Rolls Razor - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Rolls Razor Limited was a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

company known for its manufacture of a sophisticated safety-razor

Razor

A razor is a bladed tool primarily used in the removal of unwanted body hair through the act of shaving. Kinds of razors include straight razors, disposable razors and electric razors....

and an "affordable" twin-tub washing machine

Washing machine

A washing machine is a machine designed to wash laundry, such as clothing, towels and sheets...

Origins: razor

The eponymous product was a sophisticated safety-razor which came in a metal box designed to allow the blade to be stropped against the lid and thus was not disposable, but unlike the straight razor

Straight razor

A straight razor is a razor with a blade that can fold into its handle. They are also called open razors and cut-throat razors.Although straight razors were once the principal method of manual shaving, they have been largely overshadowed by the safety razor, incorporating a disposable blade...

it incorporated a safety guard and its size was closer to the early Gillette double blade disposable razor. The company's market declined in the face of competition from the likes of Gillette

Global Gillette

Gillette is a brand of Procter & Gamble currently used for safety razors, among other personal care products. Based in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, it was one of several brands originally owned by The Gillette Company, a leading global supplier of products under various brands, which was...

.

The Rolls trademark, "The Whetter," was registered in the U.S. in 1950; the claimed first use was 1922. The U.S. patent for the method of attaching the blade to the handle was filed in 1925 and issued in 1930. The name "Rolls Razor (1927) Ltd." was used in advertising. The razor was still manufactured and sold until 1958 when the company was purchased by entrepreneur/corporate raider John Bloom who decided to focus on washing machines rather than the razor.

Though not made by the Rolls-Royce

Rolls-Royce Limited

Rolls-Royce Limited was a renowned British car and, from 1914 on, aero-engine manufacturing company founded by Charles Stewart Rolls and Henry Royce on 15 March 1906 as the result of a partnership formed in 1904....

company, the name was chosen to evoke the "Rolls" image of luxury and quality. The factory address was 255 Cricklewood Broadway, London, N.W. 2, with showrooms located at 197a, Regent St., London, W.1. A U.S. importer was Lee & Schiffer, East 44th St., New York City. By 1937 the U.S. distributor was Rolls Razor, Inc., 305 East 45th St., New York.

Rolls Razors, Ltd, made several models with variations based solely on casing material, finish and shape. The earliest models have a pebble-finish metal case. The nickel plated Imperial No. 2 is the most common along with the silver-plated Imperial which was packaged with a hard leatherette storage box. During World War II, the case was made all Aluminum. Older razors, pre-1930, do not have a Greek key pattern on the case. A gold-plated case was made before 1930, but is very rare. The two main shape variations were the “standard” Imperial which had a flat boxy shape with rounded corners and the Viscount which had a softer profile with shaped sides and rounded corners.

The case design evolved to a pattern of parallel zig-zag lines. Later razors have a 3-row Greek key design and with the "The Whetter" trademark near the end of the case. These cases measure 2-3/4 x 6 inches. The Viscount case design has a single Greek key row. The corners of the case are more rounded (about a 5/8-inch radius) than previous Rolls. The case dimensions are 2-7/8 x 6-1/4 inches.

By 1951 Rolls was also advertising the Viceroy Electric Dry shaver, or, the ad said, if you have "no electricity ... ask for the Viceroy non-electric mechanical dry shaver ... Press the lever and shave!" The mechanical version was operated by repeatedly squeezing a lever on the handle.

The Rolls Razor was successful enough that it had a similar British competitor, The Darwin, made by Darwins Ltd. (or Darwin, Ltd.; both spellings were used), Fitzwilliam Works, Sheffield, England. U.S. patents were filed in 1933 and issued in 1935. A British patent was issued in 1934. The Darwin case is longer and narrower than the Rolls. Darwin models include "Universal" and "De Luxe."

Washing machines

After launching his washing machine business on the back of newspaper adverts, entrepreneur John Bloom bought the moribund shell of Rolls Razor Limited as a vehicle to grow his business.

Originally the machines were manufactured in The Netherlands, but later an assembly line was set up at the company’s factory in Cricklewood

Cricklewood

Cricklewood is a district of North London, England whose northeastern part is in the London Borough of Barnet, western part is the London Borough of Brent and southeastern part is in London Borough of Camden.-History:...

, London, where prospective customers could view the process. On the back of a heavy advertising campaign, and prices 50% below those found in shops retailing products by Hoover

The Hoover Company

The Hoover Company started out as an American floor care manufacturer based in North Canton, Ohio. It also established a major base in the United Kingdom and for most of the early-and-mid-20th century, it dominated the electric vacuum cleaner industry, to the point where the "hoover" brand name...

and Hotpoint

Hotpoint

The Hotpoint Electric Heating Company is a British brand of domestic appliances. The brand is currently fully owned by Italy's Indesit....

