History Gillette. Founder of the company 'The Gillette Company'. Utopic dreams of Jilletta

History of creation of Gillette

King Camp Zhillett, the inventor of a disposable razor and the founder of the company that is called his name has proven: big money can be made on small household subjects that cost cheaply, but used every day.

Just like a plug

Surprisingly, no own businesswho quickly made it with a millionaire, King Camp Jillett founded only on the eve of his fiftieth anniversary. Prior to that, he worked for 30 years as a community.

The future "razor king" (the parents of the prophetic named their son King) born in 1855 in the town of Du-du Lac in Wisconsin. His father, the owner of the stubborn bench, was literally obsessed with inventiveness, constantly improving everything that came to hand. The same was engaged in King. Shortly after in 1871, the fire destroyed the beggar of the housingle-senior, he received the place of the patent agent in New York. His 16-year-old son moved there. He began to earn money independently, becoming a community that delivered the products of a stubborn firm.

For many years, moving throughout the country and selling the most diverse goods, Zhillett acquired the tremendous experience of the belief, which he later helped him. All this time, he did not stop to invent - the original mechanism from the piston and sleeve for a water tap, several types of electrical conductors, a new gate from soft rubber ... All these were useful in everyday life, but acquired patents greater money The inventor was not brought. Zhillett later admitted that he did not have enough time, no money to engage in the promotion of his new products, and the money usually received others. It was necessary to have a different invention that would immediately revise the market and made his author with a millionaire.

The search for Jilletta's search asked his boss William Peyntter, the owner of the Baltimore company Crown Cork & Seal. The penter itself invented one valuable thing to this day, a lot of demand - a plug for blocking a bottle (Crown Cork), which was a tin cover with a gasket attached to it. Seeing his sales agent all the time trying in vain something invented something, the Painter advised the residents to think about something as practical, cheap and disposable as his traffic jam. Over something that the buyer is not a pity will throw away in order to immediately go to the store for the next purchase.

"After this memorable council, the invention of the new product of everyday demand with a short term of use has become an obsessive idea for me," recalled Jillett. - I moved into memory almost all human needs, all areas of human activity, but to no avail. "

And only in the summer of 1895 he dawned it.

Valuable throwing goods

Once in the morning, making a daily men's ritual, the commitor discovered that his razor was once again fastened. We had to again carry it to the grinder, waste time and money.

"I stood, squeezing a razor in my hand," wrote later King Camp. - And suddenly, quite clearly imagined the future machine Gillette! During counting seconds, many questions flashed in the head, but the answers were instantly, as if all this happened in a dream. "

Zhillett first noted attention that only a thin blade works in a razor, and the remaining part serves to support him - although the production of the handle also requires time and money. At that time, the handle was made from expensive steel and decorated with carvings, chasing and other excesses. Why not come up with a more economical way to hold the blade, and he himself increase the validity period? Or maybe go even further - go to replaceable cheap blades?

This was born the idea of \u200b\u200breplaceable, sharpened on both sides of the blade, as well as the T-shaped cheap handle with clips. Prior to this, the design of the razor did not change in centuries, and its use was a risky and unpleasant procedure - it was not by chance that a long razor was called "dangerous." Only in the mid-1870s, the Campfa brothers in Germany invented "safe", but forged and with a blade that required constant sharpening.

Zhillett thought about a fundamentally different machine with a different blade - thin, durable, easy and cheap, so that it could be thrown out and replaced after each shave. All adult men in the world should have potential buyers of such goods - regardless of their national affiliation, well-being and education. It was a brilliant invention, a patent for which could enrich the inventor overnight.

Jillyt began to experiment and immediately came across the main obstacle - all experts to whom he applied for advice, in one voice, they claimed that the necessary for a new razor machine was - at the same time fine, durable and cheap - the modern industry simply does not produce. The inventor has not yet known that the special steel will be required, the cost of which will be much more expensive. He did not know that some laboratory tests would require a quarter of a million dollars. When Zhillett understood this, the enthusiasm of potential investors and fell at all to zero

Six years have passed in fruitless search. Zhillett bypassed all the grillers, all specialized stores In Boston and New York, trying to figure out how to make a firmly thin steel, at what temperature it is better to tempt to avoid blades. Even the specialists of one of the most authoritative scientific centers - the Massachusetts Institute of Technology - embarrassed by their hands. And friends and colleagues advised him to throw this crazy idea from the head.

