Extraordinary Inventions: Victorian-Era Prank Machines

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At the beginning of the twentieth century, 40 percent of American men belonged to a fraternal lodge, and they were hazing their newbies with squirting goats, spanking machines, electric chairs and carpets, and the like. Nearly all their prank devices came via catalogs published by the makers, the DeMoulin Brothers Company, from 1896-1930.

Embodiments of fraternal mischief, the prank machines were inventions of three sons of a French immigrant carriage builder in Western Illinois. The DeMoulins were among America's high-tech geeks and makers at the peak of the 'Golden Age of Invention.'