Proust kept a telephone in his bedroom until the First World War broke out, and had a separate contraption called a théâtrophone that allowed him to listen to live concerts through the receiver.
Some sort of contraption had broken something, possibly by dropping it.
"The ribs in the surface of the machine were broken," Orville lamented, as if his contraption were a wounded bird, "the motor injured and the chain guides badly bent".
Also, properly locking the box is important, as animals that live near campgrounds are often very adept at breaking into human contraptions.
I've been stranded in Chicago at 1am without a handicapped taxi in sight, my wheelchair battery blew a fuse in Portugal leaving me without a way to get around "independently" for 5 of the 12 days I was there, and I can't tell you how many times some contraption on my chair has broken while I'm away.
Sadness and joy and yearnings and stories of broken hearts all found expression through this interactive entertainment contraption, For many Vietnamese it's a godsend.
"That's O.K.," Pete said, grabbing a broken umbrella he'd found in the street, a batty contraption of bent spokes and torn black fabric.
The target or basket, as it's called is not a hole in the ground but a quirky contraption that looks like something between an antique TV antenna and a broken umbrella.
Bagehot watched a lesson on the end of slavery in America become a sophisticated discussion of historiography; a science lesson, on gravity and pressure, morphed into a design class the children had to design a contraption to stop an egg breaking on impact with the floor.
By Alexander Woollcott The New Yorker, May 10 , 1930 P. 42Story about how the Great Raymond, a magician who when he was touring the small towns used to offer in each town to break free from any straight-jacket, boot, belt, handcuff, or other contraption the natives might submit.
