Mystery wooden thing-a-ma-bob.
August 8, 2011 10:28 PM   Subscribe

What *is* this thing?

While searching through a junkyard/thrift store today, I ran across this...thing. It's got a plug and on/off switch, so it's clearly electric, and it looks like that center part rotates. The brand name in the bottom left is Sears. It was about 2 feet tall. So MeFi, what is this thing? What was its purpose?
posted by tau_ceti to Grab Bag (11 answers total)
 
I am guessing massager, but that's just a guess. It looks like something you'd rest your feet on.
posted by hermitosis at 10:30 PM on August 8, 2011 [2 favorites]


There was something that looked a lot like that at the gym I went to in Denmark. I sometimes saw people sitting on it while it spun. I guess their bums were getting a nice massage.
posted by lollusc at 10:35 PM on August 8, 2011


I'm with hermitosis, Foot massager.
posted by Maude_the_destroyer at 10:40 PM on August 8, 2011


Lullusc has it. My aunt had a health club in a little town in Ontario back in the early 70s and this was one of the fat jigglers. It sat beside the ass-jiggling belt machines. It was supposed to break up cellulite.
posted by bonobothegreat at 10:41 PM on August 8, 2011 [1 favorite]


It is a Sears version of the Vitamaster motorized spa roller massager!
posted by BitterOldPunk at 11:12 PM on August 8, 2011 [4 favorites]


It looks similar to this foot massage machine.
posted by unliteral at 11:12 PM on August 8, 2011


Foot massager. There are manual (sic) models.
posted by CCBC at 1:55 AM on August 9, 2011


Yup. Foot massager.
posted by Thorzdad at 4:40 AM on August 9, 2011


Oh, this is too good. Years ago, when we cleaned out my grandparents' basement, we found one of these things sitting in the corner under a heap of boxes next to one of these things. Those, and a set of lawn darts with it'll-put-your-eye-out tips, were the only pieces of exercise equipment in the house.
posted by phunniemee at 4:46 AM on August 9, 2011 [1 favorite]


love it. yes some sort of fat reducer/cellulite killer thing from the 70's. We had one. Hilarious for kids to turn on, lay across the bumpy wheel on their tummy and sing. We also had one of the things phunniemee linked too. Hilarious for kids to play with until it tries to eat your thumb and sends you to the ER. Ask my dear sister.
posted by domino at 9:14 AM on August 9, 2011


Like domino points out, the toe-sized gaps between the rollers and the high rate of rotation make it too dangerous for feet. The grips on the sides are what you hang onto to while your butt is pummelled by the rollers.
posted by bonobothegreat at 12:04 PM on August 11, 2011


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