An American antique adjustable paddle.

I wonder if any American reader would have any information or memory or an adjustable paddle. I saw the paddle on an antiques (UK) TV program, broadcast in the 1960's, it may have been on BBC or else ITV.

The program consisted of 'experts' examining old , antique, items and suggesting what they were and what they were used for. On this particular program they were presented with an adjustable paddle. My memory is that it had a long handle and resembled a wooden spoon rather than the huge paddles seen today. The handle had a joint near the paddle end and pairs of pins in the handle were 'bridged' by small wooden pieces. These pieces were of different size and thickness. The correct wooden piece would be selected to match the age of the recipient of the spanking. If the paddle was used too vigorously , the bridge pieces would disengage and the paddle end would fall off. Thinner pieces would disengage more easily and were labelled for younger recipients. It thus ensured that the severity of the paddle was matched appropriately to the age of the spankee . It is too far ago to remember exactly but I think there were a range of wooden pieces to match ages from about 4 to 14.

It was implied that these paddles were for sale in normal corner stores in the early 20th century in the USA. The UK experts saw it as a curiosity but if I remember correctly , one expert did identify it and it's use.

I jut wonder if any US readers have ever heard of such an item or heard of it's use . As far as i know if was marketed for domestic use rather than schools but unsure.

I think I've seen that programme. If I remember correctly, it was marketed as a 'safety paddle', and the 'business end' was connected to the handle by matchsticks, so that hitting too hard would break the matchsticks rather than injuring the child.

There was a row of holes in the end of the handle and a matching row in the paddle end, allowing for the number of matchsticks to be selected according to the age of the child - older children got more matchsticks, so the paddle could deliver a harder swat without breaking.

I can see why this went the way of the dinosaurs. This is a great example of employing too much thought on the technical end without applying any thought to the commonsense aspect. Basically, as clever as the mechanism might be, a reasonable parent wouldn't need it and an unreasonable one wouldn't buy it.

I saw that programme too, and myrkassi described it just as I remembered it. I was certainly made in the USA.

@ minders

I always thought the paddle was an American implement only while the cane (or Rootstock) was European, I might be wrong since the 'Rohrstock' was outlawed when I went on my educational trip.


@ kdpierre

Would a reasonable parent buy anything like that at all? I might sound strange on this form, but I think a child is more hurt by the parents disapproval than any physical punishment. I remember a word of disapproval/disappointment from my mum hurt more than a few spanks from my father. Any physical pain is more or less gone the next day but the memories of a disappointed mother you kept for weeks in your memory.


@ myrkassi

Were the matches easily replaceable or was the paddle one misuse only ?


@ Smachtai

It seems it had quite the impact on you if you saw it in 1960. I don't think in the early twentieth century the safety for the spankee was not much of a concern yet. Nowaways it might be the main reason to outlaw it in the civilized world.

Thanks myrkassi and mianders for confirming that I haven't lost my memory. I am not too sure what brought it to mind, I think I just saw a reference to a paddle on the site here.

I did a little digging and I think it could possible be a program called "Going for a song". Another possibility is the precursor to that program called ", Animal , Vegetable, Mineral". There are episodes of both on the You tube thingie if you search. Although i haven't found the episode in question.

kdpierre, interesting questions. Although the program was broadcast in 1950s or 60s the item was an antique then so probably dating to early 20th century. The US also had experiments with so called 'spanking machines' as well. But not sure any of these were ever a success. To me , it would seem to overly complicate matters. And I am not too sure if any parent would pay for it.

The paddle was supposed to be reused. It came with additional wooden pegs/ bridges so i assume they could be easily replaced in they got damaged. Although the design was that they would let go if too much forces was used and the paddle was just re-assembled, I assume.

Of course this is all from memory of a TV program 60 years ago. Which was the reason for my post. i had hoped some American reader would have seen it for sale of have heard of it being used.

They were just ordinary matches, I think - so they could be easily replaced. I'm not sure now that the paddle I remember is the same one Smachtai is talking about - perhaps there were different brands or models?

A paddle with all of those "match sticks" could literally set a behind "on fire"! A truly remarkable invention!

[myrkassi, they may well have been matches, certainly the 'pegs' were small. I doubt there were two different models or designs on the market. i suspect even the one we are talking about was not successful and rapidly disappeared.

@ Smachtai

As I understand it, Myrkassi's model used matches that broke while your model used special sticks and you had to reassemble it. If nowadays industry is used as an example Myrkassi's model has continously to replace inexpensive matches while your model uses expensive special building pieces that rarely need replacement. The matches are too inexpensive for an after sales success.

I doubt father's would buy it, they would have too much confidence, but mother's might force them to buy it for their princessess.

Should CP pick up again, which is unlikely it might have a market. Myrkassi's model would probably be too complicated, while expensive specialized part sound promising. but then nowadays it probably has to be computerized.