I have a 1932 patent Fat Handle Tech that is clearly marked "made in Canada". I have a Long Comb NEW marked "made in Canada" as well. Does anyone know what other models were definitely manufactured in the Canadian plants? My reason for asking is to get to the bottom of the X1 Super Speed (Rocket?) question. Achim has stated that he has seen many of these TTO models in the red "Rocket" cases that are obviously 40's style SS's but are not marked with a country of origin or pat nos on pkg. I have one of these with the Gillette logo and the date code but nothing else engraved on it. I bought it at an antiques store in Canada and every detail about it is 40's Super Speed, not Rocket. Where these made in the U.S. and sold in Canada or did Gillette make them in Canada and sell them in Rocket cases even though they aren't Rockets? It is not a British Rocket either.
Gillettes "made in Canada"
- Thread starter Laird
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I have an Old Type Hybrid made in Canada
Porter told me once that he feels Canada never made a TTO, I asked him because I had never seen one either. Anyone with anything definitive?
There is no 'Made In' on this one but they case clearly say 'Razor Made In England'
Here is a Canadian Big Boy I use to own.
Here is a Canadian Big Boy I use to own.
Ohhhh I like this bad boy.
I have an Old Type Hybrid made in Canada
That is an odd beast: Probak handle, Old Type guard and cap - but the cap has been modified to exclude three-hole blades. If a goodwill is an Old Type modified to exclude three-hole blades, then I suppose it is a goodwill? Did Probak have a factory in Canada, or did that handle come over the border?
Speaking of goodwills I have a more traditional one marked Made in Canada: the type with the fancy lines on the cap. And a ball-end long-comb NEW.
I have found Rockets and other TTOs all across Canada and they are always Rockets made in England, or Superspeeds made in USA. The bottom of the red Rocket cases say razor made in England case made in Montreal.
I am confident to say that if there was ever a Canadian Made Rocket/Superspeed that I would have found one.
However, I have a NOS Diplomat which came directly from the factory in Montreal by a foreman who worked there in the 50's and was never sold at a store. I have never checked the razor to see where it was made, but I will when I get home. This will give us a pretty good idea if TTO's were ever made in Canada. If TTO's were never made in Canada, then the question would be why not? And what would they be making there - only cases and blades?
I am confident to say that if there was ever a Canadian Made Rocket/Superspeed that I would have found one.
However, I have a NOS Diplomat which came directly from the factory in Montreal by a foreman who worked there in the 50's and was never sold at a store. I have never checked the razor to see where it was made, but I will when I get home. This will give us a pretty good idea if TTO's were ever made in Canada. If TTO's were never made in Canada, then the question would be why not? And what would they be making there - only cases and blades?
We had threads in the past about these razors, we came to the conclusion that Gillette used Probak handles after their takeover. In the last years of the Old Type, Gillette was giving these thing away.
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The razor I have looks identical to the one pictured in post #4 from Achim's Mr. Razor site except mine is 1952 (X1). Some sources have claimed that England produced no razors without "made in" on them so where were these made? If, as the box states they came from England wouldn't they look like a Rocket? And if they were U.S. would they not be marked as such? I'd really like to know where these were made. Maybe Canada sourced Rockets from England and Super Speeds from America and sold them both in the cases marked Rocket.
They came over from USA. Canada retooled to make Goodwill heads but not for the Probaks since by this time Autostrop was in process of threatening Gillette with the new Probak design. They were not sure of Gillette would give in, so it would not be viable for them to make a Probak company in Canada since by the time the trial was over Gaisman tookover Gillette and stopped making the Probak. [Probak was mainly leverage for Gaisman]
Here is my NOS Diplomat direct from the factory in Montreal. Razor was made in U.S.A, blades were made in Canada, giving us more proof that Canada didn't make TTO razors. I would guess your razor was made in England/USA and was just unmarked for some reason.
Just to expand on this a little bit, I believe that the Techs were the last razors to actually be made in the Canadian plant. That is more or less based on a lack of evidence, though, rather than on anything concrete. I've never seen or even heard of a Canadian-made TTO, to the best of my knowledge, but I'd have no problem reversing myself if someone were to turn up with one.
As far as I know, though, the Montreal plant made every kind of Gillette from the NEW/NEW DeLuxe era on back to the Single Ring. They did Pocket Editions with their own handles during the time that the American plant was using the ABC handles, and they also did their own versions of the Goodwill concept, but other than those variations I believe everything else was more or less in line with their American counterparts.
It seems like a fair amount of the Probak inventory got sent up north after the merger. We've seen a fair number of Canadian Red & Black sets show up with Probak-style handles, too.
It's possible that things were a little "loosey-goosey" during this time. All of the examples like these that I'm aware of have been during the time of the Korean War brass shortage. So they may have been scrambling a bit to keep supply up.
It doesn't seem terribly likely to me that the British plant would have tooled up to produce an exact copy of the American Super Speed, end caps and all, just to sell into the Canadian market for a couple of years. But it also seems rather strange that they're not marked at all with a point of origin.
Porter,
Do you have any theories as to why a plant that had been producing razors for the Canadian market for ~40 years would stop doing so? It would have been such an inefficient process to ship razors from the U.S. and England (especially England) to Montreal, match them up with their respective Canadian made blades and cases, package them up and then ship them again to suppliers.
Do you have any theories as to why a plant that had been producing razors for the Canadian market for ~40 years would stop doing so? It would have been such an inefficient process to ship razors from the U.S. and England (especially England) to Montreal, match them up with their respective Canadian made blades and cases, package them up and then ship them again to suppliers.
Thanks, now I remember that thread. At the time I also mentioned another possible vector for Probak handles: apparently someone dumped a stock of Probak set on the Canadian market in 1936, at a discount of 70%.
That razor Maxime posted looks original to my eye, and really nothing from that era would shock me. But possibly some of those Probaks sold in 1936 ended up as spare parts for frankenrazors, with their handles replacing cracked or split Gillette handles.
The ways of the Gillette are mysterious, my son.
I just remembered that I own a Fat Handle Tech Pat.Canada (1953) Y-4 Made In Canada. Now that I think about it, I don't recall have ever seen a Gillette 'Made In Canada' younger than this.
I just remembered that I own a Fat Handle Tech Pat.Canada (1953) Y-4 Made In Canada. Now that I think about it, I don't recall have ever seen a Gillette 'Made In Canada' younger than this.
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