Vintage home-made nerve/brain stimulator thingamabob?

[GnatGoSplat]

My dad passed away last month, and while cleaning out his house, I found this weird device.  My dad was a Neurologist, so I assume this is some kind of vintage nerve/brain stimulator machine.  It appears to be hand-built and has several leads with alligator clips.  It was sent to my dad, I think around 1976, by my uncle in Taiwan.  I've attached a scan of the letter, which I assume are operating instructions, but I can't read Chinese.  Anyone know what the letter says?

I was very surprised to find that it runs on both AC and 4 D batteries.  I'm quite surprised after 38yrs, the batteries haven't leaked!

[mtdoc]

Interesting.  I don't think it is a traditional medical device.

It may be a stimulator used in Electro-acupuncture. 

Will be interesting to hear the translation.

[Alex Eisenhut]

Early TENS machine? Those were all over the place about 20 years ago. Then Voltaren came out and I guess no one needed TENS anymore?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transcutaneous_electrical_nerve_stimulation

[mtdoc]

Early TENS machine? Those were all over the place about 20 years ago. Then Voltaren came out and I guess no one needed TENS anymore?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transcutaneous_electrical_nerve_stimulation

Hmm - I doubt it's a TENS unit based on the controls - but I could be wrong. BTW TENS units are still used quite commonly. Voltaren is generally used for different issues (usually osteoarthritis in the hands).

Surely there is someone here who can read Chinese?

[m98]

Just done some OCR and google translate:

Min sprouts Xi perish "" Too Hui 'K slave Kui - Mao temples in Siem intrinsic squatting tired crossbow: ^
'Review fork; E Frieze blue "livestock, fork (_ East" tired Committee dumb ? 4 cents Code Piper garrulous mouth!' F chu Wang Luan 'pincers repair Bu Xi livestock * - support two public opinion.' Yuan barge positive

Eve], a brother [Zhu, Da said. Said Liao greed book Jurassic return very few species of iguana) See waving ear has "f Velvet! Dirty 'I more Hui' 'oath' death Polygonum larvae" mustard wing Lai two larvae `
LL'l, s what Wong Man Ching Yu Jian Xiong husband ENGINEERING * mahi Nie 'corpse Yu spoke niches helium (sneeze ghost Lam "Mn' and - ^`' c, '/' "` 'a nuclear -` "' corpse

-? Hum notes dome

Ren Lou z force inch long nose Shan '`I' Die) capsule 'I Polo rake millet dirty' in trade 'in a whirlwind corpse pox 7 ?'harsh drought nap without Kao
Stupid nose grab 'nose nose, nasal Commission sprouts coming from the lack of party j [, take l' three fans' 1 '' Shen Gong _` Videos concubine fire Gong Xia package 'v ... Bu Yi Qi Sun and the Moon was' Troubles -J
Removal livestock 'the Panel on livestock, poultry attack' Tiao 'Troubles tribute more' l Bu Gong, "Xiao" Ridge preclude a return to heavy sinus Shao `* r Nie Jia '? lying sprouts cold Suo" I ting a
Sail startled. Commission _ removal ("Supporting three beans _ M Wei brother 'j J u make the" three abandoned Qian Gui thin _

