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TheElectric Razor

TheElectric Razor

Today, the electric razor enjoys a multimillion-dollar market, and the name Schick is a universally recognized name identified with the razor. The story of how the idea came to Jacob Schick has several variations, but they all agree on the general location: in Alaska and British Columbia while Schick was exploring for gold in 1910.

In one variation of the story, Schick was suffering from dysentery and, finding the trip to the sink for his daily shave a difficult task, was motivated to find a simpler method. Another variation tells of Schick exploring for gold in the cold climate with a sprained ankle and with only a moose to eat during temperatures of–40 Fahrenheit. This setting motivated him to find a way to shave without the use of hot water and shaving cream. The idea that occurred to him was a shaving head driven by an external motor, but his idea was not immediately accepted by manufacturers. During World War I, he returned to active duty as a captain, putting on hold further developments of his electric device.

Schick left the Army in 1919 and concentrated on developing his Magazine Repeating Razor, which used replacement blades that were stored in a clip in the handle. In 1926, he began selling the razor, which was successful enough that he was able to sell the company to American Chain and Cable in 1928 to develop his electric shaver. In 1931, Schick introduced the handheld electric razor, considered by many to be the beginning of the modern shaving industry. The razor sold for $25, and more than three thousand were made that year. Through refinements and advertising, by 1937 there were more than 1.5 million units in use, and Schick commanded a $20 million market. The electric razor had evolved from a device that had a separate head and electric motor that required the use of two hands to a single unit that could be operated easily by one hand.


See Also

King Camp Gillette

Paul Winchell

Great Lives from History: Inventors & Inventions

Jacob Schick

by Tom A. Hull

American businessman

Schick spent most of his inventive efforts on developing the first successful electric razor, which could perform its operation dry, without the use of hot water, creams, or lotions.

Primary fields: Household products; manufacturing

Primary inventions: Electric razor; magazine repeating razor

Early Life

Jacob Schick was born in Ottumwa, Iowa, in 1877 and grew up in the southwestern United States. His father was a coal mine operator. By the time Jacob was sixteen, he was entrusted with the operation of a rail line that ran from Los Corrillos, New Mexico, to a coal mine his father had opened. The responsibility for this mechanical system no doubt helped him with his inventive efforts later in life. In 1898, Schick enlisted in the Fourteenth U.S. Infantry, where his close observations of repeating rifles would later be applied to one of his first commercially successful inventions.

Jacob Schick

ph_schick-jacob.jpg

AP/Wide World Photos

Life’s Work

After enlisting in the Army, Schick was shipped to the Philippines with the First Division, Eighth Army Corps, a few months later. He was commissioned second lieutenant and, after stateside service, returned to the Philippines, where he served from 1903 to 1905. Suffering from an attack of dysentery, he returned to the United States, where he was promoted to first lieutenant. He spent the next year recovering from his intestinal ailment.

Schick’s doctor suggested that a colder climate would be good for his health, and he went to Fort Collins in Alaska to join the Twenty-second Infantry. While helping to construct one thousand miles of telegraph lines in the Alaskan interior, Schick invented the General Jacobs Boat, which was said to be well suited for use in shallow water.

Schick retired from this first stint in the Army in 1910 and went prospecting in Alaska and British Columbia. It was during this time that he became inspired to design improved shaving devices. Not realizing any commercial success from his ideas, Schick was drawn back into service during World War I. He returned to active duty as a captain and was placed in charge of the U.S. embassy in London. By the end of the war, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel, a title he often used for the remainder of this life.

By 1921, Schick was ready for his first business venture. He patented a shaver of standard design, except that it incorporated a feature whereby the blades could be replaced without touching them. Inspired by the Army’s repeating rifles, Schick’s Magazine Repeating Razor had replacement blades, stored in a clip in the handle, that could be fed in by pivoting the head and pushing a built-in lever. The razors were produced in three models between 1926 and 1935 and were the forerunners to the modern Schick Injector Razor. A drawback of these razors was that their blades required occasional replacement and had to be used with water and lotion. In 1928, Schick sold his interests in the Magazine Repeating Razor and focused on pursuing his real passion—creating an electric razor that could be used dry. Schick introduced his first model in 1931, and as the concept of dry shaving increased in popularity, a multimillion-dollar industry was born.

