vintage MAGIC FINGERS motel bed massager

This thing, and others by other makers with different mechanical designs and/or coin acceptors, were once widely advertised and promoted fixtures of roadside motel room nightstands, where they actually probably did make a reasonable amount of extra $$ (in quarters) for the proprietors. Given a couple more decades worth of time, they subsequently became a rather "sleazy" feature of many of those same local-ish roadside motels, too many of which ended up getting bypassed with interstate highways and whatnot while the whole hospitality industry was busy turning itself into carbon-copy Holiday Inns and HoJo's (etc. etc.) everywhere instead.

Anyways, sleazy intentions or not, the d*mn things *are* rather capable of making one's (maybe sore?) body feel a little better while (hopefully) drifting off to sleep in an unfamiliar place -- and unlike many comedic parodies of 'em ever since really are NOT capable of making an entire bed physically bounce all around a room... <lol>

In pic 1, the round red colored unit is the heart of the whole thing. It contains a small electric motor with a deliberately unbalanced off-center part attached to its axle inside, such that it (again intentionally) wants to naturally shake itself when running -- thus producing the desired "vibration". (in fact, its the very same basic engineering principle now in miniature, which makes today's cellphones 'buzz' instead of ringing) Pic 2 shows its underside, fitted with rubber grommet-washers that are intended to fit up into and between the actual coils inside a box spring, in turn vibrating it and the mattress over it, to "Quickly Carry You into The Land Of Tingling Relaxation and Ease", all for just a single quarter coin. <lol>

The coin acceptor box is also seen (with its labeling) and in this case is a simple utilitarian model, they were available in several different styles (by various makers) and often just a little bit prettier units, to look a little nicer while otherwise bolted down to a piece of bedroom furniture in 'classier' sorts of motels. This particular box has long since lost its original little 'coin cup' inside, it having (creatively, by somebody's maintenance guy?) been replaced with a cut down cardboard milk carton.

As the pics also should show, this unit isn't currently usable, but AFAIK only because its original rubber covered electrical cords have become crispy critters over its lifetime since it was removed from service. (wherever that was, I don't know having got it from ebay myself) I currently have another similar unit (in function only) installed inside my own box spring, and I *do* use it every so often -- between its gentle humming sound and the vibration it generates, it really DOES have a unique and totally enjoyable way of helping me drift off into a good sleep, especially when my back gets to aching... ;-) ;-) ;-)