Aristocrat, Sheraton, & Senator: Gillette's TTO Open Comb Discussion Thread

Discussion in 'Safety Razors' started by PLANofMAN, Mar 25, 2016.

  1. BBS

    BBS Well-Known Member

    Here are some more ads that confirm the introduction date of the Sheraton in 1937 and Senator in 1938.

    Material is copyrighted so I need to link through google books. These are the earliest dates I can find for both.
    For the Sheraton here is an ad from 1937.
    Life Magazine Nov. 29th 1937 pg 3
    https://books.google.com/books?id=n...AA#v=onepage&q=gillette sheraton 1936&f=false

    Popular Science Dec. 1937 pg 118
    https://books.google.com/books?id=v...AC#v=onepage&q=gillette sheraton 1938&f=false


    Here is an ad for the Senator in 1938
    Life Magazine May 9th 1938 pg 3
    https://books.google.com/books?id=0...HR1_BxwQ6AEIOjAF#v=onepage&q=gillette&f=false


    Here is an ad that confirms they were still making the first iteration of the Aristocrat in 1935.
    Popular Science Jun 1935 pg 83
    https://books.google.com/books?id=t...q=popular science gillette aristocrat&f=false
     
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  2. brit

    brit in a box

    cool thread,still need to get an oc tto..
     
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  3. jmudrick

    jmudrick Type A Man

    At $1 the Sheraton was probably the first razor Gillette lost money on by design.
     
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  4. Zed117

    Zed117 Well-Known Member

    I get fantastic shaves with the lower profile. The high profiles just feel rough and don't agree with my face.
     
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  5. BBS

    BBS Well-Known Member

    When you are breaking into a market you under price your item to get customers to try it. But in the case of Gillette it was to sell blades by saturating the market with razors.
     
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  6. BBS

    BBS Well-Known Member

    They are different razors it is more than aesthetics. I have all and find the the high profile one is very aggressive compared to the low profile one. The 3rd one without the riveted tabs is like Senator, completely different shave from the other 2.
     
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  7. jmudrick

    jmudrick Type A Man

    In this case Gillette was working to regain market share lost after 1929. They had sold dollar razors before of course, but the Old Type had already paid for itself by 1921, and the New, especially in CBH form, wasn't nearly as complex or substantial a design as the Sheraton.
     
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  8. BBS

    BBS Well-Known Member

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  9. jmudrick

    jmudrick Type A Man

    Gillette presumably realigned pricing as the Senator, then the Tech was finalized and rolled out. The Tech was finally a razor which Gillette could produce cheaply.
     
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  10. jmudrick

    jmudrick Type A Man

    And then there is this.....[​IMG][​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Jan 24, 2019
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  11. Chuck Naill

    Chuck Naill Well-Known Member

    I'll have to use the Sheraton as part of the daily double over the weekend.
     
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  12. PLANofMAN

    PLANofMAN Eccentric Razor Collector Staff Member

    Moderator Article Team
    Looks like a senator security screw to me. Am I missing something? The second picture looks like a senator with heavy plate loss.
     
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  13. jmudrick

    jmudrick Type A Man

    With the gunk removed I believe it's been established that's right.
     
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  14. BBS

    BBS Well-Known Member

    Almost fully removed it is still hard to tell what type of a screw that is.
     
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  15. jmudrick

    jmudrick Type A Man

    Looks more Phillips than Maltese to me but I'm not going to mess with it . Shaves nicely which is what matters.
    [​IMG]
     
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  16. BBS

    BBS Well-Known Member

    If you soften it up enough you can scrape that gunk out with a toothpick, small screwdriver, metal pick, etc. It won't ruin anything doing so.
     
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  17. BBS

    BBS Well-Known Member

    I should have posted this earlier. Here are the screws in the 2 Sheratons. Same screw regardless of variant. I had to do them separately since I couldn't get a good picture down the handle of both razors side by side.

    Here is the 37 - 38 Sheraton
    sher1a.jpg sher1b.jpg

    Here is the 38 - 40 Sheraton
    sher2a.jpg sher2b.jpg

    It is very subtle but on the underside pictures you can distinguish which is which by the slight curvature on the tabs on the 37 - 38.
     
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  18. jmudrick

    jmudrick Type A Man

    It may be beyond gunk I've worked on it quite a bit with little to show. But yeah I think now it's the Maltese with some epoxy or something.[​IMG]
     
  19. BBS

    BBS Well-Known Member

    It is definitely possible someone took it apart for repair at some point. Either way it looks like a Senator that is losing it's plating. I don't see a hint of gold wash in those pictures just plain old brass and nickel plate.
     
    Last edited: Jan 25, 2019
  20. jmudrick

    jmudrick Type A Man

    I agree. I do believe they just stripped and polished down to brass. Curious they would have to or want to do it on just part of the head but looks like they did.
     

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