Dr. Macura's Blood Circulator
name: label: maker
content: British Appliances MFG. CO.
notes: label: Description
content: Vibrator with a “DR. MACURA'S / BLOOD CIRCULATOR / PATENT NO. 13932” inscription, made by the British Appliance Mfg. Co., in Leeds. Gerald Joseph Macaura was born in Ireland, moved to the United States at a young age, and allegedly produced his first mechanical manipulator while working in an Edison laboratory in New York City. In 1902, then living in Hartford, Ct., he obtained a U.S. patent for a “Movement Cure Apparatus.” By 1904, then in London, Macaura obtained a British patent (No. 13,932) for his Pulsocon. By 1911, he had opened a Pulsocon Institute in Dublin, and convinced the British Appliance Manufactural Co. Ltd. to manufacture the device. In 1914, while in Paris, Macaura was convicted of swindling and the illegal practice of medicine. Despite a stint behind bars, Pulsocon sales continued apace. In 1940, now living in Dublin and terming himself “the second Edison, Macaura gave public demonstrations of the Pulsocon. He died in 1941.
label: Description
content: Ref: Gerald J. Macaura, “Movement-Cure Apparatus,” U.S. Patent 716,448 (Dec. 23, 1902).
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Medicine
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: MG.M-14113
label: catalog number
content: M-14113
label: accession number
content: 297517
objectType: label: Object Name
content: vibrator
label: Other Terms
content: Medicine
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 33.5 cm x 9.5 cm; 13 3/16 in x 3 3/4 in