Henry Jacques Gaisman
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Henry Jacques ("Jack") Gaisman (1869-1974), shy but generous philanthropist and inventor of the safety razor, the autographic camera, and over one thousand other patents which benefitted common items such as swivel chairs, men's belts, and carburetors.
[edit] History
His father, Jacques Gaisman, was a Jewish immigrant originally from a village near Zillisheim, France (in the Alsace-Lorraine region bordering Germany and France), but who fled worsening anti-semitism and political pressures, and immigrated to New Orleans in 1852. His parents Sarah and Jacques married in Memphis, Tennessee in 1864.
Henry J. Gaisman was born in 1869 in Memphis, Tennessee. His father died in Memphis during a Yellow Fever epidemic when Henry was age 3. After his father's death, his mother Sarah moved the family to Cincinnati, OH, where Henry spent his early childhood. He started his career as a newsboy, and later, as a teenager, moved to New York City where he eventually invented the safety razor, an invention which would allow him to develop into a wealthy businessman.
His safety razor was patented in May and July of 1904, and was initially sold by the Auto Strop Safety Razor Company, a competitor to razor blade manufacturer Gillette Razor Corporation, run by competitor Mr. King C. Gillette. When Mr. Gaisman found similar technologies in the Gillette razors, his company sued the Gillette Razor Corporation for patent infringement, which Mr. Gillette resolved by merging with Auto Strop. When Mr. Gaisman came on board at the Gillette corporation, he found financial reporting errors which shook investor confidence and briefly caused the Gillette stock to drop. When Mr. Gillette eventually died at age 77, Mr. Gaisman went on to become the leader of the Gillette Razor Corporation.
In 1914, he also developed the autographic camera, a process where photographers could write small notes on the edge of their negatives. The rights to this process were purchased by George Eastman (of Eastman Kodak) in 1914 for the sum of $300,000.
After his razorblade patent ran out in 1921, he continued to develop newer razorblade technologies in an effort to protect his patent. On November 21st, 1922, he applied for a new patent on a newer razor technology with a double-edged safety blade that would fit into the Gillette handles, but the Gillette blades would not fit into his newer handles. On June 28th, 1927, he was granted the patent for this newer "Probak" razor, and in 1928 he founded the Probak Razor Corporation.
In 1932, at age 63 and still a bachelor, he moved from his Park Avenue apartment home to Hartsdale, NY after purchasing 135 acres of land from the former U.S. Minister to Peru, George Christiancy. The Business Week magazine of Nov. 26, 1930 described Mr. Gaisman as "... of medium height, of benign mien. He lives in a Park Avenue apartment in a state of contented batchelorhood. ... He has voiced doubts as to whether any woman could live with him. The doubt applies to unconventional working habits and not to personal disposition. If he gets an idea in the middle of the night there is no more sleep for him. Like Gillette, Gaisman is an incurable inventor. Also like Gillette, Gaisman possesses a quality notoriously lacking in most inventors – shrewd executive ability." He retired from the Gilette Safety Razor Corporation in 1938, at which time he was reputed to be worth more than 25 million dollars.
On April 18th, 1952, at age 82, he married his nurse, Catherine "Kitty" Vance, (1919-present) a former Catholic nun, aged 33. In 1957, he and his wife Catherine passed the title for their land to the New York Archdiocese for $600,000, with the provision they could live on the estate as long as they wished.
In 1971, at age 101, Mr. Gaisman was quoted in Who Said what (and When, and Where, and How) (ISBN : 0812902890) as saying, "I don't think that what anyone does is worth too much attention. I like to know what's going on. I want to be alive."
Mr. Gaisman died in White Plains in 1974, at age 104, and was buried at the Gates of Heaven cemetery in Hawthorne, NY. His wife, Mrs. Catherine "Kitty" (Vance) Gaisman, continued to live on the estate until 1995, when she moved to Connecticut to live with family. The estate was used as a home for retired Catholic nuns, and has since been purchased by the town of Greenburgh, NY, where it has been turned into a nature preserve. Retired nuns continue to live on the estate today.
In keeping with their philanthropic spirit, the Catherine and Henry J. Gaisman Foundation continues to donate large sums of money to medical and medical ethics research, to theological studies, to political campaigns, to cultural institutions, and to the training of seeing-eye dogs to benefit the blind.
