Gillette history. Founder of 'The Gillette Company'. Utopian dreams of Gillette

History of Gillette

King Camp Gillette, the inventor of the disposable razor and the founder of the company that bears his name, proved that big money can be made on small things - household items that are cheap but are used every day.

Just like a cork

Surprisingly, but own business, which quickly made him a millionaire, King Camp Gillette founded only on the eve of his fiftieth birthday. Prior to that, he worked as a traveling salesman for 30 years.

The future "razor king" (the parents prophetically named their son King) was born in 1855 in the town of Fond du Lac in Wisconsin. His father, the owner of a hardware store, was literally obsessed with invention, constantly improving everything that came to hand. The King brothers did the same. Shortly after Gillette Sr.'s shop was destroyed by fire in 1871, he obtained a job as a patent agent in New York. His 16-year-old son also moved there. He began to earn money on his own, becoming a traveling salesman, delivering the products of a hardware company.

For many years, wandering around the country and trading in a wide variety of goods, Gillette acquired tremendous experience convictions, which subsequently helped him greatly. All this time, he did not stop inventing - the original mechanism of the piston and bushing for a water tap, several types of electrical conductors, a new valve made of soft rubber ... All these were useful things in everyday life, but acquired patents big money the inventor was not brought. Gillette later admitted that he did not have enough time or money to promote his new products himself, and others usually got the money. We needed another invention that would immediately revolutionize the market and make its author a millionaire.

Gillette's search was directed by his boss, William Painter, owner of Crown Cork & Seal in Baltimore. Painter himself invented one valuable and still in demand gizmo - a bottle stopper (Crown Cork), which was a pewter cap with a gasket attached to it. Seeing how his salesman was constantly trying in vain to invent something, Painter advised Gillette to consider something as practical, cheap and disposable as his cork. Above something that the buyer will not be sorry to throw away in order to immediately go to the store for the next purchase.

“After this memorable advice, the invention of a new consumer product with a short lifespan turned into an obsession for me,” Gillette recalled. “I went over in my memory almost all human needs, all spheres of human activity, but to no avail.”

And only in the summer of 1895 it dawned on him.

Valuable junk merchandise

One morning, while performing his daily male ritual, the salesman discovered that his razor had once again become dull. I had to take it back to the grinder, wasting time and money.

“I stood with a razor in my hand,” King Camp later wrote. – And suddenly I quite clearly imagined the future Gillette machine! In a matter of seconds, a lot of questions flashed through my head, but the answers were instantly, as if it all happened in a dream.

Gillette first noticed that only a thin blade works in a razor, and the rest serves to support it - although the production of a handle also takes time and money. At that time, the handle was made of expensive steel and decorated with carvings, chasing and other excesses. Why not come up with a more economical way to hold the blade and extend the life of the blade itself? Or maybe go even further - go to replaceable cheap blades?

Thus was born the idea of an interchangeable blade sharpened on both sides, as well as a T-shaped cheap handle with clips. Prior to this, the design of the razor had not changed for centuries, and its use was a risky and unpleasant procedure - it is no coincidence that the razor was called “dangerous” for a long time. It was only in the mid-1870s that the Kempfe brothers in Germany invented a “safe” but forged blade with a blade that required constant sharpening.

Gillette thought of a fundamentally different machine with a different blade - thin, strong, light and cheap, so that it could be thrown away and replaced after each shave. Potential buyers of such goods should have been all adult men in the world - regardless of their nationality, wealth and education. This was a brilliant invention, the patent for which could enrich the inventor overnight.

Gillette began to experiment and immediately ran into a major obstacle - all the experts to whom he turned for advice unanimously argued that the modern industry simply does not produce the steel necessary for the new razor - at the same time thin, durable and cheap. The inventor did not yet know then that a special steel would be required, the cost of which would be much more expensive than the calculated one. Nor did he know that the lab tests alone would cost a quarter of a million dollars. When Gillette realized this, the enthusiasm of potential investors dropped to zero.