Finally, in 1901, the fate of Jilletta's fourth with a mechanical engineer William Nicherson, who came up with the technology of strengthening and sharpening steel tape. After that, the case moved from a dead point - a patent for a T-shaped safe razor was obtained (which can be discovered to change the reassembly blade for a new one) and a firm for its production - American Safety Razor Company (in July 1902, she changed the name on Gillette Safety Razor Company). However, the initial capital is quickly dried, and companions - Zhillett and Nickerson with his two friends - posted the company's shares on the stock exchange, having helped another $ 5 thousand, but they soon disappeared, and the cost of the razors remained too high for the one-time item.

The company was saved by the gift of the belief, which was possessed by a commander with thirty-year experience. Residents managed to attract investors, and in 1903 the mass production of his razor began. Nevertheless, the start of the newborn company did not inspire optimism - for the first year, it was possible to sell only 51 machines and 168 blades. The head of the company from the latter forces tried to keep investors, assuring them that to conquer the buyer's sympathies to the new product need time. And his expectations were justified - the next year more than one hundred thousand Americans bought Gillette products, and by 1908 the profit exceeded $ 13 million.

Bait and hook

Disposable world

Shortly before the death, in 1926, when the 25th anniversary of Gillette was noted, her founder stated: "I don't know another of the same product of everyday individual demand, as our secure razor. In his journeys, I met her everywhere - from the fishing village in the north of Norway to the Sahara desert. " However, even in the most bold dreams, the housingle was unlikely to guess how his invention would be widely used. All your life I dreamed by utopian projects, Zhillett could change the world - although not in the direction that thought. He turned a shave from daily torture into a slight non-dark procedure. Moreover, the invention of the hillta gave humanity a new vector of development - disposable handles were inevitably for one-time razors, disposable tableware, Disposable clothing.

Gillette has met its centennary anniversary with one of the world leaders in the market not only razor accessories, but also tools care products, perfumes and household hygiene - even writing tools and household appliances! Today, the company's portfolio of the company includes almost a thousand items.

An annoying advertisement made a famous millionaire for us by Zhillett last name. King Camp himself was a very unusual businessman. And first of all, he dreamed of not about wealth, but about creating an ideal state in which everything would be common.

At the turn of the XIX - XX centuries in Europe and America were born and embodied many ideas, each of which has changed the world in its own way. The author of one of them became King Camp Zhillett, "King of the blades", founder of the Gillette razor empire.

Well for sale is replicated. Zhillett One of the first understood this by making focus on the simplicity of the production and availability of a razor to everyone. His invention, researchers consider the era of "disposable".

However, the personality of the king was very extraordinary. Having a thirst from the Father to change life for the better and inheriting the hard character and the mobility of the mind, King Jillett never sat in place and invented a new one and improved the old one. Some of his ideas remained unrealized, others still develop followers.

Birth of the king

King Camp appeared on January 5, 1855 in the family of a successful entrepreneur, the owner of the brass shop George Jigallet. The childhood of the inventor was held in Wisconsin in a small provincial town of Du-du Lac, the name of which is translated from French as "bottom of the lake". Life in a quiet settlement was calm and measured, every day similar to the previous one - established customs, visits to the church on Sundays, family dinners ...

George understood that boredom sooner or later destroy him and the younger son. That is why, consulting with his wife, the housingle-senior decided to move to Chicago, a major industrial city with wide opportunities. Over the years of life in a du-du-varnish, the housingle accumulated a large amount of money. She was enough to not only settle in a new place, but also to open his business. From the sale of hardware, the family has moved to the maintenance and repair of sewing machines.

