How Did People Take Showers 200 Years Ago?

The history of the bathroom begins with the appearance of a bathing basin several thousand years ago. At that time, neither its function nor form underwent radical changes. A standard bathtub in a typical apartment differs little from a tub found during excavations of ancient cities.

Marble bathtub in the 3rd century BC

In medieval Europe, bathing was considered a sin, which led to the spread of various diseases. However, by the 19th century, Europeans had reconsidered and returned to bathing rituals. At that time, sitting tubs or basins were used instead of the bathtubs we are familiar with today.

Those who could afford it installed tubs made from expensive materials such as enamel and zinc. Those with more resources bought tubs made from tin. Since 1840, hot water was piped into wealthy homes, and by the 1870s, bathing rituals became accessible to the middle class.

In poor households, gas heaters were installed to warm water, but they were expensive to maintain, noisy, and dangerous as they sometimes exploded.

In wealthy homes, innovations were installed — bathtubs with gas heaters. However, due to their cost and complexity of use, they were not widely adopted.

At the end of the 19th century, France began producing high-quality ceramic basins for sinks and toilets.

The first was Émile Jacob, who manufactured plumbing taps and pipes. He joined forces with Maurice Delafontaine, a manufacturer of items made from enameled white sandstone. Together, they created a small production facility for manufacturing sanitary porcelain.

Investing in this new product line proved to be a wise decision. In 1889, the products of these two entrepreneurs won a gold medal at an exhibition in Paris.

Shower

Originally, waterfalls served as showers for humanity. Later, throughout many centuries, people would pour water over themselves from a basin.

The earliest depictions of showers in their modern form were found on Athenian vases dated to the 4th century BC. For example, one such vase shows two showers where four young women are bathing. The water flowing through pipes was poured over them via showerheads shaped like lion and boar heads.

A complete set of showers (beginning in the 2nd century BC) was discovered during excavations in Turkey. These featured seven levels of shower installations. Water flowed down from a central system onto people, then ran into other bathing rooms and was eventually carried away by drainage systems.

The prototype of the modern shower cabin appeared in 1810. It stood 3.5 meters tall and consisted of reservoir basins placed at the top and bottom.

The disadvantage of such a shower was the repeated use of water: it flowed from the upper reservoir to the lower one, then rose through pipes and again poured over the person bathing.

In the same year 1810, a shower curtain was invented that also served as a towel: the fabric was soaked with aromatic oils to leave a pleasant scent after the shower.

Toilet

Toilets similar to those found in modern bathrooms only appeared in the second half of the 19th century. Before that, there were two options: a place for waste outdoors or a chamber pot.

The first toilet was a hybrid of a chair and a night pot — for example, the so-called 'earth toilet', invented by Henry Moore in 1860.

Inside the container behind the 'chair' was dry earth. All one had to do was pull a lever, and the earth would pour into the pot, which was then emptied — making it simpler and cleaner. This model somewhat resembled a cat litter box.

Forerunners of modern toilets were inconvenient and caused many problems.

In early toilets, waste was emptied into a reservoir where water was then added and carried away through sewer pipes. There wasn't always enough water for effective flushing, so early toilets were often placed in back rooms.

The issue with odors was solved after the invention of a toilet with a siphon (S-bend). Changes were also made to the drain: while earlier it depended only on water pressure, in the 1870s, siphons without valves were used that created a vacuum and sucked in contaminated water.

Inventions of Krappe: Tank with an automatic lever-and-float valve that shuts off water supply and a toilet with a 'water lock' in the shape of a U-bend drainpipe.

Faucet

The 'revolutionary' water tap — the first ball mixer — was invented in 1940 by Alex Manukyan.

The uniqueness of the mixer lay in the fact that instead of two valves — one for hot and one for cold water — only one was used, which simultaneously controlled both pressure and temperature. The manufacturers of plumbing fixtures were not interested in the invention, so Manukyan decided to produce and sell such mixers himself.