While tanning beds are now the domain of irresponsible parents and young women looking for some skin cancer, their UV rays were originally designed as a (quasi) legitimate medical treatment. Get your dose of vitamin D with this Oobject-assembled collection of illuminating medical devices.
Be sure to also check out these light pipes, pocket sundials, and solar cookers.
Quain sunlight bath
A beautifully designed deco lamp which consists of an electric heater with carbon arc ultraviolet light
1919 electric light bath introduced by Dr Kellog of Corn Flake fame
Kellog was chief medic at a sanitorium where he introduced a bizarre range of treatments.
Lamp designed to brand new born babies with sunburn
Early tanning lamp ad
The horizontal electric light bath cabinet
If someone were to design a steampunk tanning bed they could do far worse than copy this.
Finsen light therapy system
Although this contraption from just before the first world war looks like quackery it was a pioneering use of medical therapy in the treatment of many skin diseases.
1960s Sun Bonnet Sun Reflector Tanning
Cook your face in the same manner as a folding vegetable steamer.
1935 German device for ear problems that relied on the supposed benefits of red and blue light
DIY sun bathing pod from 1970
Not sure why everyone is fully clothed here.
Congressmen take light shower baths in the Turkish baths of the House of Representatives
WWII submariners receiving sun lamp treatment before boarding a submarine
A medical precaution before entering a sunlight free world for long periods.