Six years passed in a fruitless search. Gillette went around all the grinders, all specialized shops in Boston and New York, trying to figure out how to make thin steel harder, at what temperature it is best to temper it in order to avoid blade distortion. Even specialists from one of the most reputable scientific centers - the Massachusetts Institute of Technology - shrugged their shoulders in embarrassment. And friends and colleagues advised him to throw this crazy idea out of his head.

Finally, in 1901, fate brought Gillette to mechanical engineer William Nickerson, who came up with the technology of strengthening and sharpening steel tape. After that, things got off the ground - a patent was received for a T-shaped safety razor (which can be opened to change a dull blade to a new one) and the company for its production, the American Safety Razor Company, was founded (in July 1902, it changed its name to Gillette Safety Razor Company). However, the initial capital quickly dried up, and the partners - Gillette and Nickerson with two of their friends - placed the company's shares on the stock exchange, gaining another $ 5 thousand. But those soon disappeared, and the cost of razors was still too high for a disposable item.

The company was saved by the gift of persuasion possessed by a traveling salesman with thirty years of experience. Gillette managed to attract investors, and in 1903 began mass production of his razors. However, the start of the newborn company did not inspire optimism - in the first year, only 51 machines and 168 blades were sold. The head of the company did his best to keep investors, assuring them that it takes time for a new product to win the sympathy of the buyer. And his expectations were justified - the very next year, more than a hundred thousand Americans bought Gillette products, and by 1908 the profit exceeded $ 13 million.

Bait and hook

Disposable world

Shortly before his death, in 1926, when the 25th anniversary of the Gillette company was celebrated, its founder declared: “I do not know another product of everyday individual demand like our safety razor. In my travels, I met her everywhere - from the fishing village in northern Norway to the Sahara desert. However, even in his wildest dreams, Gillette hardly guessed how widely his invention would be used. Having dreamed of utopian projects all his life, Gillette was able to change the world - although not in the direction he thought about. He turned shaving from daily torture into an easy, non-burdensome procedure. Moreover, Gillette's invention gave mankind a new vector of development - disposable razors were inevitably followed by disposable pens, disposable tableware, disposable clothes.

Gillette celebrated its centennial anniversary as one of the world leaders in the market of not only shaving accessories, but also dental care products, perfumes and household hygiene - even writing instruments and household electrical appliances! Today, the "brand portfolio" of the company has almost a thousand items.

Annoying advertising made us famous for a millionaire named Gillette. King Camp himself was a very unusual businessman. And first of all, he dreamed not of wealth, but of creating an ideal state in which everything would be common.

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

It sells well what is replicated. Gillette was one of the first to understand this, focusing on the ease of production and accessibility of razors to everyone. His invention, the researchers believe, opened the era of "disposability".

However, the very personality of the king was very extraordinary. Having absorbed from his father the thirst to change life for the better and having inherited a strong character and mobility of mind, King Gillette never sat still and invented new things and improved the old until the end of his life. Some of his ideas remained unrealized, while others are still being developed by followers.

Birth of a king

King Camp was born on January 5, 1855 in the family of a successful entrepreneur, owner of a hardware store, George Gillett. The inventor spent his childhood in the state of Wisconsin in the small provincial town of Fond du Lac, whose name is translated from French as “the bottom of the lake”. Life in a quiet settlement was calm and measured, every day is similar to the previous one - established customs, church visits on Sundays, family dinners ...

George understood that boredom would sooner or later destroy him and his growing son. That is why, after consulting with his wife, Gillette Sr. decided to move to Chicago, a large industrial city with ample opportunities. Over the years of living in Fond-du-Lac, the Gillettes have accumulated a large sum of money. She was enough to not only settle in a new place, but also open her own business. The family moved from selling hardware to maintaining and repairing sewing machines.

The work brought a considerable income and promised the family a comfortable life, but the merciless Chicago fire of 1871 made adjustments to these plans. Along with the burnt quarters of the city, George's workshop also disappeared. Gillette Sr., heartbroken, sought solace at the bottom of the bottle and soon died. 16-year-old Gillette Jr. was the only man in the family, and he had to take care of his mother.