The work brought a considerable income and promised the family a comfortable life, but the merciless Chicago fire of 1871 made their own adjustments to these plans. Together with the burnt quarters of the city disappeared and the workshop of George. Zhillett-senior killed by grief, looking for comfort at the bottom of the bottle and soon died. The 16-year-old housingle junior remained the only man in the family, and he had to take care of his mother.

It should be noted that both King's mother, Fanny Camp, did not sit, folded hands. From the small years, enthusiastic with cooking, in 1887 she released the book of unusual recipes called the "Kitchen of the White House" and received a considerable fee for it. The revenue money came as it should not be more by the way - they allowed the vehicle to pay off the debts and even buy a king business suit.

The future inventor engaged in trade. He got a job as a community in a modest Chicago company for the sale of household trifles and since then a lot has driven around the country and the world. The work came to the housingle-younger in the soul. Trading in various goods - from toothpicks to a slicing soap - he concluded a lot of contracts with European countries. The company's business went to the mountain, and King Camp, whose merit in this was incredibly great, was listed on a good account. But in the soul, an energetic and lucky young man grew discontent with himself. He did not want to sell the fruits of other people's creations all his life - he wanted to invent something unique himself. And if it once failed to his father, he, King, will definitely work out. He will become the same famous as his contemporaries Bell and Edison. But what would come up with? There was no answer for this question.

On the way to a dream

At 35, King Jillett married the daughter of the Neftyman Entrepreneur Atlanta Gaines. Together with her, he moved to Boston, where in the same position that before that, went to work at Crown Cork & Seal. Now he sold corkscrews, brass beer tubes with corrugated edge and wine caps with an inner gasket, which invented and launched the owner of the company William Painter.

Many envied the Peynther, because he was a very successful entrepreneur, but King so sincerely and genuinely admired his boss that they quickly became friends. Soon their joint Sunday dinners have become a good unchanging tradition. Friends agreed on the basis of interest in the newest inventions, engineering, and behind a glass of French brandy or a glass of California wine, not embarrassed, shared with their dreams and fantasies. And somehow, when it comes to his own achievements, the Painter asked the housing: "King, here you want to invent anything unusual. Do you know what happened to me? After all, it may be, the main charm of my plug in its cheapness and briefness. Opened the bottle, twisted there, and here, and all- on the garbage. Think about it!".

And King really thought. But the truth, it was not necessary to invent something completely new, you can simply look at the existing things. Those we use every day and who often buy. And to reduce them to a simpler model "done - I used, I used it or broke - threw, threw it - I bought a new one." This was this required from the inventors of the era.

But which of the items of frequent use can be simplified before this scheme? In search of the answer King, as in school years, addressed the dictionary. He was looking for words, read in them and analyzed from all sides.

From the memories of King Kampa Jilletta: "The invention of the new product of everyday demand with a short term of use has become an intrusive idea for me. I moved into memory almost all human needs, all spheres of human activity, but almost no avail. "

So the housinglet came up with a new rubber gasket for a crane consisting of a piston and sleeves, several varieties of electrical conductors, a convenient rubberized valve - but all this certainly could not bring him fame and wealth. It was required something more significant, but nothing had occurred to. And yet, the housingle was not desperate. He knew exactly that sooner or later the image of the new invention would appear. So came out.

Through hardship to the stars

The idea arose completely by chance during the morning shave. Later, Zhillett himself recalled: "I looked in the mirror and, starting to shave, immediately discovered that my razor was hopelessly tup. She was not just a tup, namely hopeless. I was not able to sharpen it. It was necessary to go to the hairdresser or in a sharpening workshop. I stood, while looking at the razor, and then the idea was born in my head. Or picture. I do not know. In any case, I know for sure that the Jillett razor was born in this moment. I saw her entirely, one second asked myself tens of questions and answered each of them. Everything happened quickly as in a dream, and rather revelation rather than rational reflection. "

The new razor was supposed to get rid of the shortcomings of the usual thing. First, it is compact to occupy as little space in a suitcase and calmly fit into any pocket; secondly - to be cheaper any other razor, so that New Zhillettovskaya can afford each; Thirdly - finally become safe.

