What Happened to the Stahly Live Blade Razor?

[BadgerBrush]

I've been trying to improve the safety razor article on the German wikipedia, have a look if you're interested:

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rasierhobel

I tried to include a scan of an old ad a friend sent me, but it seems that German copyright laws are pretty complicated, and I cannot just assume that the copyright of an ad that was printed in the 1940s in the U.S. has expired under German jurisdiction...

The wikipedia administrators want me to get written permission by the producer within two weeks. And that's where my trouble starts. It's an ad for the Stahly Live Blade Razor, the first vibrating safety razor... Here are some links:

http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php?t=21828

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGNlUtYH_bA

Does anyone know what happened to Stahly? Where the company is or probably was located? Was it bought by anyone such as Gillette or ASR? I can't find anything about them online except for the Live Blade. There is talk about a website by a former employee, but I wasn't able to locate it.

Thanks a bunch for any kind of help!

 

[scottydoint]

They were in Southbend, IL I believe. I don't have any other info that would be helpful I'm afraid. Good luck with your search.

 

[SRock]

They were in Southbend, IL I believe. I don't have any other info that would be helpful I'm afraid. Good luck with your search.

I never knew there was a South Bend in IL but I knew of the one in IN.

Good luck to the OP.

 

[AsylumGuido]

Check the link in my signature to see if it can be o any help.

 

[TSWebster]

At some point they stopped being Stahly Inc and became General Precision Corp

http://www.xs4all.nl/~pedewei/ebndnofr.htm

Stahly Live Blade razor
Another curiosity, but this shaver had a small but significant success in the USA that started with an eye-catching advertising-campaign with subjects on hunting and fishing, with artwork by James M. Sessions. Several Stahly razor models were marketed from 1946 until the 1960's. The razors were driven by a spring-powered mechanism that produced "about 3,000 vibrations-per-minute of positive shaving action". Stahly Inc. was located at South Bend, Indiana, USA. Later (1960's) also another address is mentioned: General Precision Corp., 5 West Walnut Str., Elgin (IL USA). It is said that the Stahly razors were based on a patent by Russell P. Harshberger of Chicago.

 

[BadgerBrush]

Thanks guys! I thought there should be more information than I could find. I'll get in touch with General Precision Corp. Please let me know if you know if you can find anything else.

 

[scottydoint]

I never knew there was a South Bend in IL but I knew of the one in IN.

Good luck to the OP.

Yes, IN. You are correct. I was trying to go off memory, but we can see how well that worked out.

 

[BadgerBrush]

Thanks for the update!

 

[HerrHepcat]

Having been previously used to the Mach-3 Power, and my first DE purchase was a Stahly and a Ball end Tech, my first DE shave was with the Stahly. A memorable experience. I still have the Stahly, and I love it.