, the machines were offered on hire purchase

Hire purchase

Hire purchase is the legal term for a contract, in this persons usually agree to pay for goods in parts or a percentage at a time. It was developed in the United Kingdom and can now be found in China, Japan, Malaysia, India, South Africa, Australia, Jamaica and New Zealand. It is also called...

in light of the British Government relaxing many restrictions on this type of finance. By 1962, Rolls had secured 10% of the market and was the third largest manufacturer of washing machines. Keen to further expand the business, it merged with the Colston company, founded by ex-Hoover director Sir Charles Colston, which made compact dishwasher

Dishwasher

A dishwasher is a mechanical device for cleaning dishes and eating utensils. Dishwashers can be found in restaurants and private homes.Unlike manual dishwashing, which relies largely on physical scrubbing to remove soiling, the mechanical dishwasher cleans by spraying hot water, typically between ...

s, and concluded a deal to distribute Prestcold

Prestcold

Prestcold was a British refrigerator manufacturer, established by the Pressed Steel Co. Ltd of Oxford in 1934. Prestcold operated several manufacturing plants in the UK including Theale and Crymlyn Burrows in Wales...

refrigerator

Refrigerator

A refrigerator is a common household appliance that consists of a thermally insulated compartment and a heat pump that transfers heat from the inside of the fridge to its external environment so that the inside of the fridge is cooled to a temperature below the ambient temperature of the room...

s.

The company listed on the London Stock Exchange

London Stock Exchange

The London Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located in the City of London within the United Kingdom. , the Exchange had a market capitalisation of US$3.7495 trillion, making it the fourth-largest stock exchange in the world by this measurement...

in mid-1962, at $3.50, with the price doubling in weeks. By the end of 1963, the company was selling over 200,000 machines a year. Marketing itself as Rolls-Prestcold, in 1963 it became the first commercial sponsor of the Royal Windsor Horse Show

Royal Windsor Horse Show

The Royal Windsor Horse Show is a horse show held annually since 1943 for five days in May or June in Windsor Home Park....

.

But the retailers and UK manufacturers were unhappy, and reduced their prices considerably to create the so-called Washing Machine War, between direct sales and retailers. In response Bloom was forced to increase his advertising costs just as sales began to fall, and was then hit by the 1964 postal strike which resulted in coupon returns drying up. Receipts from Rolls's customer hire purchase agreements were underwritten by banker Sir Isaac Wolfson

Isaac Wolfson

Sir Isaac Wolfson, 1st Baronet FRS was a businessman and philanthropist. He was managing director of Great Universal Stores 1932-1947 and chairman 1947-1987. He established the Wolfson Foundation to distribute most of his fortune to good causes. Great Universal Stores was a mail order business...

, who by mid-1964 had bankrolled the company with a £8 million loan. Spotting trouble, Sir Isaac withdrew his support and sped the downfall. With Bloom suspected of malpractice

Malpractice

In law, malpractice is a type of negligence in, which the professional under a duty to act, fails to follow generally accepted professional standards, and that breach of duty is the proximate cause of injury to a plaintiff who suffers harm...

, the companies shares were suspended at 1s in mid-July 1964, before the company announced it would be placed into voluntary liquidation

Liquidation

In law, liquidation is the process by which a company is brought to an end, and the assets and property of the company redistributed. Liquidation is also sometimes referred to as winding-up or dissolution, although dissolution technically refers to the last stage of liquidation...

. The speed of withdrawal caused the company to be mentioned during questions in the House of Commons, UK. Liquidator

Liquidator (law)

In law, a liquidator is the officer appointed when a company goes into winding-up or liquidation who has responsibility for collecting in all of the assets of the company and settling all claims against the company before putting the company into dissolution....

s found thousands of unsold washing machines in warehouse

Warehouse

A warehouse is a commercial building for storage of goods. Warehouses are used by manufacturers, importers, exporters, wholesalers, transport businesses, customs, etc. They are usually large plain buildings in industrial areas of cities and towns. They usually have loading docks to load and unload...

s, and after entering to make their report to shareholders to a chorus of Handel

HANDEL

HANDEL was the code-name for the UK's National Attack Warning System in the Cold War. It consisted of a small console consisting of two microphones, lights and gauges. The reason behind this was to provide a back-up if anything failed....

's "Dead March" from Saul, reported that the company had assets of $2,100,000, with creditors totalling £4 065 979, including: Tallent Engineering (£866 000); Pressed Steel Company

Pressed Steel Company

The Pressed Steel Company Limited was a British car body manufacturing company founded at Cowley near Oxford in 1926 as a joint venture between William Morris, the Budd Corporation and an American bank. Today at what was the company's Cowley plant, the BMW new MINI is assembled, this site is...

(£434 219), and Hawker Siddeley ($151,000, for a DH.125

British Aerospace BAe 125

The British Aerospace 125 is a twin-engined mid-size corporate jet, with newer variants now marketed as the Hawker 800. It was known as the Hawker Siddeley HS.125 until 1977...

company plane).

Bloom came in for heavy criticism regarding his direct sales business practice. The London Stock Exchange resultantly asked member companies for more frequent and more thorough financial statements, which it formalised in later legislation. Rolls Razor was subsequently a respondent company in a House of Lords judicial decision called Barclays Bank Ltd v Quistclose Investments.The case was won by Quistclose Investments This was a landmark case which created the Quistclose trust

Quistclose trust

Barclays Bank Ltd v Quistclose Investments Ltd [1970] AC 567 is a leading property, unjust enrichment and trusts case, which invented a new species of proprietary interest...

.

Manufacture continued with machines built by the engineering company Tallent (who built the company's dishwashers), who re-branded them as such briefly, but by 1965 the machines were marketed as Colstons before the appliance division of Tallent was taken over by the Italian

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

firm Ariston

Indesit

Indesit Company, an Italian multinational company based in Fabriano, Ancona province, Italy, a leading appliance manufacturer in Europe.- History :...

in 1979.

Origins: razor

Washing machines

See also