Credit is given to a doctor named George Taylor for inventing the first “real” vibrator during the 1860s. Early Victorian vibrators were both more extensive and louder than today’s vibrators. They were often hand-cranked, and some were even steam-powered.
However, far from being marketed as sexual devices, these early vibrators were marketed as massage instruments. In fact, by the time hand-cranked and steam-powered vibrators gave way to electric vibrators, advertisers claimed that the devices could help with insomnia, stress, constipation, gout, consumption, and even medical problems in children.
Vibrators could be prescribed to just about anyone for anything.