It should be noted that King's mother, Fanny Camp, did not sit idly by. Passionate about cooking from an early age, in 1887 she published a book of unusual recipes called White House Kitchen and received a considerable fee for it. The proceeds came in handy - they allowed the Gillettes to pay off their debts and even buy King a business suit.

The future inventor took up trade. He got a job as a traveling salesman in a modest Chicago company selling household items and since then traveled a lot around the country and the world. The work came to Gillette Jr. to their liking. Trading in various goods - from toothpicks to bar soap - he concluded many contracts with European countries. The business of the company was going uphill, and King Camp, whose merit in this was incredibly great, was in good standing. But in the soul of an energetic and successful young man, dissatisfaction with himself grew. 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 his father once failed, he, King, will definitely succeed. He would become as famous as his contemporaries Bell and Edison. But what would you come up with? This question has not yet been answered.

On the way to a dream

At 35, King Gillette married the daughter of an oil entrepreneur, Atlanta Gaines. Together with her, he moved to Boston, where, in the same position as before, he joined Crown Cork & Seal. He now sold corkscrews, corrugated brass beer corks, and lined wine caps, which were invented and put into production by the owner of the company, William Painter.

Many envied Painter, because he was a very successful entrepreneur, but King admired his boss so sincerely and genuinely that they quickly became friends. Soon their joint Sunday dinners became a good tradition. Friends came together on the basis of interest in the latest inventions, engineering, and over a glass of French cognac or a glass of Californian wine, they did not hesitate to share their dreams and fantasies. And then one day, when it came to his own achievements, Painter asked Gillette: “King, you want to invent something unusual. Do you know what came to my mind? After all, perhaps the main charm of my cork is its cheapness and fragility. I opened the bottle, twisted it back and forth a couple of times, and that's it.- to the dump. Think about it!".

And King really thought. But it’s true, it was not necessary to invent something completely new, you can simply change the look at existing things. The ones that we use every day and that we often buy. And reduce them to a simpler model "made - used, used or broken - thrown away, thrown away - bought a new one." This is exactly what the era demanded of the inventors.

But which of the frequently used items can be simplified to this scheme? In search of an answer, King, as in school years turned to the dictionary. He looked for words, read them and analyzed from all sides.

From the memoirs of King Camp Gillett: “Inventing a new everyday product with a short lifespan has become an obsession for me. I went over in my memory almost all human needs, all spheres of human activity, but almost to no avail.

So Gillette came up with a new rubber gasket for the tap, consisting of a piston and a bushing, several types of electrical conductors, a convenient rubberized valve - but all this certainly could not bring him fame and wealth. Something more substantial was needed, but nothing came to mind. Still, Gillette did not despair. He knew for sure that sooner or later the image of a new invention would appear by itself. And so it happened.

Through hardship to the stars

The idea arose quite by accident during a morning shave. Gillette himself later recalled: “I looked in the mirror and as soon as I started to shave, I immediately discovered that my razor was hopelessly dull. She was not just stupid, but hopelessly. I couldn't sharpen it myself. It was necessary to go to the hairdresser or to the grinding workshop. I stood looking at the razor in confusion, and then an idea was born in my head. Or a picture. Do not know. In any case, I know for sure that at that moment the Gillette razor was born. I saw it in its entirety, in one second I asked myself dozens of questions and answered each of them. Everything happened quickly, as in a dream, and looked more like a revelation than a rational reflection.

The new razor was supposed to get rid of the shortcomings of the usual thing. Firstly, to become compact in order to take up as little space as possible in a suitcase and easily fit into any pocket; secondly, to be cheaper than any other razor, so that everyone can afford a new Gillette razor; third - finally become safe.

Historical note: Fashion for shaving was introducedScipio, famous for his final victory over Hannibal in 202 BC. It was he who began to use a razor every day, setting a contagious example for all his subordinates. Later, the absence of a beard became almost a hallmark of the noble strata of Roman society.

