help with the screw inside the 34'-'Aristocrat'.

From my picture in the first post the security screw from the 34'-'Aristocrat' looks nothing like the british one. I simply can't imagine what kind of screwdriver head would be able to loosen that screw.

Maybe it's just because security screws are used less often in general and that a 3-"legged" one is almost never seen 🤔
 
News from the workshop 🙂

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Like I suspected there never was a “security screw” involved in this 1.generation US ‘Aristocrat’ ! ! !

The only thing preventing the razor coming apart is the small tabs marked on the picture which makes pretty good sense.

When ‘Gillette’ later developed the 2.generation they implemented the “security screw” just like the British ‘Aristocrats’.

I took the razor apart and cleaned it further resulting in a smoother feeling so “drop-knob” wasn’t the problem after all.

I guess the case is closed and now we all know how to take these beauties apart 👍🏼
 
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 🙂

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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:

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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:

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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 🧐
There is significant friction on the left door on your picture and also on the right hinge....so there is some geometry difference (bend) in the system
Congrats, what a great collection.
 
There is significant friction on the left door on your picture and also on the right hinge....so there is some geometry difference (bend) in the system
Congrats, what a great collection.
I think the razor is working proper now, but can you make some markings on a picture? Like described earlier I see no signs of the razor has being dropped. Nothing looked bend when I looked...
 
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