Quack Baldness Cure – Thermocap
The Thermocap, which was invented by a Frenchman living in New York at the time, was an apparatus for the treatment of the scalp to regrow hair. Aloise A. Merke was awarded a patent on September 22, 1925 (originally assigned to the Thompson Barlow Company). The Thermocap was eventually produced by the Allied Merke Institutes, Inc. of New York. It was nothing more than a cap with a socket at the top in which any standard light bulb could be screwed. The bulb was supposed to relax and open the pores thus stimulating hair growth.