By the end of the 19th century, razors had hardly changed since their invention in ancient Egypt, when they were made of copper or bronze. A little later, the blades became iron, no less dangerous, but more suitable for daily use. The razor was a point, vertically soldered into the handle. Gillette's idea was to sharpen the blade on one side, move it, and possibly a pair of blades, to a horizontal position and attach the handle to them perpendicularly. At the same time, as soon as the blade becomes dull, it can be thrown out and replaced with a new one.

There could be no mistake, King finally found what he was striving for! In his memoirs, he wrote: “I stood and smiled like the last fool. Actually, I was stupid. I didn’t understand anything about razors, and even less about the properties of steel.” Yes, it's one thing to come up with it, and quite another to bring it to life. It was necessary to calculate the thickness of the steel blade so that it was both flexible and strong at the same time, to understand how to sharpen it, what shape and what to make the machine, and most importantly, with what help to fix the blade on it. But what if there is no relevant knowledge in the field of engineering? King's call to his wife, who was staying in Ohio at that time, with the words “Done. Our future is secured!” was obviously hasty. After all, the newly minted inventor, who at that time did not have any clear plan, decided to proceed by trial and error.

All and more!

King went on a tour of hardware store. He walked between the stalls and thought.

For blades, steel tape, which is usually used for the manufacture of watch springs, is quite suitable. From a pound of such a 16-cent strip, according to conservative estimates, there should be at least 500 blades! You also need to acquire carpentry tools and materials from which a handle could be made. And for sketches, you will definitely need paper, a ruler and a drawing pencil. Sparing no time and effort, Gillette completely immersed himself in the work. But the first week of his hard work did not yield results.

From the memoirs of King Camp Gillett: "Without having received a technical education, I did not suspect that I needed a steel of a special quality, much more expensive than the one with which I began my experiments."

At that time, King did not even think about turning to professional engineers for help. Again and again breaking cheap blades, Gillette spent more than 25 thousand dollars on experiments. He set up a laboratory in his office and spent all his free time there for many years. We needed a different steel and technology, someone's fresh look. But the friends to whom he talked about his idea found it meaningless and even painfully intrusive. And when the inventor nevertheless asked for advice from experts, they replied that it was simply impossible to harden blades of steel of such thickness - they would crumble anyway. But Gillette did not take their arguments seriously. He felt in his gut that there had to be a way to get what he wanted.

"Gillette is for successful men"

King met the right person only 6 years after that momentous morning. It turned out to be a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, William Nickerson, who, imbued with the ideas of the inventor, was finally able to get things off the ground. William not only chose the right steel and figured out how to fix it on the handle, but he also created a machine for sharpening the blades of the desired type with his own hands.

The dream of the future shaving king came true! Now it was possible to start producing the first batch of goods. However, first he and Nickerson needed to raise seed capital to purchase materials. Gillette spent all his savings during the years of experiments, and the poor graduate did not have a penny for his soul. Therefore, they turned to their friends for help, among whom was even the "beer" genius John Joyce. King convinced his friends of the success of the campaign, and they, still in disbelief, agreed to give money to register the company. What happened in September 1901. So the beginning of the century was marked by the discovery of " American company safety razors. But funds for production were still not enough.

However, Gillette's enterprising mind found a solution. The inventor announced that their company, which employed only 8 people, was worth at least half a million dollars. Of course, it was a gamble, but it attracted the attention of investors, and 40% of the shares put on sale at minimum cost, immediately sold out. So in the hands of the razor inventor was 5 thousand dollars, and in October a patent was received for the production of disposable blades.

