Bizarre gadgets and gizmos collected over more than 30 years will tick, click and ring at Chatham’s Historic Dockyard.

Whirrs, Cogs and Thingamabobs is an exhibition of more than 150 items owned by collector Maurice Collins, named Britain’s Best Collector in a competition last year.

Maurice has amassed nearly 1,600 items in his life, ranging from a clockwork burglar alarm to an electric hair-restoring comb, two clockwork teasmaids, a finger stretcher and even a mechanical envelope sealer.

He also owns a unique purse, which housed a hidden compartment containing a pistol with a single bullet designed to fend off unsuspecting highwaymen.

His passion for quirky gadgets began in a rubbish dump in Sittingbourne, when he and his son came across a peculiar glass bottle with, what appeared to be a marble in its neck. They had unearthed a ‘Codd’ bottle – invented by Hiram Codd in 1872 to keep the ‘fizz’ in fizzy drinks. It was this discovery that began Maurice’s fascination with unusual everyday objects.

He said: “My interest in each gadget is the quirkiness of its use in everyday life. If it was intended to save labour and make life easier for the user – and even better, if it didn’t succeed – then it meets my criteria.

“Every idea that may have looked foolish at the beginning may have turned out in the end to be marvellous. Do not forget that for every gadget on display, at least one person thought it was a great leap forward in design and usefulness. That very person went to all that time, trouble, and considerable effort to register his idea. If they were lucky, they would have seen their gadget manufactured and sold to the public.”

Most of the items going on display were made between 1851 and 1951 – from the Great Exhibition to the Festival of Britain. This was a golden age for new labour-saving devices being invented, as people hoped to make their fortune by creating gadgets that could do a job better, faster or cheaper.

Whirrs, Cogs and Thingamabobs is at No.1 Smithery: The Gallery at Chatham’s Historic Dockyard from Monday, October 15 to Sunday, December 2. Tickets £16.50, concessions £14, children £11, families £45. Admission valid for a year. Call 01634 823800.