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Hi

I know the UK Medical Collections Group (UKMCG) SSN are probably the
best people to answer my query, but I thought I'd start off on the SHCG
list; I know there are some medical peeps on the list and many of us
have medical stuff in our social history collections!

I have an interesting old medical device in my store, and I'd like to
know more about it.

My initial thoughts are that it might be an early type of
electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) machine. I note, from a Google search,
that ECT was first used in 1937 and it became widespread as a therapy
throughout the 1940s and 1950s onwards.

My machine comes in a wooden box, which has a drawer for various
attachments. The attachments are mostly glass, with metal ends, and
these are designed to be fitted into a bakelite receptacle which has a
power flex and plug attached.

All in all, it's a truly chilling, Frankenstein looking, piece of kit,
in my opinion!

It was made by the Rogers Electric Laboratories Co. USA. I can find only
one reference to that company online. They are mentioned in a book on
'Antique Electric Waffle Irons, 1900-1960' as having manufactured waffle
irons in the 1920s. The company was formed in 1912 and the book states
that 'no records of the company after 1940 have been found'. If this
machine is indeed an ECT machine and if the manufacturers are the same
as those that made waffle irons, it would appear that it is a very early
example of an ECT machine and possibly one of the last products the
manufacturers made?

I'd really like to know

A) Is this an ECT machine?
B) How was it used? 
C) Can anyone tell me anything further that might be of interest!

SHCG is planning an autumn seminar, provisional date Friday 17
September, on the theme of medical collections. We're hoping to run this
in conjunction with UKMCG, and more details will be posted on the list
when we firm up the details! I'm sure we all have weird and wonderful
medical items in our stores that we'd like to know more about and how to
interpret!

Thanks

Adam
 
Adam Bell
Assistant Keeper
History 
Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums
South Shields Museum & Art Gallery
Ocean Road
South Shields NE33 2JA
Tel: +44(0)191 456 8740
Fax: +44(0)191 456 7850
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