![]() Wheeler and his brother Richard in 1979 adapted the acrylic being used for outdoor spas to make acrylic bathtubs. In the 1960s fiberglass bathtubs became the standard for homes, being lightweight and inexpensive. The Crane Company introduced colored bathroom fixtures to the United States market in 1928, and slowly this influx of design options and easier cleaning and care led to the near demise of clawfoot-style tubs. This enclosed style afforded easier maintenance and, with the emergence of colored sanitary ware, more design options for the homeowner. In the latter half of the 20th century, the once popular clawfoot tub morphed into a built-in tub with a small apron front. Far from the ornate feet and luxury most associated with clawfoot tubs, an early Kohler example was advertised as a "horse trough/ hog scalder, when furnished with four legs will serve as a bathtub." The item's use as a hog scalder was considered a more important marketing point than its ability to function as a bathtub. Mott Iron Works, began successfully marketing porcelain enameled cast-iron bathtubs, a process that remains broadly the same to this day. The company, as well as others including Kohler Company and J. The Scottish-born inventor David Buick invented a process for bonding porcelain enamel to cast iron in the 1880s while working for the Alexander Manufacturing Company in Detroit. Early bathtubs in England tended to be made of cast iron, or even tin and copper with a face of paint applied that tended to peel with time. The design spread to England, where it found much popularity among the aristocracy, just as bathing was becoming increasingly fashionable. ![]() The clawfoot tub, which reached the apex of its popularity in the late 19th century, had its origins in the mid 18th century, when the ball and claw design originated in the Netherlands, possibly artistically inspired by the Chinese motif of a dragon holding a precious stone. Evidence of the earliest surviving personal sized bath tub was found on the Isle of Crete where a 1.5-metre (5 ft) long pedestal tub was found built from hardened pottery. Traditional bathtub (19th century) from ItalyÄocumented early plumbing systems for bathing go back as far as around 3300 BC with the discovery of copper water pipes beneath a palace in ancient Europe. ![]()
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