The system of water falling from a perforated tank was invented at the end of the 18th century • WIKIMEDIA COMMONS In 18 th Europe century, the wealthy classes are increasingly concerned about hygiene, both that of cities and that of people. The bath becomes a habitual practice, for the sake of cleanliness, for the pleasure of cooling off or for medical reasons. At that time, the progress of medicine and the better knowledge of bacteriology encouraged the development of hydrotherapy, healing by water that is applied to the patient at different temperatures and pressures, and whose therapeutic virtues differ according to mineralogical characteristics. The water falls in fine rain For a long time, people took their baths at home in large bathtubs. However, this had the disadvantage of using a large amount of water, which had to be transported in buckets. This is the problem that the Englishman William Feetham, a manufacturer of ovens and stoves - and professional inventor, who notably designed a mechanical chimney sweep to do without children - wanted to solve by patenting in 1767 the first model of shower mechanical. This very first shower consists of a portable tapered structure, divided into two spaces:the lower space, occupied by a basin in which the person stands, and the upper space, provided with a small tank letting the water flow. water on the person through a piece perforated with small holes. A few bamboo canes serve as a post to assemble the two parts of the invention and can also be used to install a curtain to provide privacy and prevent water from flooding the room. The device has two major advantages. The first is that by pulling on a chain, the water falls like rain in a continuous stream, a much more pleasant process than pouring a bucket of water on the person's head. The second is that a manual pump collects the water at the base and transfers it to the upper cistern, which makes it possible to wash using less water, even if it becomes dirty with each cycle. Later, drain pipes, valves and coils will be added to allow the water to be heated and to give it more pressure, as well as connection systems to running water to avoid having to reuse the same water. . Feetham himself continued to perfect his invention until the presentation of his new model in 1822. A system quickly copied However, in 1802, a certain Diego Pacheco y Cobos presented in Madrid an invention similar to that of Feetham. He proposes to the municipality to build public baths, in which, among other inventions, appears alongside the traditional cold water and hot water pipes, a "third pipe which will be called 'fine rain', [which ] will only serve to vaporize or refresh the head of the one who washes himself”. Pacheco found that people who bathe do not often put their heads in the tub, "so as not to receive the dirt left behind by the body". He also specifies that "the water from this third pipe [...] will come out through a set of small, almost invisible, rain-shaped holes", very similar to the modern hand shower. In a footnote, Pacheco boasts of the novelty of his invention, "a real discovery and a unique thing of this establishment for the greater comfort of the public". It is very likely that this savvy entrepreneur knew about Feetham's invention and tried to make it his own. Timeline 1767 William Feetham patents the transportable mechanical shower in London.1802 Proposal for a bathhouse in Madrid, provided with a “rain pipe”.1822 Feetham continues to patent new, more modern shower designs. 1872 The Rouen prison doctor suggests installing collective showers. 1920-1930 In France, the installation of municipal showers is becoming widespread in cities.