Historical reference: Fashion on shaving was introducedAscipion, famous for the final victory over Hannibal in 202 BC. It was he who began to use a razor every day, feeding an infectious example with all his subordinates. Later, the lack of beard became almost a distinctive feature of the noble layers of the Roman society.

By the end of the XIX century, the razor did not undergo practically no changes since the invention of them in ancient Egypt, when they were made of copper or bronze. A little later, the blades have become iron, no less dangerous, but more suitable for daily use. The razor was the edge, vertically awaited in the handle. The idea of \u200b\u200bZhilletta was to sharpen the blade on the one hand, to translate it, and perhaps a couple of blades, to the horizontal position and perpendicular to them to attach the handle. At the same time, as soon as the blade fits, it can be thrown out and replace the new one.

There could be no mistakes to be, King finally found, what did it strive for! In his memoirs, he wrote: "I stood and smiled like the last fool. Actually, I was a fool. I did not understand anything in the razors, and in the properties they knew that less. "Yes, one thing is to come up, and completely different - to realize. It was necessary to calculate the thickness of the steel blade so that it was and flexible, and durable at the same time, to understand how it can be sharpened, which form and from which make the machine, and most importantly, with the help of what to fix the blade on it. But how if there are no relevant knowledge in the field of engineering? King's call to his wife, goving at that time in Ohio, with the words "ready. Our future is provided! " It was clearly hasty. After all, the newly made inventor who did not have any clear plan at that time, decided to act by samples and errors.

Total and more!

King went on an excursion to hardware store. He walked between the counter and pondered.

For blades, steel tape is quite suitable, which is usually used for the production of time springs. From the pound of such a 16-center strip, by modest counting, there should be no less than 500 blades! Also, you need to get joinery tools and materials from which you could make a handle. And for sketches, paper, line and drawing pencil will be needed. I do not regret the time and strength, Zhillett completely plunged into the work. But the first week of his stubborn work did not give results.

From the memories of King Kampa Jilletta: "Without receiving technical education, I did not suspect that I needed a special quality steel, much more expensive than that I began my experiments."

Then King did not even think about contacting professional engineers. Again and again breaking cheap blades, Zhillett I spent more than 25 thousand dollars on experiments. He equipped the laboratory in the office and spent everything free time over the years. We needed another steel and technology whose fresh look. But the friends he told about his idea, considered it meaningless and even painfully intrusive. And when the inventor, still asked the Council from specialists, they answered that it was impossible to harden the blades of the blades of such thickness - they would still crumble. But Zhillett did not take their arguments seriously. He felt like a way to achieve the desired one.

"Zhillett - for successful men"

The suitable man King met only 6 years after that moment. They turned out to be a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology William Nicherson, who, penetrating the ideas of the inventor, was able to finally move the case from the dead point. William not only picked up the appropriate steel and came up with how to fix it on the handle, but also the machine itself created the machine to sharpen the blades of the desired type.

The dream of a future razor king was performed! Now it was possible to make the production of the first batch of goods. However, at first it was necessary to collect initial capital to purchase materials with Nicherson. All his savings of Zhillett spent over the years of experiments, and a poor graduate for soul did not have a penny. Therefore, they applied for help to their friends, among whom was even a "beer" genius John Joyce. King convinced his friends in the success of the campaign, and they still experience mistrust, agreed to give money to register the company. What happened in September 1901. So the beginning of the century was marked by the discovery " American company Secure razor. But there was still not enough funds for production.

However, the entrepreneurial mind of the vehicle found a solution. The inventor announced that their company, in the state of which there were only 8 people, it is worth not less than half a million dollars. Of course, it was an adventure, but she attracted the attention of investors, and 40% of the shares fleeing on sale by minimum cost, Imbouled. So in the hands of a razor inventor turned out to be 5 thousand dollars, and in October, a patent was obtained for the production of disposable blades.

And when, it would seem, nothing could prevent shareholders overnight to get rich, the fashion for beard was returned again. The European elite as if consisted against the housingle. Now then there, then photographs of bearded aristocrats began to appear, and all young people tried to imitate them. To go against the flow meant failure. And King and his colleagues decided to find something average that they would not argue with the fashion, but did not infiltrate the interests of the company. Then the mustache appeared on the face of the vehicle and the logo of the company. This was not left without caustic remarks Theodore Roosevelt, who was a little later, in 1910, offered a million dollars for heading one of his projects in Arizona. But the president refused: " I would gladly, - he joined, - but honestly, I do not really trust a person who makes a razor and wears a mustache».