And when, it would seem, nothing could prevent the shareholders from getting rich overnight, the fashion for beards returned again. The European elite seemed to conspire against Gillette. Now, here and there, photographs of bearded aristocrats began to appear, and all young people tried to imitate them. Going against the current meant failure. And King and his associates decided to find something in between that would not argue with fashion, but would not infringe on the interests of the company. Then a mustache appeared on the face of Gillette and the company logo. This was not left without a caustic remark by Theodore Roosevelt, to whom Gillette a little later, in 1910, offered a million dollars to head one of his projects in the state of Arizona. But the President refused: With pleasure- he joked, - but to be honest, i don't really trust a man who makes razors and wears a mustache».

"Every military man should have this!"

The first Gillette razors were launched for sale at $5, which at that time was not at all cheap - average salary in the US was then about 100 dollars. Therefore, only 51 razors were sold that year. Almost impoverished, King was forced to look for work again. Fortunately, William Painter did not abandon his old friend and not only took him back to Crown Cork & Seal, but also offered to head one of the British branches of the company.

However, King did not quit his job. After a short rest, Gillette again rushed into battle. As an experienced and resourceful traveling salesman, the inventor approached the sale of razors outside the box. He began to give away machines below cost in the hope of making good money on the sale of blades, which buyers would change much more often. And so it happened. Already in 1902, the name of the inventor began to appear in the name of the company, and in 1903, a factory for the production of machine tools and Gillette blades was opened in Boston. In the same year, to the happiness of shareholders, sales increased to 50 machines and 168 replacement blades. Rave reviews quickly spread across America, and two years later Gillette had already sold 91,000 razors and 123,000 blades for them. The company's business was on the upswing. By 1908, the whole world drew attention to the American invention, and the company was already selling goods for 13 million dollars a year. Production was launched in Canada, Germany, England and France.

The company finally developed during the First World War. Then, for the sake of hygiene, all soldiers were obliged to shave cleanly, and the constant movement of troops from place to place required mobility and ease of use. The government was not stingy and ordered 36 million machine tools and blades from Gillette.

By the end of the war, the company was already selling about 120 million blades a year, and young people were vaccinated new fashion for a "close and smooth shave". At the same time, the first gift sets in tin boxes appeared.

"Gillette-there is no better for a man"

Gillette was one of the first to advertise his inventions by giving them away to people for free. Moreover, he not only gave machines and blades, but also applied small bonuses to them: folding knives, sweets and chocolates, canned food, coffee and chewing gums. This increased the demand for Gillette products unprecedentedly. Other companies also became interested in production. Now that the patent was about to expire, competitors were quick to rebuild their factories to also make disposable blades. The Gillette empire could have collapsed, because the rivals, as intelligence reported, were going to sell their goods several times cheaper.

The mobile mind of the inventor and here found a way out of the situation. Gillette improved the loom and blade models and reduced their cost to $1. Six months before the expiration of the patent became the most profitable in the history of the company.

From the memoirs of King Camp Gillette: “I don’t know of another everyday personal product like our safety razor. In my travels, I met her everywhere - from a fishing village in northern Norway to the Sahara desert.

The competition still caused significant damage to the business. But instead of attacking and defending, the firm decided to take a more cunning path. In 1930, it merged with its archrival, Henry J. Geisman's Auto Strop Company, which began producing double-edged blades.

Gillette expanded its holdings until World War II. New improvements have brought a different look to the razor. The machine itself began to be made exclusively of plastic, and the blade was already fixed in the body. Now the entire razor has become disposable and thrown away after use. The production of various creams, lotions and shaving accessories has also been launched for the new model. Razors for women also entered life. These innovations were among King's latest achievements. He then sold most of his shares and bought a house in a quiet location, surrounded by healing orange gardens. In 1932, Gillette died in California, leaving behind people who were not indifferent to shaving.

“Of all the great inventions, the disposable razor is the greatest of the little things!”- he said to the world in the end.

"Gillette is the best ever"

After World War II, the Gillette razor changed dramatically. Safety multi-row cassettes have replaced replaceable blades. And after another 10 years, a sensational novelty blew up the world from television screens: a Mach movable head with three super-sharp blades. 40 billion sales were the result of an excellent half-century work of the company, which absorbed about fifty small firms. A century later, Gillette could boast not only the production of razors and accessories for them, but also Oral-B dental care products, Parker fountain pens, Duracell household batteries, and Braun electrical equipment.

