ABSTRACT
The clockwork vibrator, or tremoussoir, was invented in France in 1734 and was available from medical instrument suppliers in the American colonies by the 1750s. The vibrator became available in the United States as a consumer appliance in 1899, becoming the first personal care electrical appliance. George Taylor, MD, inventor of the steam-powered vibrator called the "Manipulator", explicitly designed and marketed the device for massage of the pelvic and abdominal areas, including the female genitalia. In the mid 1960s, physicians and sex therapists began to recommend the use of vibrators, massagers, and soft-bristle electric toothbrushes to their anorgasmic female clients. In 1899, however, a battery-powered model was introduced into the consumer market, which was soon followed by other devices resembling modern vibrators. S. Freud might have been tempted to suspect that male Southern legislators feared invidious comparisons between themselves and mechanical devices.