"It must have every military!"

The first Zhillett razors launched on sale on 5 dollars, which at that time was not at all cheap - average salary In the USA, then about $ 100. Therefore, only 51 razors were sold that year. Practically impoverished King was forced to look for work again. The benefit of William Peyntter did not throw an old friend and not just took it back to Crown Cork & Seal, but also suggested heading one of the British branches of the company.

However, I did not throw my own business King. He dug a little, Zhillett rushed again into battle. Being an experienced and resourceful community, the inventor failed to sell razors. He began to give the machines below the cost in hope well earn money on the realization of the blades that buyers will change much more often. So came out. Already in 1902, the name of the inventor began in the name of the company, and in 1903, a factory for the production of machine tools and blades of Gillette opened in Boston. That same year, fortunately shareholders, sales increased to 50 machines and 168 replaceable blades. Enthusiastic reviews quickly flew away America, and two years later, Zhillett sold 91 thousand razors and 123 thousand blades. The company's business went to the mountain. By the 1908th, the whole world drew attention to the American invention, and the company has implemented goods for $ 13 million per year. Production was launched in Canada, Germany, England and France.

Finally, the company has unfolded during the First World War. Then, for the purpose of hygiene, all the soldiers were obliged to shave well, and the constant movement of troops from place to place required mobility and ease of use. The government did not praise and ordered 36 million machines and blades from the vehicle.

By the end of the war, the company sold about 120 million blades per year already, and young people were vaccinated new fashion On the "clean and smooth shave". Then the first gift sets appeared in tin boxes.

"Jillett- Better for a man no "

Zhillett One of the first to advertise his inventions, distributing them for free. And he did not just give the machines and the blades, but also put small bonuses to them: folding knives, candy and chocolates, canned food and chewing gum. It was unprecedented increased demand for Gillette products. Other companies are interested in the production. Now, when the term of the patent is inevitably approached, competitors quickly began to rebuild their plants to make a disposable blades too. The Zhillett Empire could suffer collapse, because rivals, as intelligence reported, were going to sell their goods several times cheaper.

Moving mind of the inventor and here found a way out of the situation. Zhillett has improved the model of the machine and the blade and reduced their cost to 1 dollars. Half a year before the end of the patent, became the most profitable in the entire history of the company's existence.

From King's memories King Campa Zhilletta: "I do not know another of the same product of everyday individual demand, like our secure razor. In his journeys, I met her everywhere - from the fishing village in the north of Norway to the Sahara desert. "

Competition still inflicted significant damage to business. But instead of attacking and defending, the firm decided to go more tricky way. In 1930, she merged with the main rival - Auto Strop Henry J. Gaceman, established the production of bilateral blades.

Gillette expanded her possessions until the Second World War. New improvements brought a razor of a different appearance. The machine itself began to be made exclusively from plastics, and the blade was fixed already in the case. Now the razor has become completely disposable and after use ejected. The production of various creams, lotions and razor accessories has established a new model. A razor for women entered life. These innovations were one of the latest achievements of King. He then sold most of the shares and bought a house in a quiet place surrounded by healing orange gardens. In 1932, Zhillett died in California, leaving behind the people not indifferent to the clerk.

"Of all the great inventions, a disposable razor is the greatest of the smallest things!" - He told the world for finishing.

"Zhillett is the best for all times"

After World War II, the Zhillettovsky razor has changed radically. Safe multi-row cassettes ousted replaceable blades. And after another 10 years, the world from television screens blew a sensational novelty: Mobile head Mach with three supere blades. 40 billion sales became the result of the excellent half-century work of the company, which absorbed about fifty minor firms. After a century, Gillette could boast not only the production of razors and accessories to them, but also goods to care Oral-B teeth, Parker feather handles, duracell household batteries, BRAUN electrical engineering.

