THE SHOWER: A BLAST FROM THE PAST

A 19th-century shower, based on Feetham’s original design from the 1700s. The hand pump can be seen to the right. (Erddig Hall, Wales, UK)

In the 1700s the invention of a mechanical shower started people on the path to replacing their Saturday night baths with daily morning showers.

The first mechanical shower was not invented until the 18th century, but getting clean from above has a history that goes back millennia.

The earliest showers were generally enjoyed by the wealthy, who could pay for servants or slaves to pour water on them. In sixth-century B.C. Babylon bathrooms were common in residences, but bathtubs were not; their absence indicates that people probably bathed with water poured from above. Bathrooms were also common in Egypt going as far back as the Middle Kingdom. Wall paintings show how the wealthy were showered by their servants with water. Excavations of wealthy homes in Thebes, El Lahun, and Amarna found stone-lined chambers equipped with sloped floors that allowed water to drain.

Ancient Greek inventors created indoor showers at gymnasiums through advances in plumbing and sewers. Users would stand under jets of cold water that cascaded from the ceiling. Classical societies associated regular washing with civilized values: In his fourth-century B.C. Symposium, Plato records the arrival of Socrates to a dinner party, “fresh from the bath and sandaled.” Archimedes is said to have pondered on water displacement in the bathtub, and the ample archaeological evidence of public baths highlights the centrality of bathing to Romans across the empire, from the damp of England to the heat of Palestine.

With the rise of Christianity, public bathing began to be regarded as indecent and extravagant. Cyprian, the  third-century Bishop of Carthage, warned a woman “a bath sullies; it does not purify... you are looked at immodestly.” Until well into the early modern period, European society associated the word “cleanliness” more with purity of the soul rather than the body.

Feetham’s Feat

By the 18th century scientific advances in medicine and epidemiology prompted growing interest in personal hygiene in Europe. People generally bathed infrequently, partially because bathing at home was cumbersome. Filling large bathtubs consumed not only a lot of water but also a lot of labor since water had to be heated and then hauled to the tub in buckets.

An English stove and heater manufacturer, William Feetham was also an inspired inventor. Already the creator of an ingenious mechanical chimney sweep, in 1767 Feetham patented the first mechanical shower, a portable cone structure made up of two sections. The lower part was a basin where the bather stood; the upper was a tank that stored water until bathers pulled a chain to release it.

The bather could then use a hand pump to collect water from the base and return it to the tank. Although the water would be dirtier and colder with each cycle, Feetham’s invention marked a huge saving in both water and time. Improvements to the basic design were continuously made, with even Feetham applying for a new patent in the 19th century.

Inventors attempted several different methods to warm up the water. Benjamin Waddy Maughan’s patented water heater did not factor in the need for ventilation, and frequently exploded. In 1889 Norwegian-American engineer Edwin Ruud invented a safe, gas-heated water heater, and a new era began for warm showers. Once regarded as an unimaginable luxury, a daily hot shower is a regular indulgence for many bathers all over the world.

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GOING WITH THE FLOW

1767
William Feetham patents the first pump-activated shower in London. The bather releases the water in the overhead tank by pulling a chain.

1868
English painter Benjamin Waddy Maughan patents a water heater. Its tendency to explode makes it unsafe for household use.

1889
Norwegian-American engineer Edwin Ruud develops a safe, gas-powered water heater, ushering in a new age of hot showers.

1900s
Advances in plumbing and heating drive the popularity of the regular shower in both Europe and the United States.

By Josemi Lorenzo in "National Geographic History", USA, August 2018, excerpts pp. 12-13. Digitized, adapted and illustrated to be posted by Leopoldo Costa.