After seeing the Oster brochure scans I put up yesterday, reader Matt T. sent in a link to his Flickr gallery of his "Stim-U-Lax, Junior," a personal massager that appears to be the same unit as my favorite "Scientific, Junior" with just a name change and a blue-fleck paint jot.
I recently acquired a very similar device called the stim-u-lax junior on a whim at a Savers in Fargo, ND. It's quite a device: It features an awesome on/off switch, is incredibly loud, has an awful odor and sparks while turned on (visible through the holes in the top of the device).
[Flickr]
And a anonymous commentor in that thread also pointed out this auction to the "Niagra" hand unit that the seller claims is from 1955. [Ebay.co.uk]
I love how many of these things still work. I know they're not terribly fancy, engineering-wise, but they were clearly built to last.
They obviously make with the licking and keep on ticking.
Check out the pics, history, and references offered at the Good Vibrations Antique Vibrator Museum: http://www.goodvibes.com/Content–Antique-Vibrator-Museum–id-367
What’s impressive is that they’ve gone on working so long while vibrating. Those conditions would kill weak or loose components.