Knocker-upper human alarm clock - GIF

[Altair]

Knocker-uppers were human alarm clocks that first appeared during the Industrial Revolution. The profession died out in the 1950s.




Previously:

Night soil man - photo
Vintage work crew photos

[mklotz]

Only in England could a lady telephone her hubby and tell him, "Yes, I got knocked up early this morning", and not risk divorce.

[ductape]

This appears to be one of the side streets in London and that building is probably still there, in use. The time of day could probably be calculated by the angle of the shadow. The question is who wakes up the knocker-uppers?

[WmRMeyers]

Only in England could a lady telephone her hubby and tell him, "Yes, I got knocked up early this morning", and not risk divorce.

Knew a guy who was stationed in the UK for several years back when I was a pup. Among other things, he got to warn the new troops that an invitation to "knock up" a young lady wasn't what it sounded like to a young American's ears.

[Elizabeth Greene]

In a biography of John Muir I read that he employed a janitor in his college as a knocker upper to wake him for classes. This was after his self-built mechanical alarm clock bed that ejected him at the prescribed hour was determined to be a hazard and disturbance to the other students.

I would have liked to have known him, I think.

[mklotz]

In a biography of John Muir I read that he employed a janitor in his college as a knocker upper to wake him for classes. This was after his self-built mechanical alarm clock bed that ejected him at the prescribed hour was determined to be a hazard and disturbance to the other students.

I would have liked to have known him, I think.

Pictures and drawings here...

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/...arm-clock-desk

https://www.nps.gov/jomu/learn/photo...ral-images.htm

[Elizabeth Greene]

[QUOTE=mklotz;220888]Pictures and drawings here...

If I remember the description from the book correctly, this one from the second link is a thermometer that works by amplifying the thermal expansion of an iron bar. He built it as a teenager. He demonstrated it at a fair and supposedly it was sensitive enough to measure the temperature change of a man standing near it.