I got this Gem Push-Pak blade dispenser in a lot a while back. Curious I researched the date and history on it and this is what I found. In 1948 Gillette came out with their new one handed dispenser for DE blades and began notching the center bars of their TTO razors so the shaver could 'hook' and load a blade with out touching it. Not to be outdone ASR responded in 1949 with this Gem Push-Pak dispenser for their SE blades. It holds ten blades loaded with a flat copper spring and has a red slider that pushes blades out one by one; before this SE blades were typically wrapped in cardboard & packed in a box. I tried a few times but wasn't able to load the razor directly like you can with the Gillette system. This dispenser wasn't meant to be reused but when its empty it can be refilled pretty easily. I think this dispenser was around into the 60's sometime then they moved to the one piece system you can still find with the Gem Blue Star blades where you push the blade out with your thumb instead of the arrow slider. LIFE Jun 7, 1948 -- the new Gillette dispenser LIFE Mar 21, 1949 -- the Push-Pak appears LIFE Jun 20, 1949
Been keeping my open for different blade dispensers, seems like they are always missing if I'm lucky enough to find a razor in a case/box. I have never seen one of the push pak ones before.
That' s really not all that different than how they're sold now. Pretty cool to see the original version.