Gillette provided working places over 40 thousand people, and had an annual turnover of 9.25 billion dollars. In 2005, the company estimated at 57 billion dollars, Procter & Gamble bought.

Utopic dreams of Jilletta

The fantasy of the vehicle was distributed not only for inventions. In times, when he was looking for the idea of \u200b\u200ba new product, King built an image of the perfect world in his head. Copying long years of thought in 1894, he outlined in the book "Where humanity goes."

The modern world, according to the inventor, needed reorganization and full destruction of capitalism, and the sooner the better.

From King's memories King Khilletta: "If I believed in the devil, it would be sure that competition in the name of the progress is the most ingenious invention."

As an Eden, the razor king elected the Canadian province of Ontario - a cozy quiet place surrounded by the Great Lakes. There, he considered Jilletta, it is necessary to build a huge, perfect city-skyscraper Metropolis, able to fit the entire population of the United States. People in it will work in state monopolies for the benefit of society, jointly breakfast, dine and dinner, and in the evenings to relax in the lobby in the evenings. In Niagara Falls, King planned to put an environmentally friendly power plant, which will endlessly supply all the houses and enterprises. The inhabitants of the ideal city will not be money, but each will be a full-awaited shareholder of the metropolis. People will be alien to envy, competition and war. And their souls will be filled with happiness and serenity. According to the idea of \u200b\u200bthe inventor, Metropolis sooner or later was supposed to serve positive example For other countries, which will also be united in cities, and later they will merge and become one whole world without borders - a single society.

Hillett returned to his ideas later, already successful and a wealthy businessman. In 1910, he wrote the second book - "World Corporation". But this time King did not limit himself only with words. He went to Arizona, and, without losing time with a gift, registered there the organization with the same name, headed which Zhillett and offered theodore of Roosevelt. Now, on the exercise of his dream King was ready to spend everything honestly earned 200 million dollars. But the president, with the response to the joke, refused his position proposed. Not supported by the inventor and ex-president William Taft, and the car genius of Henry Ford, who called the idea of \u200b\u200bKing "the complete absurdity." Zhillett kept for his dreams for many more years, they ultimately took the king from his razor empire. New York Times newspaper wrote about King Campe Zhillette : "It is difficult to perceive the seriously of a person who owns villas, limousines and short capital when he says that" we are wasting life to accumulate capital. "

In fact, all the money of the hillta was not kept in expensive homes and cars, but in the company's promotions. Its condition has practically burned down during the Great Depression, and the family event continued the only son of the inventor King Jr..

Leave a comment

Your comment will be shown on the page after approval by the moderator.

July 9, 1932, King Kemp Jillett died. The baloveman of fate, which created a huge corporation from scratch, considered himself a loser: he did not redo the world, although she was going. But humanity is not at VKlad: Zhillett saved him from daily torture - invented a secure razor.

Zhillett made not only this - his razors with replaceable blades taught consumers to the short period of things, causing a disposable dishes, disposable books and a whole philosophy of "one-time". And everything began, as usual, with long and fruitless attempts to get rich.

For many years, moving throughout the country and selling the most diverse goods, Zhillett acquired the tremendous experience of the belief, which he later helped him. All this time, he never ceased to invent - the original mechanism from the piston and sleeve for a water tap, several types of electrical conductors, a new gate of soft rubber ... All these were useful in everyday life, but the acquired patents of big money did not bring the inventor. Zhillett later admitted that he did not have enough time, no money to engage in the promotion of his new products, and the money usually received others. It was necessary to have a different invention that would immediately revise the market and made his author with a millionaire.

King married the daughter of the oilman Atlanta Gaines (buying a decent suit for this in life) and moved to Boston, where it settled in Crown Cork & Seal. Her owner William Painter was a successful inventor. It was he who came up with, say, who knows the beer tube today with a corrugated edge - the crown. An example was infectious.

