Shaving mugs comes in all shapes and sizes, from a re-purposed plastic cup to intricate scuttles… but in this day and age you don’t often see something as complicated as the useful improvement in shaving cups that was patented by Andrew J. Fuer and Walter C. Knaus in late 1873.
It has to be remembered that this was well before hot water taps were a common fixture… I mean, as far as I know even having running water inside would be on the bleeding edge of technology, and keeping your lather warm must been a lot harder back then.
A scuttle that was simple in construction and convenient to use must have been seen as a gift from the heavens for the serious shaver, and looking through the patent shows a design that at the very least fulfils the first of those two things;

A is a cylinder made of sheet metal, and provided at its lower end with a base, B. In the lower end of the cylinder A is fitted a small lamp, C, in which may be burned kerosene, alcohol, or other burning-liquid. To the opposite sides of the lamp C are attached pins, which enter bayonet-slots in the lower end of the cylinder A, so that the lamp can be conveniently attached and detached when desired. In the lower part of the cylinder A is formed a row of holes a little below the burner of the lamp C to allow the air to pass in freely to support combustion. In the upper part of the cylinder A is formed a cup or receptacle, D, to contain water. In the side of the cylinder A, a little above the bottom of the cup D, is formed  a hole leading into a small chamber, E, attached to the, side of the upper part of the cylinder A, and which should be of` sufficient size to allow the shaving-brush to be inserted. In the other side of the upper part of the cylinder A, just below the bottom of the cup D, is formed a` hole leading into the pipe F, attached to the side of the cylinder A, to serve as a chimney or line to carry off the heated air and the gaseous products of combustion, and to form a draft to promote combustion. In the upper end of the cylinder A is fitted a small cup, G, in which the soap is placed, and in which the lather is made. The cup G has a flange formed around its upper edge to rest upon the upper edge of the cylinder A, and `the said cup G should be such a depth as to extend down into the water in the cup D, so that the lather .may be kept warm.

A fairly straight forward and easy to understand description, especially for a patent. And if that was hard to follow, the drawing is also a model of clarity compared to some other patents I’ve had a look at lately.

There are a couple features of this patent that shows me that Mr Fuer and Mr Knaus at the very least had thought thigns through before applying for the patent: The bayonet-lock that makes sure the heat source stays in place, and the wide base that prevents the improved shaving mug from falling over spilling hot water and possible being a fire risk.
The only downside I see with this patent in light of when it was applied for and granted is the fact that the burner will heat up your bathroom, summer and winter – a small price to pay for hot lather.
I have no idea if this improved shaving mug ever went into production… it would be a shame if it wasn’t put on the market.

From time to time I spot an old patent where I can see what they tried to achieve, yet have to wonder about details in how they tried to achieve it.

One of those is Roger C Edson’s patent from 1968 for a razor with a pivoting head. Today a pivoting head is de rigueur when it comes to cartridge razors, but fifty years ago in the last days of the era of widespread use of DE razors it was significantly less common.

Mr Edson was obviously inspired by the double edge razor, in that his invention featured a razor head that had a cutting edge on both sides. He did however elect NOT to use DE blades, for reasons unknown. As for how he made the razor head pivot, well, lets turn to the description in the patent:

…a razor having a bifurcated yoke at one end of a handle and on which a blade carrier is pivotally mounted to rock.

Okay.. so a Y-shaped handle with the head mounted between the two arms. Of the top of my head I can think of two or three ways to mount a head that uses a DE-blade in that configuration; either using a thumbscrew underneath the head or the two arms of the handle to lock the base plate and cap securely together. Mr Edson on the other hand… well, lets read on in the patent:

The blade carrier has surfaces for replaceably mounting a pair of blades in an opposed inclined relationship with a space between adjacent cutting edges. Each of the blades then acts as a guide for the opposite blade as they are moved in opposite directions and the carrier pivots to follow the contour of the surface being shaved.

Ooookay. Two blades, not one. And it gets even stranger when you actually look at the drawings that shows the invention.

Have a closer look at figures 1, 2 and 3. Notice anything out of the ordinary? Yes, Mr Eson did opt to use machine screws and nuts to attach the blades to the razor head, would wouldn’t glide too smoothly over the skin. Yes, it does look like the blades have a certain amount of sideways play. But what I noticed first is that the cutting edges of the blades both point to the middle of the razor head!
This little detail is mentioned towards the very end of the patent, in the summary:

A safety razor comprising a handle, a blade carrier mounted to be freely rockable on the handle, means on said carrier to support and position a plurality of replaceable blades, said blade carrier constructed to mount said blades such that the shaving edges of a pair of said blades face one another and are spaced apart sufficiently for a ridge of skin to be pressed between the edges and further to mount said blades at an angle relative to each other such that when one blade is drawn flatly across the skin acting as a guard and guide for the cutting edge of the other facing blade the latter is positioned so as to produce the proper shaving angle therefor.

Needless to say I can’t find any evidence that Mr Edison’s razor was ever manufactured and sold. If nothing else the use of machine screws and nuts makes changing blades much harder than it ought to be, and that alone would be enough to doom it in the marketplace.