■THE BEGINNINGS OF THE SHAVER
Do you know when and by whom the electric shaver (electric razor) you use every morning was made?

■The World's First Foil Shaver　　　


In the 1890s, the founder developed clippers for animals and established a company called the Chicago Flexible Shaft Company. In 1910, they released their first household appliance, an iron, under the brand name Sunbeam. By the time they released their shaver in 1936, they had already established their position as a household appliance brand with products like mixers, toasters, and coffee makers.


The shaver released in 1936, model-R, was known as the "Shavemaster" under the Sunbeam tradition. It featured a bullet-shaped body with a semi-circular arched foil at the tip, with round and T-shaped blade holes. The inner blade reciprocated along the arc of this outer foil. This was the world's first foil shaver. The concept of the inner blade reciprocating along the axis of the foil, as seen in modern foil shavers, was developed by the German company Braun and would not appear until 1950.


A detailed look at the Sunbeam Shavemaster model-R reveals that the edges of the blade holes on the outer foil were shallowly indented to increase skin contact, and the inner blade had a lightly scooped edge. Important elements of the foil were already adopted in this first model. The main difference from modern foil shavers was that the foil had a frame, with four frames supporting the foil at 6mm intervals, making the head quite rigid. It also featured a direct-wound (AC/DC) brush motor, which was a self-starter that eliminated the need for a "flywheel starter" like other shavers. The power source was dual-use AC and DC, similar to predecessors like Schick and Lectroshaver, and it was priced at $15.

In Japan, where foil shavers dominate over 90% of the market, it is hard to imagine, but in the 1930s and 40s, the "groove blade" developed by SCHICK, the company that created electric razors, was mainstream. All shavers, including Remington and Lectroshaver, used this groove blade concept for the outer foil, making Sunbeam's foil a minority.


Side Note: The World's First Power Source

It may seem strange from the modern perspective where AC power is the standard for household power, but there was a time when household DC power existed. The first electric shaver, the "Schick Model-S," and the "Sunbeam Model-R" both adopted dual-use AC/DC power systems. This indicates that in the 1930s, American household power included both DC and AC. The initial phase of the American power industry was solely DC transmission, advocated by Edison, which naturally became the standard. Edison insisted on DC transmission and competed with Tesla and Westinghouse's AC transmission for many years. Even after AC transmission became the global standard, many DC power users remained in places like Manhattan, where Edison first started transmitting power. As recently as 2005, when DC transmission was completely discontinued, there were still over 1500 DC power users in Manhattan, using it for specific applications like old elevators and fire pumps.