Eccentric contraptions and amazing gadgets, gizmos and thingamabobs

the long version

The incredible clockwork teasmade on the cover is just one of over 100 bizarre and ingenious gadgets in Maurice Collins' collection from the complexity of mechanical fruit peelers and a hand-pumped automatic shaver to the simplicity of the 'toe socks' of the 1920s which claimed to cut hosiery bills by 80 per cent. If you thought burglar alarms were a modern invention, there is a Victorian brass clockwork one in the collection, if you've always found striking matches too taxing, someone in the 1920s invented an automated self-striking match box to save you the trouble. Fascinating and humorous Eccentric Contraptions will intrigue and amuse, and is a testament to human ingenuity and resourcefulness.