Let us all have a moment of quiet (except for the slight buzz from the bed) in memory of the inventor of Magic Fingers.

Details are in his Washington Post obituary, but here's an excerpt:

John Houghtaling, who put a little buzz in America's motel rooms with his invention of Magic Fingers, a once-ubiquitous device that caused beds to vibrate in a gentle rocking motion, died June 17 after a fall at his home in Fort Pierce, Fla. He was 92.

Mr. Houghtaling (pronounced huff-tail-ing) had been a successful salesman of vitamins and cookware when he began working for a manufacturer of vibrating beds in the 1950s. Because the beds were expensive and unreliable, Mr. Houghtaling decided that there had to be a cheaper and more effective way to make them.