Friday 26 April 2013

Victorian Hand Cranked Hard Labour Devices and Industrial School Spanking Machines

Well, well, well!  You would hardly credit it!  This one definitely comes under the heading of 'you couldn't make it up'.  As those of you who know me and who are familiar with the stuff I write about  will already know, nothing quite gets me going like stumbling across evidence of some factual scenario, device or practise, whether historical or contemporaneous, which mirrors or even surpasses the kind of fictional goings-ons that pepper the pages of the books I write (usually from the historical annals of experimental psychology - a particularly rich vein!).  Plausibility in story plotting has been a watchword with me from the outset, when back in 2008 I published INSTITUTIONALISED 1:  BEYOND THE STANDFORD EXPERIMENT and so on the basis of anything which has happened can potentially occur again in some form or other... Well, you get the idea, I'm sure!  Anyway, for the sake of plausibility and research generally - and based on an idea supplied by my graphic artist collaborator and friend, Angela Fox (with whom, as you know, I am planning a comic book / graphic novel type thing - something of a departure for me) - I found myself Googling Victorian hand-cranked hard labour devices (or machines; I can't remember exactly right now)... And guess what i came across?  Yep! That newspaper cutting right there on the left!  As I said; you couldn't make it up (and I just hope somebody else hasn't)- and I just love that sblog archive, and on my website where they are easier to find, including reader's letters scanned from various spanking magazines) I had to share this with you, my loyal followers!   
ort of thing!  So of course, as with all sources of inspiration (and there are loads back in the

But imagine for a moment that industrial school!  In my mind I see not just the ‘bad girls’ but a whole row of young women, all working away bare bottomed at some mindlessly tedious task - and with a spanking always just a press of a button  away!  Or the basis of some unethical aversion therapy experiment or other?  You tell me!  

Meanwhile in the background, and away from the graphic art stuff, I have also started writing a bit more.  Whether this will develop and evolve into a new book or stay as a short piece for 'The Erotic Mind Control Story Archive' (which inspired the piece and towards whose audience it is largely targeted) I don't yet know; I'll keep you posted, as I will the website as and when I next update it (soon, honestly) and my tumblr blog (Google Toynatan Tumblr - because it doesn't really have a title yet).

6 comments:

Orage said...

There's something funny going on in this post: a truncated and unfinished sentence between two paragraphs, and a startling change of font in the second paragraph.
It made me dizzy!

Toyntanen said...

Yeah, well; the internet's a bit like that, Orage; it could well be bogus (and probably is - though I'd rather think not!.

On the other hand; I used to own a hand scanner (way back in the 90s - used in conjunction with my old 486 computer) and when I scanned things with it, it used to sometimes expand or contract the image as I went along, creating an effect not unlike the one you are talking about here.

Also when in the past I have scanned columns from reader's letters pages taken from various spanking magazines for instance I have sometimes truncated them to save space on the blog page, leaving out the less interesting, often sycophantic, stuff about how great the magazine is etc while stitching together the main salient points.

Either way - the image has not originated with me; I am merely the unwittingly (deniably cognisant?) naive archaeologist.

Anonymous said...

I can imagine the girls being made to gin cotton, or shuck corn...and if their bucket did not fill up to a satisfactory weight every 10 minutes or so the spanking machine would be triggered. Every 10 minutes or so the bucket would be emptied, and the count (and chance for punishment) would start anew. Of course the girl might tire as the day progressed, but a gradually increasing quota would prevent her from becoming complacent!

Toyntanen said...

Thanks for that thought, 'Anonymous'! It triggered off a whole new stream of consciousness type thing - see my latest posting!

Anonymous said...

Although it looks a bit dubious (if the Denver warden has designed a chair which as described then why will they buy one from Kansas?) however it appears to be authentic since this scan from the NY Times archive is available on the NY Times web-site - see http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=F70E10F6395811738DDDAD0994DA405B8885F0D3

Rex Talbot

Toyntanen said...

Yes indeedy, Rex!

By the way; have you seen my new Pinterest account? Not much there yet, and quite a lot duplicated from my Tumblr site, but it should reach out to a new audience and I'm adding stuff right now. Check out this link:

http://pinterest.com/toyntanen/institutional-discipline-uniforms-strict-no-nonsen/

(You will need to copy and paste it in to your browser because links don't seem to work from comments)