I was just wasting some time at auction recently, nosing around on tables when I saw the little box almost hidden under more towering items. “Mystery meter, Love meter” was the title, and I was hooked.
The box was no longer than six inches and on the front was a drawing of a hand holding an item that resembled an hourglass. I read the instructions under the title:
“Hold the lower bulb cupped in the palm of your hand. Whoever makes liquid rise and reach bubbly boiling point most quickly, wins. Perfect relaxer for busy execs; great party fun; decorative gift.”
The instructions didn’t say what you won or what the win meant. That you loved the person who stood next to you or the one who came to mind when you thought of the one you loved? So, I took the love meter out of the box to test it myself. I held in my hand and watched as the Vaseline-green liquid moved slowly upward, along with two little capsules.
I had the feeling that anyone with a warm hand could make the liquid rise into the top bulb. I wasn’t too far off: The meter is called a hand boiler, which has little to do with boiling but with heat increasing temperature increasing air pressure. Some websites were retailing them as school teaching aids.
The meter was a neat novelty item, though, that could likely be big fun at a party as long as it was used properly. The liquid came with a warning: “Danger, flammable, can cause blindness.” You were okay as long as you didn’t break open the bottle and drink the stuff.
It looked be from the 1950s, and had a label with the name APCO Japan. I found several of them on the web, with the liquids colored red, yellow and teal. I also found other items made by the company – from jewelry boxes to dishware to figurines to cookie jars.
This device was apparently not the only one of its kind made decades ago to measure love. Nintendo came out with one a little more complex but still entertaining in 1969. It was developed by video game designer Gunpei Yokoi, who also created Game Boy for the company.
How it worked: Two people each held in one hand a terminal knob (that looked like a ball) attached to a battery-powered tester. Then they clasped their other hands together and watched as the meter showed the strength of their love for each other.
A Nintendo ad told you how to cheat: Wet your palms before holding the knob. Yokoi suggested kissing. Nintendo brought the love meter back on the market two years ago.
Other meters on the web were billed as compatibility meters or love calculators that allowed you to take the test instantly online. The Discovery Channel’s Auction Kings even got into it during an episode about two years ago.
In the shop, the team competed on a newly repaired love machine to determine who was the best lover. The staffers tried to steady their hands as each slid a metal ring up a squiggly bar without touching it. If they couldn’t get past 1, they were Lousy; 10 got them a Wow.
