Early electric gizmos, eh?
I wonder what they were before electricity.......... windup vibrators? What happened when the spring lost its spring just at the wrong time? Bummer.
Early electric gizmos, eh?
Maybe, steam powered?
The first "female comfort devices" were steam powered and required someone to stoke the boiler. They were heavy, cumbersome, and dangerous, since the boilers were often fitted with faulty high-pressure relief valves.
Later, Eldon Chatsworth Vibro of Lexington, KY put a gasoline engine on the chassis of an old steam "comforter" and reduced the complexity of the "ladies' home companion" considerably. However, the devices were still heavy, and the fumes from the combustion would often make the user violently ill.
Tesla and Edison feuded publicly over whether AC or DC current served the repressed female community better, and vibrators were developed that used both.
But it wasn't until the use of chemical storage batteries became common that a vibrator could be found in every household where it was needed.
Certain women -- Hillary Clinton is among the more notable -- prefer the old-fashioned kick-start diesel models for the sheer power and torque they develop. No comparable electric model has ever been developed. Although a 440-volt 3-phase induction version was proposed, it never made it off the drawing board since most domestic applications don't have 440-volt service.
Reminds me of the old line, "How do you tell a Bull Dyke from a lesbian? A Bull Dyke kick-starts her vibrator..."
I was aquainted with a big ole bull who you'd swear had one with a kickstarter...