`'Beans Pai' Meeting Kyu 'dog' two-machi. ('Feast /' Jue 7 win 'Bu' cause l Right chisel` Bu Bu Bu] mushroom nose clump '' coming from a very wide Bu bite _ myself, "I 'sinus Guyana sac, sac "'intrinsic Pavilion [chi chu wholesale oligonucleotide
4 Lou cold bite to take more two). Z`4l) chu greed, 4 _ boast draw '.'., ^ May "Feng Yi in the same card hunt. '4 Dish ^ .I`- quan page xi orange
Propionic scrambling Wei Than name I can 'temples ugly Fan Troubles FF fees father gluttonous different moxibustion Chi Quan in * (ADS-jen (posture hole _ fortunate to do to stay solder Kun curtain] III Nang White
Second child gluttonous sneeze sampan _ Calida Mu Wang Shi Hui worm gang Falcon Saitong I sentence dish '' "u qe cook branch [bar!": Mold ? absolutely dead <Red Hill manifestation of the ideal against Gong
o) Si "plant (make, coming Ru 'DJ'i' (the book '' coming from the furnace," a '* ginger three' [pounds insect reins, Yu iso -,) margin i edge city, jv "Zhong Yi in
Sulfonamide support to Yushu mound soup dish 'Lance Jue complex sinus cold evening alone' complete shave Yao. 'Sash South stuffy [mantle] Videos delicacies, l, a `interest' which cabin" c
Xi branch five cents' beak ? husband shovel "umbilical sudden hole fortunately) won by` sprouts' 'a weed ?? _'''h' 'to f husbands' f Diao sprouts `", "'" r volume hit `f
Hom rkvir [Right L ...] Hajime a temple beep fortunate ^ Mang cooking cup of Mili eight bow let Pat clasp stupid dog hungry temples _ ']. Oak pipe cream' 'x negligent repair wear white oligonucleotide alone
Go Diao skin! Lithium-cylinder Bi Commission dizzy I take a power vent webbed bird pickpocket _ forgive fifty-six 4 perilous test according to refuse port ['], "said Jian Hui Guangdong Troubles' stupid bad bite Tianyi i chu Commission to text only' gate Princess temples hole. But
Wan '! (Fee falling L Dou spear shaft Ze mouth i bombers who' summer retaining a 'sprouts a "basket once obstacle' '' _ Japanese Arts General Ma Wei Pei age support - '` glenoid cavity sulfonic mention Lou husband' i master
Second, Gu Fen envy of livestock a fork _x overnight! He 'King ", ff curtain', 'book. Hui amount [r qe can provoke + cow {I) who refuse' ring * {:. Sou day strike wrapped tactic bag 'a delicate' '
??x. Male Estuary. Underground Introduction Hom `-'L` `mysterious offer shrine gate branch j _ a cloud -7 race home with deaf heart / volume soared ten feet elf snapped japonica '
Chek R bucket, `` Shou Yu Ran hinder through '9 Tong Guang house set _ the right foot cottage L Organisation and beg dish' tired ') river night] {, by involving wide, i use a tired-chul J4 mention' Hey beans 'words,
. Maple, sinus ? Pat, only the amount of shabu branch Secretary Jiang plantar lack J factory offer -.!. Scared whine mouth ~ c, Ir '* `Oh hole close [Xi Hui Zhao tired sun
American milk broom coma succeed Videos -x Hom] Lou Gan Jin difference with _ anti feast. 'Snapped a stalk thick cloudiness ? iK'l 4- {crashed -' branch Yu sprouts sinus 7 Oh '' P pseudo real 7' , Qiu
?v Jade '€' congealed Shan Nang amount i Ghosts 'Diao' 'column B l i refuse three', left Yu Gui 'ether [the Panel on' big `l. Garland'r` Bing .l`Z' Hong grams macro, poison ?

[J_ Loh Pei Mu '7u ~ mutual `? ^
'!' - Prismatic purpose two '' "Hum battle of the cooking chamber of the smoke [spokesman Yuan wave 'coming late at L pot repeatedly sprouts J, - Huan Lu, Troubles @)' Closed); - myself 'book' hunt Multi Vision "

Well...

[amyk]

I think the OCR is what really failed there. I barely know any Chinese, but could recognise a few electronics words which the OCR couldn't.

[echen1024]

That's some pretty impressive OCR there...

my favorite is probably how it read out "concubines"

[GreyWoolfe]

The blue livestock fork sounds neat especially when testing for high voltage 

[Deathwish]

Torture add on for early Karaoke machine ?.

[timofonic]

... race home with deaf heart...

... Male Estuary. Underground Introduction Hom...

... Mysterious offer shrine gate branch..

... Negligent repair wear white oligonucleotide alone...
... Oak pipe cream...

