once and thrown away, for I then thought that the razor blades could be made for very little, as I learned that steel ribbon could be had for 16 cents a pound and a pound would make five hundred blades, for my blades were slightly narrower and shorter than the blade finally introduced.
I did not know then that the steel to be used must be of a particular quality and that it would cost many times what I supposed per pound, and that it was to cost the future company over a quarter of a million of dollars in laboratory tests before this question alone would be decided.
I approached many friends and strangers in an effort to secure capital, but when my prospective capitalist would blow cold—it gave me a chill, and I did not have the courage to press my point.
The razor was looked upon as a joke by all my friends and a common greeting was, "Well Gillette, how's the razor?" but no offering was made to take an interest. So it went on for nearly six years, during which time I was experimenting with blades. I tried every cutler and machine shop in Boston and some in New York and Newark in an effort to find someone who knew something about hardening and tempering thin steel so it would keep its flatness and not be warped by strains. Even Technology experimented and failed absolutely in securing satisfactory results. Those whom I went to or consulted invariably advised me to drop it; that I never would succeed in putting an edge on sheet steel that would shave. They told me I was throwing my money away; that a razor was only possible when made from cast steel forged and fashioned under the hammer to give it density so it would take an edge. But I didn’t know enough to quit. If I had been technically trained I would have quit or probably would never have begun. I was a dreamer who believed in the "gold at the foot of the rainbow" promise, and continued in the path where wise ones feared to tread, and that is the reason, and the only reason why there is a Gillette razor today. Of all the little things that have been invented it is the biggest little thing ever issued from the U.S. Patent Office, and though it is passing a yearly profit of $4,500,000, it has not even disclosed the wonderful possibilities of the future.
It would be interesting for the reader to follow all the hopes and fears of those early years, of continued disappointment, for I was getting on in life and traveling and selling goods was becoming distasteful. Though I always received a fair salary, I had saved very little, not because I was improvident, but because I was experimenting on something whenever I could find time, or had money.
Now we will pass to the next stage of development—the formation of our first company and its promotion.
THE FLOTATION OF THE GILLETTE RAZOR
It was in 1901 and I was still traveling for the Crown Cork & Seal Company when I met a Mr. Stewart, who asked me what I was doing with the razor. I told him I was doing very little except hoping and experi-