Gillette employed over 40,000 people and had an annual turnover of $9.25 billion. In 2005, the company, valued at $57 billion, was bought by Procter & Gamble Corporation.

Utopian dreams of Gillette

Gillette's fantasies extended beyond inventions. Back in the days when he was looking for a new product idea, King built an image of a perfect world in his head. In 1894, he outlined the thoughts that had accumulated for many years in the book Where Humanity Is Going.

The modern world, according to the inventor, needed to be reorganized and the complete destruction of capitalism, and the sooner the better.

From the memoirs of King Camp Gillette: "If I believed in the devil, I would be sure that competition for the sake of profit is his most ingenious invention."

As Eden, the razor king chose the Canadian province of Ontario - a cozy quiet place surrounded by the Great Lakes. There, Gillette believed, it was necessary to build a huge, perfect skyscraper city, Metropolis, capable of accommodating the entire population of the United States. People in it will work in state monopolies for the benefit of society, have breakfast, lunch and dinner together, and in the evenings relax in a civilized way in the foyer. At Niagara Falls, King planned to install an environmentally friendly power plant that would supply energy to all homes and businesses indefinitely. The inhabitants of the ideal city will have no money, but at the same time everyone will be the absolute shareholder of Metropolis. Envy, competition and wars will be alien to people. And their souls will be filled with happiness and serenity. As conceived by the inventor, Metropolis sooner or later had to serve positive example for other countries, which will also unite into cities, and later merge and become one whole world without borders - the One Society.

Gillette returned to his ideas later, already a successful and wealthy businessman. In 1910 he wrote a second book - "World Corporation". But this time, King didn't limit himself to just words. He went to Arizona, and, wasting no time, registered an organization there with the same name, which Gillette suggested to lead Theodore Roosevelt. Now King was ready to spend all his honestly earned $ 200 million to fulfill his dream. But the president, reducing the answer to a joke, refused the position offered to him. Not supported by the inventor and ex-President William Taft, and automotive genius Henry Ford, who called King's idea "utter absurdity." Gillette held on to his dreams for many more years, and they eventually took the king away from his shaving empire. The New York Times wrote about King Camp Gillette : "It's hard to take seriously a man who owns villas, limousines and remarkable capital when he says that "we are wasting our lives on the accumulation of capital."

In fact, all of Gillette's money was not stored in expensive houses and cars, but in company shares. His fortune almost burned down during the Great Depression, and the only son of the inventor, King Jr., continued the family business.

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On July 9, 1932, King Camp Gillette died. The minion of fate, who created a huge corporation from scratch, considered himself a failure: he did not remake the world, although he was going to. But humanity is not at a loss: Gillette saved him from daily torture - he invented a safety razor.

Not only did Gillette do just that, his razors with replaceable blades taught consumers about the fragility of things, bringing to life disposable utensils, disposable books, and a whole “disposable” philosophy. And it all started, as usual, with long and fruitless attempts to get rich.

Traveling all over the country for many years and trading in a wide variety of goods, Gillette acquired a colossal experience of persuasion, which later helped him a lot. All this time, he did not stop inventing - an original mechanism made of a piston and a sleeve for a water tap, several types of electrical conductors, a new valve made of soft rubber ... All these were useful things in everyday life, but the acquired patents did not bring a lot of money to the inventor. Gillette later admitted that he did not have enough time or money to promote his new products himself, and others usually got the money. We needed another invention that would immediately revolutionize the market and make its author a millionaire.

King married the daughter of an oilman, Atlanta Gaines (having bought the first decent suit in his life) and moved to Boston, where he got a job at Crown Cork & Seal. Its owner, William Paynter, was a successful inventor. It was he who came up with, say, the beer cork with a corrugated edge familiar to us today - the crown cork. The example turned out to be contagious.