Red Hill manifestation of the ideal against Gong...
...I sentence dish...
Posture hole - Fortunate to do start solder Kun curtain...
... Second child gluttonous...
... Nasal commission sprouts coming from the lack of party...
...Lou could bite to take more two...
... Mang cooking cup of Mili...
... Scared whine mouth...
... Hum battle of the cooking chamber of the smoke...
.. The book "coming from the furnace"


Who's Going? What's that book? What about that cooking? And that mysterious offer? And the male Estuary?

I think there's drugs, homosexual rapers, Triad, politics, mutants,  poisoned food, fetishism about stuff like shaving,  princess, explosives,  Japanese Arts, organ traffic, people not hearing their hearts,, a secretary, a video about imported milk from America that produces coma, voyeur, corporations, a new technology called Multi Vision, a mysterious commission about nasal issues, a weird book...

Amazing!!! Somebody must write a short story about this...

[Macbeth]

I've found using the drawing mode of google translate can work reasonably well if you can draw the characters with a mouse. Also my Samsung Galaxy Note 4 translate does a good job at using it's pen translate mode. But I am loathe to use it on a document that big!

Pretty sure we have many Chinese on this forum who could translate that in a breeze. However I don't hold out for any sense to be made out of it when the secret is revealed

[denelec]

No wonder the batteries haven't leaked...
The are Ray-O-Vac "Leakproof" batteries. 
If the could make leakproof batteries 66 years ago, imagine how good they must be now! 

Attached: Add from 1949...

[timofonic]

Any news about the mystery device? What about that kind of therapy of putting electric discharges to the brain?

[Mephitus]

Eyup, its a hand made TENS unit. I actually was looking into building one for my sister-in-law that suffers from chronic migraines and the controlls as well as the board all match up with a schematic I was working on. You can actually build one using just a 555 if you want to keep it bare bones.

[timofonic]

Eyup, its a hand made TENS unit. I actually was looking into building one for my sister-in-law that suffers from chronic migraines and the controlls as well as the board all match up with a schematic I was working on. You can actually build one using just a 555 if you want to keep it bare bones.

Are they safe to use without medical knowledge? My girlfriend suffers migraines too and is reluctant to medication.

[Mephitus]

Yeah, they are generally pretty safe so long as you use some basic precautions. For example: NEVER use across the chest. It could potentially interfere with heart function. Always start it on its lowest setting and ramp it up until you have the desired effect. The use of proper TENS pads is your best option. Just know that they do wear out over time and will need to be replaced. If you want to improve on the basic design, you can find newer schematics that are fairly straight forward to build. It would allow pre-programed cycles/power levels. The most elaborate that I can find might cost you around $50 or so to build from scratch.

EDIT: Heres a PDF that can give you a guideline for placement/power: http://site.lgmedsupply.com/Pdf/ElectrodePlacementChart.pdf

As a secondary usage...*ahem* Children leave the room please 
They can also be used in the bedroom quite effectively ("electrosex" being the key search term). To use a basic example, when they want to collect semen from a bull without dealing with the whole sex-doll thing, they basically use a programable TENS with a probe to reach the prostate that causes orgasm/ejaculation within a few minutes. (SFW farm equipment pic attached)

[pickle9000]

@Mephitus

The "pulsator mkIV" look to be very liquid resistant.

[Macbeth]

Are they safe to use without medical knowledge? My girlfriend suffers migraines too and is reluctant to medication.

I wouldn't bother with building one or worry about medical knowledge, etc. All that bullshit about cervical temporal subluxation zones is just that. You can buy one that will literally run forever on a couple of AAA's - I got one from the Lidl for something like £15 on discount. A SANITAS device.

All the EMS and TENS programs seem rubbish to me - the Massage programs work best - they are certainly more sophisticated in that they are actually modulated and pulse in quite a nice way as electric shocks go!

I've suffered from bad back problems in the past and it was handy at the time rigged up to allow me to walk around with it electrocuting me in such a way as I didn't focus on my back pain.

I've got shoulder pains now and its awkward enough to use without looking at silly subluxation zones in a manual - just stick the pads around the pain area, try and find a way to not have the leads snagged, and find a zap program that works best. I find full voltage works for me. I find the spastic impulses it does to my muscles amusing.