There are fewer patents for shaving mugs than there are for razors. Even so, some basic ideas gets recycled. A few years ago I snarked on a 1875 patent for a shaving mug where you could screw your soap down to keep it from falling out or flipping around. Just a few years later Mr Joseph Maria Blasi solved the same problem with a rather more spiky shaving mug.

Granted a hundred and thirty years ago, Joseph wanted to keep the damn soap from moving in the mug:

This invention relates to shaving-mugs, and has for its object to provide simple and convenient means for holding the soap in the bottom of the mug, to prevent the same from turning in the formation of the lather preparatory to shaving by the action of the brush thereon.

From US patent 511,323

While the earlier patent suggested screwing the soap into the mug, Joseph suggested impaling the soap on a metal plate. The plate should have, according to the patent text, a number of spurs punched out in concentric circles. The soap should be pressed down on this plate and twisted until it was stuck.

So far, so good. But all Joseph would have at this point would be a soap on a metal plate. Today we might consider embedding a rare earth magnet in the base of the shaving mug to keep the soap still. But back in the early 1890’s, Joseph opted for a screw, a washer, and a wingnut.

Attached to the underside of the soap-plate was a spiked, threaded stud. The spike went into the soap, whereas the thread went through a pair of washers and a hole in the bottom of the mug. A wingnut was used to tighten the soap plate to the bottom of the mug.

Yes, you read that right. Joseph included a hole in his spiky shaving mug. I just hope he planed on using rubber or leather washers to make his spiky shaving mug somewhat watertight.

Yes, the invention will work… as so far as to keep the soap from moving about. But overall I think that Joseph’s spiky shaving mug is best forgotten.

You can read the full patent at Google Patents.