bizzare electrical device

[mojjax]

I got this thing in a free pile on the side of the road yesterday . It is about the size of a small foot locker and weighs 30 - 40 pounds . I guess it's a 'quack' medical device . I reluctantly plugged it in and pulled the main switch - nothing happened til I started moving the selector knob - the lights in the room went dim - bright blue sparks appeared between the gap thingies with a very loud crackling noise . The side compartment has lots of accessories -wires , probes , gauze bandage stuff , thin lead plates , etc . I wish it had directions with it .

mojjax

[gollum]

From the sounds you describe, it may be an Ozone generator, but from the looks of some of the attachments, it may be a kind shock treatment generator.

Doctors use them nowdays for muscle stimulation therapy. Those big metal pads might have been meant to be wrapped around an arm or leg, or smaller ones taped to the chest.

The different dials (rheostats) might be for adjusting pulse intensitiy and pulse spacing of the electricity going into the muscles.

Best,

Mike

[Kentucky Kache]

Be careful, you might wake up in 1955.

[gollum]

If you do wind up there, just remember the name Dr. Emmett Brown!

Also:

Hewlett Packard
Microsoft
Amazon.com

That should take care of you for the rest of your life!

Mike

[gldhntr]

diathermy
DIATHERMY [diathermy] , therapeutic measure used in medicine to generate heat in the body tissues. Electrodes and other instruments are used to transmit electric current to surface structures, thereby increasing the local blood circulation and facilitating and accelerating the process of absorption and repair. Diathermy is used for arthritis, bursitis, and other disorders of the tendons and muscles, as well as for certain other conditions requiring tissue repair. Because of the high-frequency current used in shortwave diathermy, care must be taken to avoid burning the patient's skin or injuring the deeper tissues.

Author not available, DIATHERMY., The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition 2006

[gollum]

Good call. I didn't blow up the pic in Photoshop until you said diathermy, and saw the tag on the top "DIATHERM"

Best,

Mike

[Hardy]

Heating pads and or mild shock therapy, one of the two

[Monty]

I think my first wife fell in love with one of those and left me for it? Don't leave it sitting around if you're married! Actually it reminds me of one of many such devices charletons used to scam the ill of health back in the early days of electricity. I went through a medical museum somewhere one time and they had a bunch of those devices on display and they all came in a wooden box. But now I see you have figured out what it really is so 'nuff said. Very interesting...uh, I mean Excellent! I am now .0454% at guessing what unknown things are and getting dumber! Monty

[Nashoba]

I am quite sure the box it is in has a considerable value in and of itself......Probably more than the whole device. I found a microscope at a garage sale one time in the original wooden box. Value of the microscope was about $100...Value of the box, well, I sold it for$450.

Great find for a freebie without a doubt.

~Nashoba~

[Rich in Houston]

Electric execution device.......

[aa battery]

are the flat metal things lead?

[mojjax]

are the flat metal things lead?

Yes , Double A , they are lead . I assume they lay on your skin - then attach the alligator clip things ..... and fire it up ! I'm looking forward to NEVER trying it {at least on myself}

[diggummup]

I've said it before and i'll say it again,"you find the coolest stuff up there." Congrats on another unique find!

[Bigcypresshunter]

My chiropracter may have used one of those on me in the eighties. :P 15 minute therapy sessions 2x a week. I was not impressed.
Before you use it read this FDA Public Health Notification: Diathermy Interactions with Implanted Leads and Implanted Systems with Leads

http://www.fda.gov/cdrh/safety/121902.html

[Atlantis0077]

A very nice find indeed.

I am sure a collector of medical memorabilia would pay handsomely for it. Better than an old doctors bag that is. Of course they still sell something that performs much the same function. Look up EMS or TENS machines. They allow treatment of chronic pain by using electric current..low level, multi-frequency. Of course thanks to technology, the box is about the size of a cigarette pack.

Atlantis

[TreasureTales]

Well, I don't know about all that electrical stuff in the box - I'd probably tear it out (and live to regret it when I later learn the thing was worth a fortune) and clean up the box to use as a storage box for my gold coin collection. LOL Yeah, that's it...my gold coin collection.

[Charlie P. (NY)]

Looks like Dr. Mengle's fun weekend box!

It could be a treasure locator.

"Where did you bury the gold"

"I'll never tel . . .ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ"

"I'll ask again"

"In the c-c-c-ellar."

[savant365]

There is a museum in St.Joseph, Missouri called "Glore Psychiatric Museum". I don't know if you want to sell it or not but they might be interested.

[Monty]

Same song, second verse. I had one of those hooked up to my back when the doctor was wanting the bone graft to heal quicker, only.....it was about the size of an electric razor and used drycell batteries and caused a continuous very small electrical current to flow through the bone tissue. The bone tissue will heal about twice as fast with the electrical current or so the doc says. I can't imagine having tht thing on a cart and dragging it around everywhere I went for six weeks! The one I had had a half life built in and after it expired it would shut itself off and couldn't be reactivated. It sold for a little over $7,000.00!! What a deal! Monty

[koldkanuck]

I got this thing in a free pile on the side of the road yesterday . It is about the size of a small foot locker and weighs 30 - 40 pounds . I guess it's a 'quack' medical device . I reluctantly plugged it in and pulled the main switch - nothing happened til I started moving the selector knob - the lights in the room went dim - bright blue sparks appeared between the gap thingies with a very loud crackling noise . The side compartment has lots of accessories -wires , probes , gauze bandage stuff , thin lead plates , etc . I wish it had directions with it .

mojjax

Maybe you can download a manual online