Home, deadly home

An exhibition at the Science Museum in London, revamped for the Easter weekend, revisits the potentially lethal hazards posed by household gadgets over the past 150 years.

Take the simple task of chopping vegetables or meat. In the 1880s some people did this with a hand-operated machine reputedly based on the design of a Mississippi steamboat's paddle machinery. . .

The chopper and mixer used a ratchet to rotate a container while a beam-and-crank mechanism worked the chopper. Unwary operators risked losing a few fingers in the fast-moving blades. . .

At the turn of the last century clockwork "teasmades" became popular. This bedside contraption, which looks like it was designed by Heath Robinson, used an alarm clock as the trigger for a match to strike against moving sandpaper, lighting a spirit stove under a kettle. When the water boiled, bubbles lifted a hinged flap causing the kettle to tilt so that it poured boiling water into a teapot. That was the theory. In practice, having a naked flame, inflammable liquid and boiling water at the bedside provided ample scope for accidents.

The article, in the Independent, continues with other examples. For some reason, I cannot find anything about the exhibition at the Science Museum website.

Posted by David on March 26, 2005 10:06 PM