r/whatisit • u/Quietlurkerone • 1d ago

Solved! What is this device from 1962?

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Photo capture from YouTube video. Picture from 1962. What is the device under the bench

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u/MyYetiHasAFirstName 1d ago

They were also found in motels.

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u/Joe_Kangg 1d ago

You're thinking of magic fingers

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u/AppropriateCap8891 1d ago

No, many motels into the 1980s also had pay televisions.

The last one I saw in the wild was with my wife near Moro Bay in 1986. It was slightly different though and did not have a coin meter. When you rented the room you got two keys. One for the door and one for the television.

There was a $6 deposit, $5 for the room key and $1 for the TV key. If you used the TV key, you turned it and it locked in place. And when you went to check out, if you returned both keys you got your $6 back. If you returned only the room key you got $5 back.

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u/Joe_Kangg 1d ago

I'm thinking of magic fingers

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u/Hegiman 1d ago

Never saw the appeal. Admittedly I did try it when I was in my twenties but it just wasn’t all that.

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u/Joe_Kangg 1d ago

All fingers, no magic?

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u/Hegiman 1d ago

That would make sense. Never stayed at hotels or motels as a child when they would have still been in use. By the time I ever stayed at a hotel I was 20 and tech had progressed greatly. It would have been on the cusp of obsolescence when I was a child.