“The invention of a new everyday product with a short lifespan became an obsession for me,” Gillette recalled. The idea did not come, and in anguish he composed a plan for the reorganization of the world, set out in the book "The Future of Humanity." Gillette proposed to build the giant city of Metropolis in the Great Lakes region and transport the entire population of the United States there. The city was planned to be supplied with electricity at the expense of Niagara Falls, and its citizens were supposed to work, eat and culturally relax in huge common halls. With the appearance of such cities in other countries, the borders were to disappear, and the world would be ruled by the United Company supercorporation, whose shareholders would be all the inhabitants of the Earth.
Disposable dream

On a summer morning in 1895, Gillette found that his razor was hopelessly dull. They could sharpen it only in the workshop, which means that they would have to scrape their cheeks with a blunt blade, keeping medicines at the ready (a razor, unchanged since the time of Ancient Egypt, was called dangerous not for a red word). And suddenly ... “I saw the whole new razor,” Gillette later recalled, “in one second I asked myself dozens of questions and answered them. I stood and smiled like the last fool.

The new razor was supposed to look like this: two plates, between them - a sharpened piece of steel tape (the blade itself) and a T-shaped handle. It was impossible to cut yourself badly with a new blade; when it became dull, it was simply replaced with a new one.

All that remained was to put the invention into practice. “I didn’t understand anything about razors, and I understood even less about the properties of steel,” Gillette admitted. He bought a coil of steel tape for watch springs, but it turned out that this steel was not suitable for blades. Months and years passed in a fruitless search, on which he spent all his savings - $ 25 thousand.

Six years passed in a fruitless search. Gillette went around all the grinders, all the specialty shops in Boston and New York, trying to figure out how to harden thin steel, at what temperature it would be better to temper it in order to avoid blade distortion. Even specialists from one of the most reputable scientific centers - the Massachusetts Institute of Technology - shrugged their shoulders in embarrassment. And friends and colleagues advised him to throw this crazy idea out of his head.

Finally, in 1901, fate brought Gillette to mechanical engineer William Nickerson, who came up with the technology for strengthening and sharpening steel tape. After that, things got off the ground - a patent was received for a T-shaped safety razor (which can be opened to change a dull blade to a new one) and the company for its production, the American Safety Razor Company, was founded (in July 1902, it changed its name to Gillette Safety Razor Company). However, the initial capital quickly dried up, and the partners - Gillette and Nickerson with two of their friends - placed the company's shares on the stock exchange, gaining another $ 5 thousand. But those soon disappeared, and the cost of razors was still too high for a disposable item.

The company was saved by the gift of persuasion possessed by a traveling salesman with thirty years of experience. Gillette managed to attract investors, and in 1903 began mass production of his razors. However, the start of the newborn company did not inspire optimism. The head of the company did his best to keep investors, assuring them that it takes time for a new product to win the sympathy of the buyer. And his expectations were justified - the very next year, more than a hundred thousand Americans bought Gillette products, and by 1908 the profit exceeded $ 13 million.

New razors cost $5, despite the fact that the average monthly salary of an American then did not exceed $100. It is not surprising that for the first year only 51 machines and 168 blades were sold . To save his family from starvation, Gillette returned to Cork & Seal and took over the UK branch. But a year later he returned - sales grew every day. The reason was simple: machines for safety blades began to sell below cost and even give away for free. This strategy, applied simply out of desperation, has entered all marketing textbooks as the “bait and hook model”: the main product is sold below cost, and the profit is made on “consumables”.

It was calculated that Gillette's invention saves a man at least 20 minutes a day, which for the Yankees who value time has become a decisive argument. In 1915, the Gillette Company sold 450,000 razors and 70 million blades, and its triumphant founder called his razor "the greatest of the little things."

Literally in two years, Gillette became a millionaire - thanks not only to the invention itself, but also to the undoubted talent of the entrepreneur (even though he appeared in his fifth decade of life). The main achievement of Gillette the businessman was a non-standard marketing ploy, which has since become a classic: the manufacturer of razors began to sell them below cost, even giving them away for free! So he accustomed consumers to his products and forced them to buy more and more blades.

