I think the emphasis on the putatively misogynistic engineer may be uncalled for. He is missing in both versions that I heard & supplied to Lighter in correspondence (the one at Putney School, VT, in 1953, and the one at St Andrews University, Scotland, in 1958); there, the source of the story is "a sailor", and he takes no part in it; the "maid" builds the machine herself. Her foolishness in not providing a method of stopping it echoes that of the Sorceror's Apprentice & his descendents in the wake of the Industrial Revolution. No doubt her being made a lustful woman reflects the war of the sexes, but so do many other things.

In both, also, it is "the bitter bit", not "the biter bit"; I had not heard of the latter useful phrase until Lighter mentioned it in his essay. I think "bitter" suits the context better.