The Williams Received a razor this week that I've been on the lookout for for quite some time - a 1930's Williams razor. The Williams is nickel-plated, hollow-handled and uses a 'pinch' mechanism to open and close the handle. History This is what Waits' has to say about it: So in short there are a few known prototypes and two commercial versions based on either a 1934 or 1939 patent. Apparently also made in 27 different styles. The patent number on mine reads 1951552 which dates to 1934..but looking at the Waits' information it appears to be a 1939-model so it might be that the information in Waits' is a little bit mixed up. Patent: Fun trivia The Williams might have been the (or at least on of them) razor that Gillette VP Ralph Thompson shaved with after leaving his position at Gillette. The design is commonly believed to be a sign of the era when it was made - the early-to-mid 1930's - when due to the great depression people were looking for lower-cost alternatives for many every-day items. A bare-boned razor like this would had been one way to keep the cost down. Due to it's short production run of about 5-6 years and how relatively fragile the razor is they are rather rare and don't come up for sale very often. In two years this was the first one I've seen. I 'blame' my desire for one of these razors on @GDCarrington who posted a photo of his back in 2012-2013 The "Williams" company that made this razor - is the same company that made the famous Williams Shaving soap. There were two models of the razor made - one that holds a standard Gillette blade and one that held, smaller proprietary blades. Lucky for me mine is the former of the two. The razor is loaded by opening up the entire handle and head and drop in the blade: Photo courtesy of ebay seller There is a rather healthy blade exposure: Photo courtesy of ebay seller Photo courtesy of ebay seller Finally some photos of my own Opened up: The 'pinch' mechanism at the end of the razor where you pinch from opposite sides and the hollow handle 'locks':
Very cool. That blade exposure isn't for ninnies. Proceed with caution! and report the blood-letting...I mean your findings.
Its a unique razor for sure. I wonder if they were sold or used as a send-away promotional item? Looking forward to your impressions after using it.
I was lent one of these in the past. It is a really fun razor. It is quick to bite, but if you know how to use a DE you can wield this deftly as well. Super cool design and uber simple.
Interesting razor DB..and this one looks to be one of the ghost busters razors..who ya gonna call for that 5 o'clock shadow..
definitely visible,I thought it was a reflection. took me a minute to wrap my head around what I was seeing.
Picked up this O'Chelly because of its strong design similarities to the Williams - almost to the point where I can imagine it being made at the same factory. Will be interesting to compare the two when I get this one. @GDCarrington would you happen to know, since I know you also have a Williams?
Well, finally received the O'Chelly. At first glance it has a lot of features that are very similar to that of the Williams - being hollow and opening up in the same way are a couple of obvious ones. Here's the Williams next to the O'Chelly where it's evident that the heads are rather different Opened up it's easier to see the difference in head design (Top: O'Chelly, Bottom: Williams) Blade loaded into the O'Chelly: The way the two razors are closed down once a blade is loaded is also very different. The Williams uses a pinch mechanism that hold the two pieces together and the O'Chelly has a more intricate lock mechanism that resembles that on the Fremont safety razor. Anyway, fun looking razor and I think I'll do a shave test of them back-to-back so I can a sense of how they compare to eachother.
