Share your shave of the day!

Share your shave of the day!

Shaving requires a lot of gear – at least if you want to do it the right way. You will need a brush, a mug, a mirror, and maybe even a styptic pencil. And all that stuff makes a mess on the vanity… unless you got one of the patented all in one shaving mugs invented by Bernard Goodfellow Savage and Albert Cecil Lawless Loughran, that is.

Granted, their stated goal is a little less ambitious. To quote from the patent:

The object of the invention is to provide shaving-mug with a mirror which will virtually constitute an auxiliary bottom for the I5 mug when the mirror is not in use, the attachment between the mirror and mug being such that when the mirror is removed the mug will be completely closed at its bottom and will have a suitable base upon which to stand.

So all they wanted was a way to attach a mirror to a shaving mug – or any other mug. Although… I am less sure if my coffee mug needs a mirror?

The all in one shaving mug is well described in the patent as well as in the accompanying drawing.

The patent drawing for US patent 573,240.

Working our way from the bottom and up, we first have a small round mirror in a frame. The frame is threaded and screws onto the bottom of the mug. It also have a small, folding stand on the bottom, so you wouldn’t have to prop the mirror against something while shaving.

The mug itself is looking fairly normal. Apart from the screw threads on the bottom and top, that is. Judging by the drawing, it is right-sized to hold a puck of soap. Because unlike many modern wetshavers, our forefathers only had one shaving soap and they kept it in their shaving mug.

A cover can be screwed into the upper threads. In the cover there is a hole – also threaded – which you can screw a shaving brush into. Although the patent points out that having the brush being a friction fit works better.

In the handle of the brush there is a hollow space, normally closed by a plug. The plug, the patent states, can hold a stick of cosmetics or like material. TO my mind, the obvious choice would be a styptic pencil.

All in all the all in one shaving mug should be, in the words of the patent, a

(…) mug or cup is of exceedingly simple, durable, and economic construction, and is capable of being packed in a convenient and safe manner, the contents of the cup and the brush at that time being thoroughly protected. The mirror in no manner interferes with the design or the usefulness of the cup or mug, and the brush may be conveniently and expeditiously disconnected from the cover and the cover from the body of the mug or cup when the latter is to be used.

I see two problems with the invention, one of which can be worked around, and the others the inventors probably saw too.

The first problem is that unless you let the brush and soap dry, you would be sealing in the water when you closed up the all in one mug. The solution is, unsurprisingly, to let things dry before packing up.

The second would be the try to get the knot trough a narrow threaded hole without badly messing up the bristles. I suspect this is why the inventors suggested using a friction fit instead of threads.

Apart from those two issues, I see no trouble with the invention as such. The all in one shaving mug keeps most of your shave gear in one spot – and I am sure a hole through the handle could be arranged to hold your razor too. For someone with just one soap and one brush, and not a large bathroom, this could be a workable solution today – just as it was a hundred and twenty eight years ago.

You can read the full patent for the all in one shaving mug at Google Patents.

Share your shave of the day!

Share your shave of the day!

Share your shave of the day!

Share your shave of the day!

Share your shave of the day!

Share your shave of the day!

I had my mail held back during our vacation and I went to fetch it all this morning. My tub of No Scrub made it me 🎉.

I also got a pristine NOS Friodur 17 that I'm excited about, and finally a regular sized Tabac EdC and a comically large Tabac splash. If only it wasn't Austere August 😅

I see some honing and second luxury shaves in my near future.

A little while back – because four years is nothing – I wrote a little piece on the Rally dry shaver. And now, while aimlessly poking through online patent texts, I found the patent for it.

Filed in the US and Germany by a Swede, the Rally was, as I mentioned, a lawnmower for your face. A handy way to get rid of that five o’clock shadow. A great gift that would likely be used twice and then put in a drawer.

