Henry Jacques Gaisman

Henry Jacques ("Jack") Gaisman (December 5, 1869 – August 6, 1974) was a philanthropist and inventor of a type of safety razor, the autographic camera, and over one thousand other patents which benefited common items such as swivel chairs, men's belts, and carburetors.

His father, Jacques Gaisman (né Geissmann), was an immigrant originally from Dornach, a village near Mulhouse, France (in the Alsace region bordering Germany and France), but who fled worsening 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, the youngest of four children. His father Jacques 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 some of his early childhood trying to help support his family by working as a newsboy. Already at age 9 Henry invented a medium for street car advertising. Unable to afford the lengthy schooling required to study mechanical engineering and chemistry (his first interests), he left school at age 13 to work various odd jobs. At age 16 he invented the glass-enclosed bulletin boards commonly used in hotel lobbies. He then worked briefly as a leather worker, then a leather dealer, and in 1894 moved to New York City where he sold his first financially successful invention, a belt that wouldn't slip. Later, he invented the safety razor, an invention which would allow him to develop into a wealthy businessman despite never completing his formal education.

His safety razor was patented in May and July 1904, and was initially sold by the Auto Strop Safety Razor Company, a competitor to razor and 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.

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