I'm sure I've seen a victorian patent for this somewhere...
It was something along the lines of a device for typists to aleviate strain of the fingers !

Nicely made though..... There must be hundreds of expired patents that could be revived for Steampunk.

I came across "The Branly coherer" - which was the forerunner of radio sets.

The amazing thing is - this radio detector was used in toys as a very simple remote control, yet died out when the transistor came along. How things would have worked out if the transistor was never seen would probably incorporate these somewhere.

There are a lot of basic electrical items that are dismissed because of commercial packages, but Diodes made from glass vials containing copper and oxide, or pieces of zinc used as transistors do have a certain charm. Even early radio valves are a work of art - and work !