So what was Jonas Åke Gregorius Malmberg trying to achieve? Well, mostly to improve on improving rolling drum dryshavers, apparently. By making the blades replaceable. Which makes a lot of sense, when you think about it. To quote the patent:

The present invention relates to an improvement in such shaving-apparatus having a finely slitted rotatably mounted drum and a fixed knife applied inside and in the longitudinal direction of the said drum, and the object of the invention is to obtain an effective operating and durable shaving apparatus of this type, the invention being chiefly characterized by an open-ended casing provided with a longitudinal slot and arranged inside the drum for the purpose of guiding the same and connected with a handle, the one of the longitudinal edges of the slot in the casing being provided with a longitudinal groove for inserting an exchangeable knife, and movable locking means which in the locking position cooperate with the ends of the knife in order to keep the knife fixed in the longitudinal direction and also crosswise. This arrangement thus renders it possible to use exchangeable knives which, after being inserted in the groove in the one edge of the slotted casing is firmly locked by the locking means.

The way the Ralley works can be worked out from the text and drawings.

Patent drawings for US patent 2,637,902 (and German patent 830,305)

The user would roll the finely slotted drum over his stubble. The stubble would – hopefully – enter the thin slots. The movement of the drum would bring the stubble to the blade, which would – hopefully – cut it.

One end of the Rally could swing up to access the interior of the drum. This both allowed the interior to be cleaned, and the blade to be replaced. The folding drum covers acted as the handle, as can be seen in the photo in my previous post. And the whole thing could fit in a pocket.

I can see a couple of ways to improve the Rally roller razor. The most obvious one would be a second blade. By mirroring the placement in the drum, the user would be able to roll it both ways. As Jonas drew and – likely – manufactured the Rally, it would only cut when rolled in one direction.

If it would cut much at all, that is. After all, the idea is that your stubble should somehow enter the slots – and not slip out again. So if your stubble is too stiff, or too thick, or too bendy, or too thin… the Rally would work less good.

You can read the full patent text for the Rally rolling razor over at Google Patents.

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Share your shave of the day!

A problem challenge with straight razors is that they require skill to keep sharp. A safety razor on the other hand – be it using double edged, single edged, or even wedge blades – requires a lot less skill. So it is perhaps inevitable that someone will come up with a straight that uses replacable blades. Today we often call them shavettes. But when A V Brokhahne and C Langbein patented an early version back in 1887, they choose a more descriptive name: attachable and detachable back for razor-blades.

Conceptually there is little – if anything – that conceptually differs between their attachable and detachable back and a modern shavette.

There is a holder for the blade. The holder can be swung to rest against a handle. The whole thing looks more or less like a straight. The main differences seems to be the way the blade is secured, and that you would have to remove the blade to fold it.

But first, let us see how the inventors described their idea:

Our invention relates to detachable spring-backs primarily intended for holding the blades of safety-razors—as, for example, such as that for which Letters Patent were granted to F. and O. F. Kampfe, June 15, 1880, No. 228,904; but it is also applicable to the holding of a detachable blade for razors for actual use in shaving. It consists, partly, in the combination of a detachable and attachable spring-back for holding the blade of a razor for stropping the same or for shaving with the same, and a tang attached to said spring-back and pivoted to a handle for conveniently holding the same while stropping or shaving.

And yes, the attachable and detachable back for razor-blades was patented as an third part add-on of sorts to the Kampfe razor.

The Kampfe came with a holder for holding the blade while you stropped it. A holder which almost looks like you could use as a makeshift shavette. Brokhahne and Langbein’s invention aims to replace the blade holder with one that could be used for both stropping and shaving.

Since it was meant to be used with a wedge blade, the blade holder could be a simple piece of shaped steel. The laminated handle was vide enough to fit into the slot. All in all it is of remarkable simple construction, as can be seen in the drawing.

Patent drawing for US patent 377,926

I see no reason why a modern version of this couldn’t be made to fit a GEM-blade. But if I were to make one, I would make a slot in the handle for the blade, so it could stay in the attachable and detachable back.