Success brings competition, and competition brings disagreements and patent arguments. Schick had his share of both: From price wars to distribution rights, his business was always plagued with turmoil. One example was Schick’s involvement in 1933 with promoter Archie Moulton Andrews, chairman of Dictograph Products. Andrews received permission from Schick to sell Schick’s dry shaver at the Chicago World’s Fair. The trouble started after the fair, when Andrews continued to sell the shaver without Schick’s consent. Shortly after, Andrews started to manufacture a rival electric shaver called the Packard Lektro-Shaver, which Schick saw as a direct patent infringement. Schick sued but lost. He continued to patent many improvements to his electric shavers and was able to become a millionaire despite fierce competition from several other manufacturers.

Schick’s career, with a few minor exceptions, centered on shaving devices. One invention not related to shaving was an improved pencil sharpener (he called it a “pencil knife”), which was patented on April 29, 1924. The sharpener was shaped like a tube into which one could insert the pencil. On November 24, 1931, Schick obtained a patent for an improved engine for cars or airplanes, but the device was never commercially produced.

Schick had some unusual ideas regarding shaving and age, believing that a man could extend his life by 120 years by proper everyday shaving. His theory was that a long life involved losing the ordinary mortal awareness of time. Unfortunately for Schick, his theory did not hold true for him: He died in 1937 at the age of fifty-nine from complications after a kidney operation. He was buried in Canada at Mount Royal Cemetery in Montreal, Quebec.

Impact

Every day, millions of men and women use electric shavers. The electric shaver has secured a permanent place in technological history. The name Schick will be long remembered, in part because of brand-name recognition. Like Coca-Cola and Budweiser, Schick became a dominant player in its market.

Schick was very determined to make his electrically powered razor a success. At one point, he had to mortgage his home for $10,000 to continue his efforts. He also was one of the early pioneers in the world market. He took the ideas of capitalism to heart, and he chose to incorporate his patent-holding company, Schick Industries, in Nassau, Bahamas, so as to minimize income taxes and corporate taxes. When the Joint Congressional Committee on Tax Evasion and Avoidance looked into his arrangements, he moved to Montreal and became a Canadian citizen in 1935. For this reason, he is sometimes listed as a Canadian inventor.

Further Reading

1 

Fucini, Joseph, and Suzy Fucini. Entrepreneurs: The Men and Women Behind Famous Brand Names and How They Made It. Boston: G. K. Hall, 1985. Schick is represented in very few biographical anthologies of inventors. This entry provides details of his life as they relate to his inventions.

2 

Stuller, Jay. “It’s a New Battle Every Day in the War on Whiskers.” Smithsonian 25, no. 11 (February, 1995): 44-47. With fifteen color photographs, this eight-page article is a concise and informative overview of the history of shaving. Discusses the Schick Shaving Center, where razors are tested daily.

3 

Time. “Dry-Shave War.” November 16, 1936. Discusses the patent infringement battle between Schick and Andrews.

Citation Types

Type
Format
MLA 9th
Hull, Tom A. "Jacob Schick." Great Lives from History: Inventors & Inventions, edited by Robert F. Gorman, Salem Press, 2008. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=GLI_1329.
APA 7th
Hull, T. A. (2008). Jacob Schick. In R. F. Gorman (Ed.), Great Lives from History: Inventors & Inventions. Salem Press. online.salempress.com.
CMOS 17th
Hull, Tom A. "Jacob Schick." Edited by Robert F. Gorman. Great Lives from History: Inventors & Inventions. Hackensack: Salem Press, 2008. Accessed December 14, 2025. online.salempress.com.