SteamVibe: "Stainless steel, brass and awesome."
The name of Ani Niow's SteamVibe suggests. Catching sight of the thing itself sends an eyebrow heaven-ward. Finally, the name of the Flickr set sweeps away any remaining ambiguity: steampunk vibrator.
You're probably asking, does it really work? the answer is you betcha. its been proven to work (and vibrate) off of compressed air, I'm seeking a more powerful boiler than my pressure cooker so I can actually run it off of steam so please let me know if you know of one.
More photos, and details of its construction, are at The Lady Cartoonist: "[It's] machined out of a solid hunk of stainless steel (no easy task), and fitted with the world's itty-bittiest Tesla Turbine."
A steampunk robot penis machined in similar fashion to current-gen MacBooks? I think someone divided the Internet by zero.
steampunk vibrator [Ani's Flickr]
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Um, wow.
Seriously, a steam-powered vibe? Why would you want anything powered by compressed, scalding water vapor anywhere near your genitalia?
The actual vibrators from the "steampunk" (i.e. Victorian) era were electrically powered.
the shark has been jumped..
@ DSMVWL
They had vibrators during the Victorian era? It seems kind of "out of place" with my (probably hugely skewed) view of that time period.
@TUCKELS,
They were medical devices used by Doctors to relieve "hysteria" in female patients. It's a fairly interesting and amusing piece of history.
They should have called "Steely Dan".
#4: Extra credit for the Naked Lunch reference!
Reminds me of a sonar probe I got in some surplus once.
This might function as a device, but stainless steel doesn't have a very nice feel on intimate body parts, so I'm dubious as to how enjoyable it is. And yeah, steam + stainless steel + lady bits = serious burn threat. The amount of heat energy in steam is incredible, far beyond the amount held in boiling water. Be super super careful! Infrared non-contact thermometers are your friends!
@Scuba SM: Definitely an interesting bit of history. I think more medical conditions need to list orgasm (even if couched in a euphemism) as a cure.
#2: Check out the Wikipedia entry for "female hysteria". Or google "Victorian vibrators". Strange but true!
looks like "top secret!" anal intruder.
If I'm reading this right, the steam engine will drive a compressor, the air from which is what drives the turbine.
I'm inclined to give the maker the benefit of the doubt and say she thought of the heat/steel problem long before she started machining the steel.
(artist here)
@DCULBERSON
Many sex toys are made out of stainless steel (http://www.erosteel.com/main.html NSFW) so this certainly isn't the first. I figured metal was the most steampunky thing I could use and stainless was the most safe out of the bunch that I narrowed down.
@CHEVAN
Thought about that but I really wanted to put the engine inside of the vibe, just to see if I could make one small enough, and I did.
Is it practical? Sorta, but that's not really the point, proof of concept/art piece and all.
-Ani
Ani, sorry, didn't mean to sound negative - it is a very cool looking device.
ever heard of Project Orion?
What, Takuan, you want a vibrator powered by 1 kilotonne atomic bombs? That's hard core.
@Takuan:
My god! That phallic thing looks like a rocket ship!
Wait...
@DSMVWL_THS, @tuckels, @Scuba SM
Yes! There were in fact (electric) vibrators in the Victorian Era. If you want to see some pics of what they look like, check out Good Vibrations Antique Vibrator Museum:
http://tinyurl.com/dzr786
Congrats Ani on a fantastic project!
By Jules Verne! That's no space station... it's a vibrator!
...Why am I expecting to see this on the news after having literally punched some poor gal a new asshole *and* vagina?
she's cute AND a maker! I'd pay for pics of a demonstration of that! *happy mutant dreams* Steampowered porn- to think, I live to see such an age... totally hot in ways unimagineable.
I have had fun with a manually powered one.
Google the njoy Eleven for another stainless steel work of art.
Not as cool as Ani's but still a nice design.
A clockwork vibe done up all artsy woulda been interesting but this thing just looks like some random tool or part of someting. Oh and by artsy I dont mean a buncha brass gears glued on the outside at random.