Burdick Sine-O-Tron

I love shots of old machinery like this.

Ah, it would be used in experiments in stimulating muscles after death...In the hopes of being able to do that to living patients with paralysis, and for various other medical reasons..

Thats really filthy but it's interesting

I'd be curious to know what's missing
from the top-center position.
My gut feeling is a voltmeter or something
similar.

I'm with Frida on this: I enjoy seeing machinery
and similar devices from the archives.

wonder if this company is still in business and if they are, does their machinery still look this creepy?

I'm not sure if they are still in business but a lot of things looked creepy back then. Look at those old heaters that hang from the ceiling. Those are real creepy. Newer things don't usually look as creepy but often look cheap

an early model defibrillator?

Darn, I thought it was one of Lynnie's torture machines.

=8-o

Soon I'll be needing one of these just to get me out of bed in the morning. ;o)

it loks like it threw up its insides

I thought it was my old reel-to-reel.
Sigh...............how I long for the old days....

No i was getting kinda excited about a possible panic button sighting. I was about to panic...

It's a good contrast comparing this 50's style machine with the digital ones they advertise in their website now.

you should make a museum - even if its just with pictures in it... great stuff motts!

remarkable....

It's kind of sad the way old equipment just gets abandoned.

I agree Jeanette, it should be preserved.

This kind of equipment was common in that period for ECT treatment, or Elctro Convulsive Theropy ( http://en.wikipedia.or...roconvulsive_therapy ). In the early days it was used rather alot and for nearly everything, seen as the wonder cure in the psych field. The missing instrament , may have been a volt meter, but more likely it was an occiliscope.

LOVE old equipment shots.It gives us an idea of how peple were medical gunie pigs so to speak. I can't help but to think that after her last treatment we will never know where the will is.

tourture masquerading as medicene

Erus is quite correct - this machine was used for ECT and the missing component is an oscilloscope.

Nothing like a little electro~shock therapy to set you straight !

I hate to tell you this but ECT is still in use. Though it might be a little different than it was before. The patients are under sedation or anestesia during the proceedure and are given muscle relaxants. Their brains are then zapped into convulsions. I have a few friends that have had this sort of treatment. While it is used when medications fail, it actually can be effective but can cause memory loss. They don't just get the treatment once it is a series of treatments before it is complete. Might actually be the one treatment that did have some theraputic benefit but was used far too often and inhumanely at first without anestesia or muscle relaxants.

It is an oscilloscope for measuring the output of soap dispensors, aka (Neat little lamps)

It looks like an old electroshop therepy machine.

I meant electroshock therepy.

Almost looked like a vintage casset player.

It doesn't matter what it is or what it does, it just looks so cool. =8-)

It's one of those with the thing missing.

yeah, they still do electroshock. Nobody knows what causes depression except for a depressing existence, and since that can't be changed, they make do with biological theories about neurochemical systems and when the prozac fails, they turn on the juice. It is said to revitalize you when you come to, but it wears off. Why not just plug you into an extension cord? Shame they can't just give you some good drugs if they're going to all that trouble.