"The invention of the new product of everyday demand with a short term of use has become an obsessive idea for me," Libelet recalled. The idea did not come, and in the longing he composed a plan to reorganize the world, set out in the book "The Future of Mankind". Zhillett offered to build a giant city of Metropolis in the area of \u200b\u200bthe Great Lakes and transport all the US population there. The city was planned to supply electricity at the expense of Niagara Falls, and his citizens had to work, eat and culturally rest in huge common halls. With the advent of such cities in other countries, the boundaries were to disappear, and the world would be the world of the UNITED Company, whose shareholders would be all residents of the Earth.
Disposable dream

Summer in the morning of 1895, Zhillett found that his razor was hopelessly faded. It could only put it in the workshop, and therefore it would have to screeching the cheeks with a blunt blade, holding medicines at the ready (the razor, unchanged since the times of ancient Egypt, was not called dangerous not for the red sense). And suddenly ... "I saw a new razor of the whole, - recalled Zhillett then, - in one second they asked himself tens of questions and answered them. I stood and smiled like the last fool. "

The new razor should look like this: two plates, between them - a sharpened piece of steel tape (blade itself) and T-shaped handle. It was impossible to cut down a new blade strongly; When it blinking, it was simply changed to a new one.

It remained to implement the invention into life. "I did not understand anything in the razors, and in the properties they knew that less," said Jillett. He bought a steel tape motor for time springs, but it turned out that for the blades, this steel is not suitable. Months and years passed in fruitless search for which he spent all his accumulations - $ 25 thousand.

Six years Passed in fruitless search. Zhillett bypassed all the grillers, all specialized shops in Boston and New York, trying to find out how to make hard steel with thin steel, at what temperature it is better to tempt to avoid the berthings of the blade. Even the specialists of one of the most authoritative scientific centers - the Massachusetts Institute of Technology - embarrassed by their hands. And friends and colleagues advised him to throw this crazy idea from the head.

Finally, in 1901, the fate of Jilletta's fate with the mechanic engineer William Nicherson, who came up with the technology of strengthening and sharpening a steel tape. After that, the case moved from a dead point - a patent for a T-shaped safe razor was obtained (which can be discovered to change the reassembly blade for a new one) and a firm for its production - American Safety Razor Company (in July 1902, she changed the name on Gillette Safety Razor Company). However, the initial capital is quickly dried, and companions - Zhillett and Nickerson with his two friends - posted the company's shares on the stock exchange, having helped another $ 5 thousand, but they soon disappeared, and the cost of the razors remained too high for the one-time item.

The company was saved by the gift of the belief, which was possessed by a commander with thirty-year experience. Residents managed to attract investors, and in 1903 the mass production of his razor began. Nevertheless, the start of the newborn company did not inspire optimism. The head of the company from the latter forces tried to keep investors, assuring them that to conquer the buyer's sympathies to the new product need time. And his expectations were justified - the next year more than one hundred thousand Americans bought Gillette products, and by 1908 the profit exceeded $ 13 million.

New razors cost $ 5, while the average monthly salary of the American then did not exceed $ 100. It is not surprising that the first year managed to sell only 51 machines and 168 blades . To save the family from hunger, Zhillett returned to Cork & Seal and headed her British branch. But after a year he returned - sales grew every day. The reason was simple: Machines for safe blades began to sell cheaper cost and even hand out for nothing. This strategy applied simply from despair, entered all marketing textbooks as "model of bait and hooks": the main product is sold below the cost, and profit is done on "consumables".

It was estimated that the invention of the hillteta saves a man at least 20 minutes a day that the Yankees had become a decisive argument. In 1915, Zhillett sold 450 thousand razors and 70 million blades, and her triumphant founder called his razor "the greatest of the little things."

Literally in two years, the housingle became a millionaire - thanks to not only the invention, but also the undoubted talent of the entrepreneur (for nothing that he manifested itself on the fifth top of life). The main achievement of the housingle-businessman was non-standard marketing strokeSince then has become classic: the manufacturer of razor machines began selling them below the cost, even hand out for nothing! So he taught consumers to his products and made them buy more and more blades.

