A snake oil salesman pitches his electrical magnetical machine
The electrical magnetical machine was a device that a snake oil salesman tried to sell to General Ulysses S. Clayton, of the Union Army, during the American Civil War. He claimed that it could cure the general's rheumatism, as well as make his lower legs stronger and more shapely. The salesman appeared to be selling defective merchandise, as all it did was electrocute everyone in the vicinity of the machine.
On February 11, 1864, Doc Brown and his son Jules put it to good use, as they used it to build a powerful electromagnet that attracted the weapons of both the Union and Confederate armies.