JF Science Books   Quick Post

This is the fourth in a new series of posts on interesting, early applications of electricity, most of which are taken from the archives of the U.S. Patent Office.

I am uncertain why there should be a combination bell/alarm and electrical stimulation medical device wrapped up in one small wooden package, but here it is.  Certainly there was no explanation for the need for the bell, or alarm; but then again, there wasn’t an explanation on what this thing did to the body (or soul, or whatever) either–that was not the job of the patent report, which tells the reader how the thing works, but not necessarily what it does. Of course this is just finding fault with a small bit of nonsense wrapped up in a larger chunk of junk…perhaps it was all just distraction.  In the larger world of electrical vapor baths, vacuum coffins, electrical hair, automatic tongue pullers, and so on, what difference could one extra bell make?