Note
Patent Dates: 6/3/1919 and 7/7/1931.
For treating various pains and diseases.
Detachable electrical probe.
Rotating barrel contact, battery powered.
Artifact label reads:
Quack Medical Device
Electreat Mfg Co., Peoria, IL
After 1931
The Electreat Mechanical Heart was an electrical device marketed as treating a variety of ailments ranging from headaches and cuts to menopause and broken bones. An electric current passed from the D-cell batteries to either the head of the device or the detachable probe. In 1940, six of these devices were seized by the government in transit from Peoria, IL to Kansas City, MO with the intent of destroying them for false branding as authorized by the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act of June 25, 1938. The man who patented the device was additionally charged with misbranding of devices in 1947 and 1950.