Shaver SH24
| Product : | Shaver SH24 |
|
| Produced from : | 1947 - n/k | |
| Designed by : | ———————– | |
| Finish : | ———————– | |
| Desirability : | ———————– |
Shaver SH24
SH4 - The first Shaver
Because of a shortage of radio tubes during the Second World War, and a low use of the plastics- and mechanical-producing capacities, Bang & Olufsen started looking for other products which to produce. Svend Olufsen suggested a shaver after a trip to the USA when he had brought back some working examples. In March 1947 B&O WL Vindeløv - Chief Engineer for Mechanical Development - described the first B&O Shaver in ‘Beonyt’ (Bang & Olufsen’s internal magazine). The shaver (model SH4) was an ivory-coloured ‘tube skirt’ model with two shaving heads. It used the Remington/Schick-type shaving system. Although the design of the shaver was also in other ways influenced by American shavers from the early fourties, especially by the Remington Dual (1941), the prominent B&O mark on it made it quite recognisable. The SH4 was designed by WL Vindeløv and Gunnar Terp (Designing Engineer and plastics specialist).
More shavers
The first shaver from Bang & Olufsen had an interruptor-motor for 220 Volts AC or DC. Soon after the company brought the same shaver fit for 6, 12, 24 and 110 Volts (respectively models SH6, SH12, SH24 and SH5) and the type SH U (Universal) for 110-250 volts AC or DC. A ‘langhaarsskær’ (trimmer) was available from 1948; it was marketed as a long-hair trimmer or ladyshaver.
The next models: SH7U (1949) and SH8U (1952) had an improved motor and a new body. They were, like the SH U, fit for 110-250 volts AC or DC, and had an ivory-coloured body with black shaving-head holders. Model SH7U, however, could also be ordered with a green or a red body. Models SH7U and SH8U were also available as a car shaver with a motor fit for 6 and 12 Volts DC.
Sæbeformen
In 1954 model SH510 was released, with a strikingly slight oval body, in Danish called ‘Sæbeformen’, a soap-shaped body. It had an improved motor and much bigger shaving heads than the first Bang & Olufsen shavers. With this new model B&O followed changes in shaver design in the United States, where Schick (model 20), Remington (model 60) and Sunbeam (model W) had set new trends with compact shavers.
Bang & Olufsen started with a rather good position on the Danish market: in 1950, 40 per cent of the electric shavers sold in Denmark were B&O Shavers. The shavers were also sold outside Denmark, especially in Italy. When the big manufacturers began to dominate the market more and more at the end of the fifties, B&O could no longer maintain its position. In the sixties the production of shavers was discontinued.
Text originating from the Electric Shaver Museum