This was the main invention King King Khilletta. The business model, which in the XIX century received the name "razor-blade", and today is called the "bait and hook" model, when the main product is sold according to a deliberately low price, and profit is obtained by repeated sales of the consumable product, without which the main one does not work. In fact, we are talking about a special form of sale in installments: the consumer eventually compensates for the company's costs for the production of the main product, buying consumables. As Zhillett himself loved to repeat, "no need to regret money for the purchase of the market."

Already by 1906, Zhillett deployed the distribution network in Europe and extended his patent for another 20 years, which allowed his company for a long time to remain a monopolist. Competitors who tried to circumvent the patent, head of Gillette pursued judicial orderAnd the largest and most persistent just bought.

Another engine of the razor business was the world war. Men in the form had thought to look neat, and there was no time and conditions for shaving in the trenches. Willetta razor has become an ideal way out. Slogan was born: "It should have every military!" - And the US Army bought 3.5 million machines at once. As a result, the habit of replaceable blades brought from the front home not only Americans, but also soldiers of other nations. IN different countries How mushrooms raised branches of the company. Profit grew, but then the fateful 1921 came here, when a 20-year-old patent for the invention was supposed to end. The housing is called that several companies are ready to produce its product on dumping prices.

He was ahead of all: threw a razor to the market worth $ 1 - cheaper than competitors could allow. A new advertising concept has worked and shave as apotheosis of masculinity. On the poster "You have become an adult, son!" Father solemnly handed a silent razor sully. The famous slogan "Zhillett" is better for a man. "Appeared through a quarter of a century.

Crushing rivals, Zhillett again thought about happiness for all mankind. He offered all the governments of the world to resign and transfer the power of the World Corporation, which theodore Roosevelt should have been headed. Having received such a proposal, the President of the US President Lukofully asked: "How can I trust a person who sells razors, and itself wears a mustache?" Next for Roosevelt, the world refused another ex-president, William Taft, and the Car King Henry Ford. Zhilatet was disappointed - he planned to put on the arrangement of the global government earned on razors $ 200 million. And now it was not to spend money for: while retaining the Spartan habits of youth, King was not spent on the yachts, nor on horseback horses, nor swimming in champagne Young mistresses. True, he adored to travel - he liked that he was recognized in any corner of the world on the image on the packaging of the razor.
All his life, Zhillett was faithful to his wife, and sole son, King Jr., made a member of the Company's Board of Directors. He himself went on peace and moved to California, where he founded a farm with orange plantations. Having learned from doctors about the healing properties of oranges, he was going to feed all American children with them.

This romantic dream broke the great crisis of 1929. The company "Zhillett" resisted, but got rid of his founder, bought him a share of shares for a snot. The new struggle against the poverty King could not stand - in July 1932 he died in his orange paradise. A corporation created by him returned to prosperity, constantly expanding the spheres of activity. In different years she acquired large companies Braun (household electrical engineering), Oral-B (Toothbrushes), Waterman and Parker (Fountain Pens), Duracell (Batteries). In the 1980s, Zhillett produced more than a thousand product names. The famous razor was changed - in 1947, even more secure cassettes with built-in blades came to replace the blades wrapped in the waslenny paper. And in 2005, the corporation for $ 57 billion bought another giant - Procter & Gamble. But everyone familiar to the trademark, the image of the pretty founder's father on the package, was preserved - as a memory of the era, when the business was inseparable from romance, and ambitious income from even more ambitious plans.

Shortly Before death, in 1926, when the 25th anniversary of Gillette was celebrated, her founder stated: "I don't know another of the same product of everyday individual demand as our secure razor. In his journeys, I met her everywhere - from the fishing village in the north of Norway to the Sahara desert. " However, even in the most bold dreams, the housingle was unlikely to guess how his invention would be widely used. All your life I dreamed by utopian projects, Zhillett could change the world - although not in the direction that thought. He turned a shave from daily torture into a slight non-dark procedure. Moreover, the invention of the hillta gave humanity a new vector of development - disposable handles were inevitably for one-time razors, disposable dishes, disposable clothing.

sources

http://alxyanovsky.com.

Vadim Erlikhman - http://www.point.ru

The original article is on the site Inforos Link to an article with which this copy is made -

Perhaps it will be useful to read: