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Hopping on the Shaver (Shavy?) train here with one of the few things I bought from Stanton's. I already own what I would call the first style Edison table cabinet shaver and decided to bid on the parts for a second style cabinet shaver at Stanton's.

There doesn't seem to be much info on the table shavers. Both styles of the cabinet shavers I have encountered have a banner decal although I want to say I've seen the later style with a script decal. The early style has a similar finish to the Model A Edison phonograph lineup while the second style has the darker
"antiqued" oak finish of the Model B machines.

The early style has a door in front that spans the width of the machine and allows access to the swarf bag. The later style omits the front door and has a drawer that slides out from the right side.

Both utilize a slotted crank that has the same dimensions as the 2-piece Triumph cranks with the flat throw.


The later style shaver I bought this weekend is missing the crank and the bottom cabinet. I was hoping I could use some of the junk Home cabinets I have to make a stepped base however the shaver cabinet dimensions are inconveniently in between those of a Model B Home and Model B Triumph.

I believe you have the models backwards. The early version had the drawer like the one you bought at Stanton's. These machines were messy in that the swarf from shaving cylinders was collected in the drawer and was not well contained. The second version had the easy access front door and a swarf collection bag.

Rich Gordon

rgordon939 wrote:I believe you have the models backwards. The early version had the drawer like the one you bought at Stanton's. These machines were messy in that the swarf from shaving cylinders was collected in the drawer and was not well contained. The second version had the easy access front door and a swarf collection bag.

Rich Gordon

Rich

I am inclined to think the golden oak machines with the front doors are earlier given their overall aesthetic design. If the patent date says Aug 8, 1905 then that's right before the introduction of the Model B lineup which featured the "Antique" oak finish, which is what the shavers with the side drawer feature.

Here's another detail I've noticed. The side drawer shavers lack a "double cut" lever and the levers that set the shaving knives are made of rod stock rather than a shaped piece of brass/iron. Knowing that Edison cheapened the home machine lineup by removing things like endgates and bedplates may be additional evidence that the front door shavers preceded the side drawer examples. The front doors on the Golden Oak machines resemble the woodwork of the Model A Triumphs, which I would suspect was more work to manufacture. I suppose we could start a thread to catalog the serial numbers and respective cabinet details. The iron-legged machines appear to only have the script decals.

I pulled out my copy of the March 1904 Edison Phonograph Monthly Vol II # 1. On page 10 it introduces s the NEW Edison Universal Shaving Machine to be sold for $35.00. As you can read this is the machine with the side drawer. The machine had a six inch mandrel for shaving both standard 4" and business 6" cylinders.

Based on this is why in my earlier post I believe that the front door machine was the second style with the swarf bag and double cut capability. These were definitely upgrades to the side drawer machine.

Rich Gordon

Now here's something else to mix the whole topic up a bit:

Currently, I'm restoring an Edison Shaving Machine, Serial # 6479, with a hinged front, that clearly had a dark oak finish. The remaining finish on the machine showed a dark oak finish, definetely not golden oak. This machine was missing it's front, and I was planning on building a repro. I assumed that mine had the banner decal and slotted/frame type front. However, having seen the instructions that Jake posted, picturing a machine with flat hinged front and script decal, I've found that my assumptions were just that... assumptions. Now when I reasses the info, I would guess that mine had the banner decal and slotted/frame type front just because it has a reasonable early model number.

What do you guys think? I'd hate to put a front on my machine that isn't historically correct, and mess up collectors down the road...

Where does this machine fall in: http://www.grammophon.ch/phonographen/e ... shaver.htm?
I realize that the front is not original, but it appears to be chain driven...

rgordon939 wrote:I pulled out my copy of the March 1904 Edison Phonograph Monthly Vol II # 1. On page 10 it introduces s the NEW Edison Universal Shaving Machine to be sold for $35.00. As you can read this is the machine with the side drawer. The machine had a six inch mandrel for shaving both standard 4" and business 6" cylinders.

Based on this is why in my earlier post I believe that the front door machine was the second style with the swarf bag and double cut capability. These were definitely upgrades to the side drawer machine.

Rich Gordon

Rich, that's pretty enlightening! The article you posted mentions an earlier model of shaver and I wonder what that looked like. Maybe they are referring to the converted Class M/Triumph topworks shavers that were available on treadle bases?

That is certainly a possibility.

Rich Gordon