Top 5 Gadgets

To celebrate National Science & Engineering Week we have been sharing our top 5 gadgets from the collection on our Facebook and Twitter pages. So I thought I would collate them on here for everyone to enjoy!

Gadget #1 -  The Pulsocon


This ‘Pulsocon’, also called the ‘Macaura Blood Circulator’ was simply a hand-held vibrating massager, which was applied to the body as a cure for a range of different illnesses including
constipation, rheumatism,  paralysis, asthma and heart disease.
The operator would hold the gadget with the flatter end pressed against the patient’s body, they would then turn the crank handle quickly to create strong vibrations. These strong vibrations were supposed to awaken subconscious organs, and improve blood-flow around the body.

 Gadget #2 – The Mechanical Hairbrush! 


Used as beautifully illustrated in the image, however it looks like its removing hair rather than just brushing it!

 Gadget #3 – The Wig Powderer! 


A tube would be connected to the end on the right and the end on the left has a screw top with holes in. You would screw off this end and place in your white powder and screw the lid back on. You would then blow through the tube end, to blow the white powder through the holes and over the wig to create that lovely dusty look!


Gadget #4 - A good old fashioned hearing aid!


A little different to the high tech ones you see today, not half a discreet!
The little plastic end would go in your ear and you would hold it there to listen when people spoke.

Gadget #5 – The Tinder Pistol


One of the earliest lighters. The trigger released a mechanism that struck a piece of iron and directed the sparks on to the tinder which ignited.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Award Winners!

Image
Last night we were crowed the winner of the White Rose Tourism Award for Small Visitor Attraction of the year! We were up against some stiff competition including the James Herriot Museum and the Thackray Medical Museum in Leeds, so were over the moon to win this prestigious award, and were honestly shocked when they called our name, I had to quickly put my shoes on to get on the stage! With us being so hidden away, and to win out of the entire of Yorkshire  is an incredible achievement , all the staff and volunteers at the museum have worked really hard to improve the experience for our visitors, and it is so nice that all that hard work has been recognised. You can’t stand still in times like this, we rely on visitors coming through the door to afford to open each year, and to do that we need to continuously be improving our offer and opening the museum up to new audiences. It is a fantastic way to kick start our 50 th Anniversary celebrations next year! It was a real team effor...
Read more

Ryedale Calling Ecuador

Image
Ryedale Calling Ecuador was an evening event held at the museum as part of the current family learning project. A live Skype-Video weblink was established allowing families from Ryedale to communicate directly with families from Ecuador. This was an opportunity to learn about the differences and similarities between our cultures. We discovered we share many traditions such as Christmas Carols and a similar Father Christmas tradition. There were also many differences such as national dress, food, wildlife and schooling among others. For some highlights of the night click on the videos below. One of the participants, Declan, was kind enough to bring his guitar and played some Christmas songs to those in Ecuador. The video below is of an improvised version of 'silent night', a song the Ecuador families knew in Spanish. To end the night the families in Ryedale and the families in Ecuador joined together to sing a few verses of 'We Wish you a Merry Christmas' led by Declan o...
Read more

There Be Pirates Perform in The Manor House

California based band 'There Be Pirates' put on a stirring performance at the museum on Sunday. Visitors packed out the Manor House to see and hear the pirates' music performed, and to take part themselves, children of visitors were encouraged to provide backing music as drums and maracas were distributed among the audience. Below is a video of some of the show (sound quality is not great but it gives an idea of the fun) as well as some photographs of the Pirate band. Carrie Gough (photos by Pete)
Read more