Blog with ten ways to die of electric shock from the book Elektroschutz in 132 bildern. It shows how much better our electrical codes have gotten on consumer goods. Some are things you really don’t think off today. In one a guy is whizzing off a bridge and hitting overhead electric train wires. In another one the baby removed the detachable wires from a bottle heater and is sucking on one wire while holding the other wire in it’s hand.
I love it. The best of German graphic design: so straight-to-the-point it’s both elegant and macabre.
If a book like this had been done in the USA at the time - which was very unlikely - illustration would have been limited to flat, ordinary-looking wiring diagrams, with no people or big splashy warnings, for fear of pissing off the appliance manufacturers.
I love the cow milking death. I would pay to have a framed print of that.
That one reminds me of the cows that are troublesome in the stall. They hang a electric shocker run by the electric fencer about 4 inches above the cow’s back. When they heave up to kick the person milking, the cow gets a shock and the kick is aborted. The person gets a shock too if they are touching the cow, including milking it. Still it’s better than a kick.
I love the mouse one. I certainly hope the German mice were paying attention or … whew.
The comments on the mystery death box picture are hilarious.
The woman blow-drying her hair in a skimpy negligee and high heels is funny, too. Wait - am I being desensitized here?
I’m surprised that they had handheld blow driers back then.
What is the baby doing at the bottom of the first page?
Me
I hate it when that happens.
Or worse, don’t know any better.
I was playing sitting a puddle of water with an electric mixer with my brother. Of course at the age three I was smart enough to plug it in and run it. If it been one generation before on my grandparents side, I’m sure the illustration would have me with the label: Zwei Dummkophs!
I wouldn’t be around to hate when that happens.
Nothing happened, 'cause my Mom ran over an unplug the* two* prong cord as opposed to grabbing the mixer from us (and resulting in three fatalities rather than two). This was in the early sixties, and the ancient portable electric mixer was all metal construction except for the Bakelite handle. Talk about one fault tolerant :eek:. Stories like that remind why GFIs, smoke detectors, and cell phones are the greatest home consumer safety products to appear in my lifetime.
I’ve often wondered if that was the day I innately understood I needed to become an electrical engineer–so I wouldn’t git my self killed.
Polarized plugs and double insulated appliances were a huge leap. GFI and the later are the ice cream with the pie.