Safety razor become locked into buying their proprietary cartridges, for as long as the manufacturer continues to make them. Subsequent to introducing the higher-priced Mach3 in 1998, Gillette's blade sales realized a 50% increase, and profits increased in an otherwise mature market. The marketing of increasing numbers of blades in a cartridge has been parodied since the 1970s. The debut episode of "Saturday Night Live" in 1975 included a parody advertisement for the Triple Trac Razor, shortly after the first two-blade cartridge for men's razors was advertised. "Mad" magazine announced the "Trac 76", arranged as a chain of cartridges with a handle
Western Cartridge Company for southern Illinois coal mining began in 1893. Olin formed Western Cartridge Company in 1898 to manufacture sporting rifle powder and shotgun shells for settlers of the Great Plains. The shotgun shells used primers manufactured by larger eastern ammunition firms. When the firms with primer manufacturing facilities raised primer prices in 1900 to reduce competition from independent shotgun shell assembly plants, Western Cartridge Company formed the Union Cap and Chemical Company (UCC) as a joint venture with Austin Cartridge Company of Ohio. UCC manufactured primers, blasting caps, and .22 and .32 caliber rimfire cartridges at East Alton. Similar manufacturing procedures