This was the main invention of King Camp Gillette. The business model that in the 19th century was called the “razor-blade”, and today is called the “bait and hook” model, when the main product is sold at a deliberately low price, and the profit is obtained by repeatedly selling a 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 the company's costs for the production of the main product by buying expendable materials. As Gillette himself used to say, "you don't have to spare money to buy the market."

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

Another driving force behind the shaving business was the First World War. Men in uniform were supposed to look neat, and there was no time and conditions for shaving in the trenches. Gillette's razor was the perfect way out. The slogan was born: "Every military man should have this!" - and the US Army immediately purchased 3.5 million machines. As a result, the habit of replacement blades was brought home from the front not only by Americans, but also by soldiers of other nations. IN different countries branches of the company sprouted like mushrooms. Profits grew, but then came the fateful year of 1921, when the 20-year patent for the invention was due to end. Gillette was informed that several companies were ready to produce his product at dumping prices at once.

He was ahead of everyone: he threw a $ 1 razor on the market - cheaper than competitors could afford. A new advertising concept also worked - shaving as the apotheosis of masculinity. On the poster "You have become an adult, son!" the father was solemnly presenting the big son with a safety razor. The famous slogan "Gillette - there is no better for a man" appeared a quarter of a century later.

Having crushed rivals, Gillette again thought about happiness for all mankind. He suggested that all the governments of the world resign and transfer power to a worldwide corporation, which was to be headed by Theodore Roosevelt. Upon receiving such an offer, the retired US president slyly asked, “How can I trust a man who sells razors and wears a mustache?” Following Roosevelt, another ex-president, William Taft, and automobile king Henry Ford refused to lead the world. Gillette was disappointed - he planned to use the $ 200 million earned on razors to equip the world government. And now there was nothing to spend money on: having retained the Spartan habits of his youth, King did not spend money on yachts, nor on racehorses, nor on bathing in champagne young lovers. True, he loved to travel - he liked that he was recognized in every corner of the world by the image on the packaging of razors.
Throughout his life, Gillette was faithful to his wife, and only son, King Jr., made a member of the company's board of directors. He himself retired and moved to California, where he founded a farm with orange plantations. After learning from doctors about the healing properties of oranges, he was going to feed them to all American children.

This romantic dream was shattered by the Great Crisis of 1929. The Gillette company resisted, but got rid of its founder by buying his share of shares for next to nothing. King could not stand the new fight against poverty - in July 1932 he died in his orange paradise. And the corporation he created returned to prosperity, constantly expanding the scope of activities. Over the years she has acquired large companies Braun (consumer electronics), Oral-B (toothbrushes), Waterman and Parker (fountain pens), Duracell (batteries). In the 1980s, Gillette produced over a thousand items. The famous razor was also changing - in 1947, blades wrapped in oiled paper were replaced by even safer cassettes with built-in blades. And in 2005, another giant, Procter & Gamble, bought the corporation for $57 billion. But the familiar trademark, the image of the mustachioed founding father on the packaging, was preserved - as a memory of an era when business was inseparable from romance, and grandiose profits from even grander ideas.

Shortly before his death, in 1926, when the 25th anniversary of Gillette was celebrated, its founder declared: “I don’t know of another consumer product like our safety razor. In my travels, I met her everywhere - from the fishing village in northern Norway to the Sahara desert. However, even in his wildest dreams, Gillette hardly guessed how widely his invention would be used. Having dreamed of utopian projects all his life, Gillette was able to change the world - although not in the direction he thought about. He turned shaving from daily torture into an easy, non-burdensome procedure. Moreover, Gillette's invention gave mankind a new vector of development - disposable razors were inevitably followed by disposable pens, disposable tableware, disposable clothes.

sources

http://alexyanovsky.com

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

The original article is on the website InfoGlaz.rf Link to the article from which this copy is made -

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