This week we are going to go looking for those pigs in the sewers of 1850s London, and also visit an amazing Victorian magician in New York. In order to gain strength for all this exertion, some of us may want to try out this astonishing Revolving Hammock (circa 1923) in order to stretch and make our spines young and happy. Heather sent me this wonderful advertisement (and several other fabulous ones) for which I thank her very, very much. I had no idea that Walter David Molby of Baldwin City, Kansas had been working on this.The idea, according to Molby's patents (see below for links) is to stretch the body "under tension of its own weight." The frame was supposed to support the body especially the neck, and he suggests doing swinging exercises in it, too (they must be described in the free book). It looks like one is pretending to be a giant bow waiting for archery practice. Watch out for those arrows!
In 1920 Walter Molby was 32 years old, single and living at home in Baldwin City with his parents and sister. His occupation looks like "Reconstruction Work on Farm." I don't know what that means, exactly, but it doesn't have a lot to do with revolving hammocks. I certainly hope it doesn't, anyway.
The magazine Men's Fitness named Molby's Revolving Hammock one of its "12 worst fitness inventions of all time." And St. Louis Magazine jokes that the equipment in an 1950s St. Louis gym photo is "only a shade more effective than the Molby revolving hammock." Poor Molby. I guess it's good that he had a second career reconstructing things on farms.
Molby's Patents:
Physical Culture Apparatus (1921) - This would be the hammock
Apparatus For Physical Culture (1923) - The hammock, redux.
1920 US Census, James Molby household, Palmyra Twp, Baldwin City, Douglas, KS; #315/324, Series T625, Roll 521, p. 221.
13 comments:
See? You did a WAY better job on this ad than I would have. Such thorough research...
*standing ovation*
Heather - Aw, shucks! It was so much fun, you sent the BEST ads! Thank you so so much again -
But it would keep kids amused (and more importantly out of our hair) for hours on end!!!
Didn't that used to be called "the rack" :)
I can see it now...a disaster
just waiting to happen.
Speaking of useless fitness equipment, Lidian, do you remember those silly machines that were designed so that they would put a wide strap around HALF of your torso? The machine would "rumble" a person not unlike an electric mixer would "rumble up" a milkshake. It was supposed to result in weightloss.
It would be more fun to ride wild amusement park rides all day (such as the whip or bumper-cars) - - if perpetual machine motion could burn human calories.
Oh, only IF . . .
* * Come up and see Mae * *
Jayne - Oh, kids would love it! But they might get a bit tangled up, which would not be so great.
UninvitedWriter - A rack, yes - but modern! And health-giving!
Alicia - Absolutely. Between this and the rocking-chair swing, I don't see how we're going to be avoiding disaster.
Mae - I do remember those! I wrote abut one called the Relax-A-Cizer over on Kitchen Retro last year. The lady was sitting in a cave, in the ad, while the belt jiggled her.
That looks kinky. And scary.
That would totally be a late-night infomercial if it were made today!
Wow, that is so bad for your back - it hurts me to just look at it!
CondoBlues - You said it!
KindleDude - Yes, it would - and I wish I could see it, too.
Grace - It looks, as you say, like it does the opposite of what it is supposed to do. Bizarro physiotherapy!
holy torturousness! ;)
ChatBlanc - Yes indeed! I can't imagine anyone actually using this...
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