# What exactly was the purpose of those jiggle-belt gym machines circa pre-1960s?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-was-the-purpose-of-those-jiggle-belt-gym-machines-circa-pre-1960s/348403>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [March 15, 2006, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-was-the-purpose-of-those-jiggle-belt-gym-machines-circa-pre-1960s/348403 "2006-03-15T02:10:25Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\
**Post date:** [March 15, 2006, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-was-the-purpose-of-those-jiggle-belt-gym-machines-circa-pre-1960s/348403/21 "2006-03-15T17:22:31Z")

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What about “steam cabinets”? They looked like washing machines-you sat inside, with a hole for your head to stick out. What were these intended to do to you?

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**Author:** ![cher3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cher3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cher3)\
**Post date:** [March 15, 2006, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-was-the-purpose-of-those-jiggle-belt-gym-machines-circa-pre-1960s/348403/22 "2006-03-15T17:27:19Z")

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Quote:  
it uses the infrared ray given off by the over-ma-gnetic wave to permeate to the subcutaneous tissue of the body fat, it can make the fat motion directly and pass through the muscles and skin to 4-7cm deep,8 different frequency vibrations worked directly on your skin with 5 high frequency vibrators.and the particulate grease will be burned out by 8:100 over-powerful magnetic wave in continuous usage.  
I wonder if that would violate the rules about not cooking anything smelly at the office.

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**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\
**Post date:** [February 24, 2012, 10:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-was-the-purpose-of-those-jiggle-belt-gym-machines-circa-pre-1960s/348403/23 "2012-02-24T10:11:34Z")

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Sorry for resurrecting this old thread, but I’d like to know what these machines were actually called. Is there maybe a Wikipedia article or some other reference which gives a general overview of their history and use?

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**Author:** ![MikeS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MikeS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeS)\
**Post date:** [February 24, 2012, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-was-the-purpose-of-those-jiggle-belt-gym-machines-circa-pre-1960s/348403/24 "2012-02-24T14:00:34Z")

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I dug up a page from the [Kansas Historical Society](http://www.kshs.org/p/cool-things-belt-vibrator/15638) that describes them as “belt exercisers”, “belt vibrators”, and “vibrating exercisers”. There may not be a standardized name.

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