A plate lifter or plate wobbler is a novelty item consisting of a tube with a small flat bladder on one end and a bulb on the other. The bladder is to be placed under a plate; inflating it will make the plate wobble. This fake demonstration of psychokinesis is intended to provoke surprise and merriment.
A free plate wobbler was included with the first issue of the British comic magazineMonster Fun and promoted as a "monster mirth maker".
In industry
"Plate lifter" is the name of various devices used in industry for handling heavy metal plates.
↑Nyberg, Tim (2004). The Practical Joker's Handbook. Andrews McMeel Publishing. p.160. ISBN0740741985. Archived from the original on June 19, 2013. Retrieved February 13, 2013. Get a 'plate lifter' at your local joke/novelty shop. This is a long tube with a little bladder on one end and a bulb on the other. The original joke was to hide the bladder under the table cloth under plates to make them jump up and down when the bulb was squeezed.