‘Magic Fingers Vibrating Bed’ Inventor Dies
John Joseph Houghtaling, the inventor of the “Magic Fingers Vibrating Bed,” which brought weary travelers 15 minutes of “tingling relaxation and ease” for a quarter in hotel rooms across America, has died. He was 92.
During its heyday in the 1960s and ’70s, Magic Fingers was a pop culture icon.
In a 1963 New York Times profile, Houghtaling said he was selling beds with a built-in vibrating mechanism when he realized during a repair job that it would be much cheaper to create something that would attach to the outside of an existing bed.
“After ripping away the frills, I found that it was the vibrator that counted, not the bed,” he recalled. “Magic Fingers was born then and there.”
In its heyday, there were about 175 Magic Fingers franchise operators across the country, and the gadgets collected $6,000 to $7,000 a month in quarters, Houghtaling’s son said.
By the late 1970s, dealers complained they spent more money to repair devices that thieves broke open. Houghtaling developed a debit card-like system for the machines to replace the coin slots, but the idea never took off.
“He was trying to move it to a cashless mechanism so people wouldn’t have any reason to break into them,” his son said. “Unfortunately, it was kind of ahead of its time.”
Photo by AP.
RedHotFranchises on June 19th, 2009 4:40 pm
He went to the big vibrating bed in the sky. Another entrepreneur who realized his dream. Come up with an idea, implement it, market it, and provide a good living for your family, a successful clock built that will pass on to generations.
May God Bless His Soul.
Chaitanya Sagar, Excel Expert on June 20th, 2009 1:39 am
Wonder how many people got the benefit of the vibrating beds. It seams to be a great invention in its time that people liked.
Jaclyn on June 22nd, 2009 12:48 pm
First of all it is very sad to hear about his passing, may he rest in peace. Second of all, it is even more sad that he was making an honest to god living off of his invention and people had to be so rude, crude and dishonest and break into his machines in order to steal the money. that is just outrageous!
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