Safety Razor Of the Week, 11/23–11/29 The Gillette Toggle Adjustable

[thirdeye]

The Gillette "Toggle" Adjustable




Photo courtesy of our own mr razor

This week I would like to take a look at and discuss another of the unique shavers to the wet shaving world, the Gillette Toggle Adjustable.

The Gillette Toggle Adjustable hit the shaving scene in 1958 as a limited regional test. The patent was first brought about by Meyer J. Shnitzler, Brookline, Edward Michael Lewiecki, Hingham, and Joesph Muros, Newtonville, Mass assignors to Gillette Company, Boston, Mass. A corparation of Delaware. Application November 1, 1955, Serial No. 544,226.
It re-appeared again in 1960 in the third and forth quarter for the Christmas season and then it was to be made no more. The Toggle came in the familiar hard case as well as the lesser known soft case or pouch.

The Toggle is 4” in length Gold plated and weights in at 3.1 oz. It as a flip open head design, bottom tip of handle works as a lever to pull tight a metal shaft which runs up the inside of the handle and pulls the head doors closed.

The Toggle adjustable was designed so that the shaver could adjust the razor i.e blade edge exposure to their own beard conditions. The thought behind this was as follows;
1,2, and 3 where designed for people with the lightest of beards and tender skin
4,5 and 6 where said to be for folks with average skin and beard and used by the majority of shavers
7,8 and 9 was thought to be for the shaver with the most dense, hard-to-shave beards.

Here is a close-up look at the rare 1958 prototype that sports the red dot and the digits 1 through 5 only.

Most all of the Gillette razors came with an instruction booklet. Here is a photo from the 1960 set. As shown in our very own WIKI page.

Here is my SOTD for today 11/23/2008

Information and pictures have been collected from various sources including the net, (mr razors page), Thank you Achim. The Complete Gillette Collectors Handbook, By Phillip L. Krumholz, The B&B Wiki and my personal thoughts and opinions (which may not be a reflection of the management).



Any and all information about this razor is more than welcomed.


Back to Safety Razor of the Week.

[rodd]

Nice Ray! Thanks! I still need to get one of these. Scott should post pictures of his. It is pretty!

[Hoos]

Thanks for the info and pics, Ray.

I've always wanted to see a Toggle up close. Not sure about trying one - adjustables and me don't seem to go together too well.

Nice work, as always.

[scottydoint]

Here is my nickel plated Toggle date code F4. (These are the only pics I have on me at the moment)

[thirdeye]

Thank you Scott. I knew I forgot to mention the Nickel one. These are very few and far between.

[mr-razor]

Ray, that´s a great post again. Here is the nickel Toggle from 1960:

[Etoyoc_Rebmos]

Wow.. Thanks again for this weekly thread. The toggle looks even more tempting now.

I notice in the pictures of Mr. Razor's nickle toggle that the adjustment knob has a wider section between 9 and 1. I think I see the same thing in socttydoint's nickle toggle. However, I haven't seen this in other toggles or in other models. Is this unique to just the nickle toggle?

[mr-razor]

I notice in the pictures of Mr. Razor's nickle toggle that the adjustment knob has a wider section between 9 and 1. I think I see the same thing in socttydoint's nickle toggle. However, I haven't seen this in other toggles or in other models. Is this unique to just the nickle toggle?

You can seen this wider section on the 195 Fatboy too:

[crankymoose]

nice review Ray, question other then the closing mechanism do these shave any different then a fatboy or are the basically the same other then that?

[Clifford]

how many 1955s were ever made or 1958 "D-1"s madenot to many I guess and assume the "D-1" is a hard one to get ahold of and bring good money

[red zeppelin]

I am reviving an old thread because I just joined and found it today! This is the razor I shave with every day. It was a gift from my father who found it at a garage sale in new, unused condition in its original box. I like the size and adjustability of it, but I think there is an issue with it that just popped up recently. Shave works good from one side of the razor but is rough from the other. I have switched blades multiple times to no avail. It is consistent as well since I can see what side I am using by the numbers present. Any ideas on a cause/fix? Also, how do you decode the serial number to find out when it was made? Thanks!

[Dalejr]

I am reviving an old thread because I just joined and found it today! This is the razor I shave with every day. It was a gift from my father who found it at a garage sale in new, unused condition in its original box. I like the size and adjustability of it, but I think there is an issue with it that just popped up recently. Shave works good from one side of the razor but is rough from the other. I have switched blades multiple times to no avail. It is consistent as well since I can see what side I am using by the numbers present. Any ideas on a cause/fix? Also, how do you decode the serial number to find out when it was made? Thanks!

If your talking serial number, does that mean your toggle has the 1-5 adjustment or 1-9? I use this site: http://gillettedatecodes.com/

[red zeppelin]

If your talking serial number, does that mean your toggle has the 1-5 adjustment or 1-9? I use this site: http://gillettedatecodes.com/

Mine is the 1-9