Shower - History

History

The original showers were neither indoor structures nor man-made, but were common natural formations: waterfalls. The falling water rinsed the bathers completely clean and was more efficient than bathing in a traditional basin, which required manual transport of both fresh and waste water. Ancient people began to reproduce these natural phenomena by pouring jugs of water, often very cold, over themselves after washing. There has been evidence of early upper class Egyptian and Mesopotamians having indoor shower rooms where servants would bathe them in the privacy of their own homes. However, these were rudimentary by modern standards, having rudimentary drainage systems and water was carried, not pumped, into the room.

The ancient Greeks were the first people to have showers. Their aqueducts and sewage systems made of lead pipes allowed water to be pumped both into and out of large communal shower rooms used by elites and common citizens alike. These rooms have been discovered at the site of the city Pergamum and can also be found represented in pottery of the era. The depictions are very similar to modern locker room shower, and even included bars to hang up clothing. The ancient Romans also followed this convention; their famous bathhouses can be found all around the Mediterranean and as far out as modern day England. The Romans not only had these showers, but also believed in bathing multiple times a week, if not every day.

The advanced water and sewage systems developed by the Greeks and Romans quickly broke down and fell out of use after the fall of their empires. It was not until the 19th century that a system nearly as complex or reliable as the Greek and Roman sewers was rebuilt. The first showers in the modern era were self-contained units where water could be reused several times. In the early 19th century (probably around 1810, though there is some contradiction among sources), the English Regency Shower was anonymously invented. The original design was over 10 feet (3 m) tall, and was made of several metal pipes painted to look like bamboo. On the top of the unit was a basin connected to these pipes. The water was pumped through a nozzle and over the occupant's shoulders before being collected and pumped back into the basin. This prototype went through several renovations including hand pumped models, models with several sprayers, and those with interchangeable nozzles. The reinvention of reliable indoor plumbing around 1850 allowed the free-standing showers to be connected to a running water source, making them easier to use.

The first modern shower was used in 1860 by the French army, as an economic hygiene measure, which installed communal showers in barracks. The system was adopted in 1872 by François Merry Delabost, a French doctor and inventor, who when he was surgeon-general in Bonne Nouvelle prison in Rouen, France replaced individual baths with mandatory communal showers for use by prisoners, arguing that they were more economic and hygienic. The French system of communal showers was adopted by other armies, the first being that of Prussia in 1879, and by prisons in other jurisdictions. They were also adopted by boarding schools, before being installed in public bathhouses. The first shower in a public bathhouse was in 1887 in Vienna, Austria. In France, public bathhouses and showers were established by Charles Cazalet, firstly in Bordeaux in 1893 and then in Paris in 1899.

The increase in access to heated water made bathing more comfortable and popular. Even with the new improvements in their design, the shower remained less popular than the bath in industrialised countries until the second half of the 20th century.