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Evolution Of The Shower:
The Everyday Tale Of Plumbing, Heating And Power
Part 3
The English Regency Shower was the first "The Stand-Up Bath" to be designed with luxury in mind. It was a twelve foot high metal contraption, with a tank above it and a drain below. There was absolutely no sign of the servant or bucket. A hand pump forced water from the basin into the tank and then downwards to the bather's head, and then it was re-circulated again over the head. This fact meant that the bather was still bathing in dirty water and it was no improvement on the bath.
In 1889, J. L. Mott Iron Works followed suit, developed a unit that could shower the bather from every angle. The company's catalogue boasted the shower had "needle, shower, descending douche, liver spray and bidet" functions. Once this multifunction shower was established other manufacturers provided a variety of showering options like multiple heads, body sprays and waterfalls.
Although that does not sound that different from the power showers of today, the pipes are now enclosed and the hot water is constant in both pressure and temperature. Edwin Ruud, invented the automatic storage water heater, which eliminated the need to boil water well in advance of a bath, or stand under the shower awaiting the shock of freezing water. Modern thermostatic valves even maintain the constant temperature of the shower water, even if some else uses the toilet washing machine or runs water somewhere else.
In the UK according to government statistics eighteen percent of the average water consumption is used for washing, by either bathing or showering. Only thirty-six per cent of these figures relates to showering. Power showers now use more water than a two times a week bath.
Showering is a resource intensive practice that has come to be regarded as normal and everyday. Showering became popular with increasingly standardized infrastructures of water supply and management, both within and outside the home, and the development of associated bathroom technologies.
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