Safety Razor
King Camp Gillette, USA, patent 775,134 of 1904. The disposable-blade business model, razors cheap, blades forever.
Overview
Gillette, a bottle-cap salesman, imagined a blade so cheap it could be thrown away, and with MIT-trained William Nickerson achieved thin stamped steel. Patent 775,134 covered the T-handle and double-edge blade. The 1903 launch sold 51 razors; 1904 sold 90,000. Gillette kept blade patents rolling for decades, the razor-and-blades archetype. WWI army contracts made shaving universal. The blade became the MBA-school legend of installed-base economics.
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