You can read the full patent for the Attachable and Detachable Back for Razor-Blades over at Google Patents.

Share your shave of the day!

Share your shave of the day!

Share your shave of the day!

Share your shave of the day!

Share your shave of the day!

Share your shave of the day!

Share your shave of the day!

The Big Fellow.

A new – in 1920 – Old Type. Even if no one called it an Old Type back then, because the New Type wasn’t even a twinkle in Gillette’s eye.

So what is a Big Fellow, and how did I learn about it? Especially seeing as how I’ve not heard the term before, at least not used on a razor?

Well, to tackle the last question first; I learned about it because I found an advertisement that appeared in the Literary Digest in 1920.

This advertisement, in fact:

1920 advertisement for the Big Fellow

In short, it is a Gillette for guys with big hands. Meaning, as far as I can understand, it has a longer handle than the other Old Types.

Realising that, I also realised another thing.

I actually do own a Big Fellow. I found it at a flea marked a little over six years ago. And after a clean-up, it has stayed in my rotation ever since. I misidentified it at the time, but comparing it to the drawing… it’s a Big Fellow.

It’s a funny old world… I learned about an unknown-to-me subset of the Gillette Old, and it turns out I own and use one. How cool is that?

Share your shave of the day!

Share your shave of the day!

After all the stress surrounding my grandma's passing, I needed some "retail therapy". Yes, I know that's not an optimal coping mechanism; but here we are.

So since we had our first BVWSC shave with Abbate Y La Mantia soap, I was curious about the great soap quality and @djundjila@wetshaving.social mentioned that they transitioned fully to hard soaps. Even more curious, I was able to find the first soap in a german webshop that started their shift towards hard soaps: Blue Tobacco, a scent that spoke to me as a former menthol cigarette smoker. Originally, I only wanted some extra items to get free shipping - and then this happened. Clearly I've got no self control...

THE GOODS:

• Abbate Y La Mantia Tobacco Blue (Blue Tobacco) shaving soap 🇮🇹
• E&S Rasage Shaman shaving soap, plus 3 body soaps (Solstice , Barber and Azur) 🇨🇵
• HAGS Barberwood soap, witch hazel toner and beard oil 🇬🇷
• Los Jabones de Joserra Masala Connection shaving soap 🇪🇦
• Saponificio Varesino sample pack (ALL of their aftershave balms, one beard wash and balm respectively plus a "Pro Victis" skin repair cream) 🇮🇹
• Meißner Tremonia Dark Limes beard soap 🇩🇪
• Freebies: Proraso beard wash sample, some self-made thank you stuff and candy

Not going to talk about the body soaps and beard stuff, since this is a wetshaving instance. But I am really curious about the performance of all the shaving soaps! Blu Tobacco is really as I envisioned: a pack of (unlit!) menthol cigarettes on the beach. The aluminium tin is really nice. Shaman by E&S could be quite something for colder months, off the puck it's already dark. Barberwood is a take on a barbershop scent with lots of wood notes added, so a full set was a no-brainer. After my initial scepticism, barbershop scents have really grown on me in the last years. Finally, only from reading the notes on the label, I knew I had to get Masala Connection. It's kinda like someone had taken all of my favourite individual scent notes, threw them together in a fragrance oil and made a shaving soap out of it. Voilà! Off the puck, it already smells divine. Never had anything by Los Jabones de Joserra before, but as I wanted to try as many european artisans as possible from different countries it made sense to me.

Even though I reside in Germany, I have to admit that I used more American wetshaving soaps than european ones. Unfortunately, artisans from "the old continent" tend to be overlooked. I'll try to put more of a spotlight on wetshaving software from the EU in my upcoming SOTDs... But needless to say, this concludes my wetshaving purchases for this year and the next year probably too. I can really recommend the seller AboutBodyCare though, very friendly thank you card, fast shipping and my package was even perfumed with E&S Solstice EdT.