When the aerosol can with canned foam appeared on the marked several inventors noted that unlike traditional soap and cream, the new canned stuff made a mess. A common idea seems to have been to introduce the stuff directly into your brush for less messy shaving.

…object of the invention is to provide a device of this character whereby a brush carrying element may be detachably connected to the top of an ordinary container having a supply of soap and wherein an element may be operated to actuate the soap dispensing nozzle of the container.

The next one I found was Mr Cleghorn John, whom in 1965 applied for a patent for a shaving brush that you could attach removably to a can of goo… I guess that is legalese for one you press against the top of the can to load.

…the principal object of our invention to provide a shaving brush that will be removably attachable to a lather dispensing container for use either independently, as an ordinary shaving brush, or in conjunction with a pressurized dispensing can for automatically feeding lather directly to the tip of the brush as needed in shaving.

Part of the patent also describes an “improved” aerosol can where the valve was operated by pushing sideways and not down, for use in conjunction with said brush.

Last one that I spotted on the first page of Google Patent Search was Mr Cleghorn John’s patent also applied for in 1965. It actually describes two brushes – with a simple hole through the base for pressing against the valve on a can of foam, one with the can of goo built into the handle…

In the invention in the instant application, these problems are eliminated by encompassing the soap dispensing container in the handle of the shaving brush. The soap is discharged into the base of the brush bristles thereby evenly distributing itself throughout the bristles.

Further, in the event a container separate from the brush is desired or necessary, this invention can readily be adapted to function in substantially the same manner even though utilizing the extraneous soap supply.

While I’ve never been a fan of canned goo myself, at least when the canned shaving foam was new on the marked there was attempts made to make it more like traditional shaving… I wonder if anything like this ever made it to the marked?

Do you manage to drop the soap or powder off the brush before lathering? If so, the invention by Mr D Andrew Albright might be the thing you need:

An object of the invention is to provide a cup-like depression in the ends of the bristles constituting the brush, for the purpose of retaining the cream or powder in the center of the brush and to prevent it from falling from the brush…

While I’m not convinced that a cup shaped  brush would be great for shaving – after all, a common complain about cheap brushes is that they develop a hollow space in the middle – it is interesting to note that the erstwhile inventor suggested a mixed brush:

A further and quite important character istic of the invention resides in the’sectional formation of the brush, the innermost section or core being constructed of relatively stiff bristles, such’as pig bristles, while the outermost surrounding section or’enveloping portion is composed of relatively soft bristles such as soft badger hair, the stiff’ bristles constituting the core being adapted to Work in the lather to soften the beard while preventing the latter from being misplaced, while the encircling section made of soft hair, allows for the spreading and smoothing off of the lather.

I have a couple of mixed brushes myself – one badger/boar and one horse/badger – but they are not built up like this… not sure if any brushes ever has been built with a stiff core and a soft outer shell.

As an aside; can you even get shaving powder any longer?

No worries- Mr C E Le-Valley’s patented improvement in safely razors have you covered.

…invention relates to a safety razor and stropping device, and has for its object to produce a razor of this type having novel means for positioning the blade upon the supporting plate or base and there hold and a device connected to the razor adapted to hold the blade for stropping, all of the parts of which article are a adapted to be taken apart and compactly arranged for carrying

 Sounds confusing? They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and the drawing accompanying the patent is a lot clearer than the description:

While modern stainless blades don’t require stropping, I could see something like this be adapted as a combination SE-razor / shavette.