A bath (pronounced /ˈbɑːθ/ or /ˈbæθ/), bathtub (AmE American English is a set of dialects of the English language used mostly in the United States. Approximately two thirds of native speakers of English live in the United States), or tub (informal Slang is the use of informal words and expressions that are not considered standard in the speaker's dialect or language. Slang is often to be found in areas of the lexicon that refer to things considered taboo . It is also used to identify with one's peers) is a plumbing fixture Tapware is an industry term for that sub-category of plumbing fixtures consisting of water taps or faucets (American English) and their accessories such as water spouts and shower heads used for bathing Bathing is the immersion of the body in a fluid, usually water or an aqueous solution. It may be practised for hygiene, religious or therapeutic purposes or as a recreational activity. Most modern bathtubs are made of acrylic Chemically, it is the synthetic polymer of methyl methacrylate. It is sold under many trade names, including Policril, Plexiglas, Gavrieli, Vitroflex, Limacryl, R-Cast, Per-Clax, Perspex, Plazcryl, Acrylex, Acrylite, Acrylplast, Altuglas, Polycast, Oroglass, Optix and Lucite and is commonly called acrylic glass, simply acrylic, perspex or or fiberglass Fiberglass, , is material made from extremely fine fibers of glass. It is used as a reinforcing agent for many polymer products; the resulting composite material, properly known as fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) or glass-reinforced plastic (GRP), is called "fiberglass" in popular usage. Glassmakers throughout history have experimented, but alternatives are available in enamel In a discussion of material science, enamel is the colorful result of fusing powdered glass to a substrate by firing, usually between 750 and 850 degrees Celsius. The powder melts and flows and hardens to a smooth, durable vitreous coating on metal, glass or ceramic. According to some sources, the word enamel comes from the High German word over steel Steel is an alloy that consists mostly of iron and has a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight, depending on the grade. Carbon is the most common alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used, such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten. Carbon and other elements act as a hardening agent, preventing or cast iron Cast iron usually refers to grey iron, but also identifies a large group of ferrous alloys, which solidify with a eutectic. The colour of a fractured surface can be used to identify an alloy. White cast iron is named after its white surface when fractured, due to its carbide impurities which allow cracks to pass straight through. Grey cast iron is, and occasionally waterproof finished wood Wood is a hard, fibrous tissue found in many plants. It has been used for centuries for both fuel and as a construction material for several types of living areas such as houses. It is an organic material, a natural composite of cellulose fibers embedded in a matrix of lignin which resists compression. In the strict sense wood is produced as. A bathtub is usually placed in a bathroom A bathroom is a room that may have different functions depending on the culturalist context. In the most literal sense, the word bathroom means "a room with a bath". Because the traditional bathtubs have partly made way for modern showers, including steam showers, the more general definition is "a room where one bathes". There either as a stand-alone fixture or in conjunction with a shower A shower is an area in which one bathes underneath a spray of water. People very commonly use soap and shampoo while showering.

Modern bathtubs have overflow and waste drains and may have taps A tap is a valve controlling release of liquids or gas. In the British Isles and most of the Commonwealth, the word is used for any everyday type of valve, particularly the fittings that control water supply to bathtubs and sinks. In the U.S., the term "tap" is more often used for beer taps, cut-in connections, or wiretapping, with the mounted on them. They may be built-in or free standing or sometimes sunken. Until recently, most bathtubs were roughly rectangular in shape but with the advent of acrylic thermoformed Thermoforming is a manufacturing process where a plastic sheet is heated to a pliable forming temperature, formed to a specific shape in a mold, and trimmed to create a usable product. The sheet, or "film" when referring to thinner gauges and certain material types, is heated in an oven to a high-enough temperature that it can be baths, more shapes are becoming available. Bathtubs are commonly white in colour although many other colours can be found. The process for enamelling In a discussion of material science, enamel is the colorful result of fusing powdered glass to a substrate by firing, usually between 750 and 850 degrees Celsius. The powder melts and flows and hardens to a smooth, durable vitreous coating on metal, glass or ceramic. According to some sources, the word enamel comes from the High German word cast iron Cast iron usually refers to grey iron, but also identifies a large group of ferrous alloys, which solidify with a eutectic. The colour of a fractured surface can be used to identify an alloy. White cast iron is named after its white surface when fractured, due to its carbide impurities which allow cracks to pass straight through. Grey cast iron is bathtubs was invented by the Scottish Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the southwest. In addition to the mainland, Scotland born American ^ b. English is the de facto language of American government and the sole language spoken at home by 80% of Americans age five and older. Spanish is the second most commonly spoken language David Dunbar Buick.

Two main styles of bathtub are common:

• Western-style bathtubs in which the bather lies down. These baths are typically shallow and long.
• Eastern style bathtubs in which the bather sits up. These are known as ofuro in Japan and are typically short and deep.

Clawfoot Tub

The clawfoot tub or claw-foot tub was considered a luxury item in the late 19th century^[1], modern technology has contributed to a drop in the price of clawfoot tubs. Clawfoot tubs usually require more water than a standard bathtub. While true antique clawfoot tubs are still considered collectible items, new reproduction clawfoot tubs are chosen by remodellers and new home builders.^[2]

Clawfoot tubs come in 5 major styles:

• Classic Roll Rim, Roll Top, or Flat Rim tubs as seen in the picture above.
• Slipper tubs - where one end is raised and sloped creating a more comfortable lounging position.
• Double Slipper Tubs - where both ends are raised and sloped.
• Double Ended Tubs - where both ends of the tub are rounded. Notice how one end of the classic tub is rounded and one is fairly flat.
• Pedestal Tub - Pedestal tubs, unlike all the styles listed above, do not have claw feet. The tub rests on a pedestal in what most would term an art deco style. Evidence of pedestal tubs dates back to the Isle of Crete in 1000 BC.

Baby bathtub

A baby bathtub is one used for bathing infants, especially those not yet old enough to sit up on their own. These can be either a small, stand-alone bath that is filled with water from another source, or a device for supporting the baby that is placed in a standard bathtub. Both types are designed to allow the baby to recline while keeping its head out of the water.

Hot tubs

Hot tubs A hot tub is a large home-made or manufactured tub or small pool full of heated water and used for soaking, relaxation, massage, or hydrotherapy. In most cases, they have jets for massage purposes. Hot tubs are usually located outdoors, and are often sheltered for protection from the elements, as well as for privacy. Other variants in naming are common heated pools used for relaxation and sometimes for therapy. The "hippie" era (1950–1970) popularized them in America in songs and movies.

Whirlpool tubs

Whirlpool tubs first became popular in America during the 1960s and 70s. A spa The term spa is associated with water treatment which is also known as balneotherapy. Spa towns or spa resorts typically offer various health treatments. The belief in the curative powers of mineral waters goes back to prehistoric times. Such practices have been popular worldwide, but are especially widespread in Europe and Japan. Day spas are is also called a "jacuzzi" since the word became a generic after plumbing component manufacturer Jacuzzi Jacuzzi is a company that produces whirlpool bathtubs and spas. Its first product was a bath with massaging jets introduced the "Spa Whirlpool" in 1968. Air bubbles may be introduced into the nozzles A nozzle is a mechanical device designed to control the direction or characteristics of a fluid flow as it exits an enclosed chamber or pipe via an orifice via an air-bleed venturi pump An aspirator, also called an eductor-jet pump or filter pump, is a device that produces vacuum by means of the Venturi effect. In an aspirator, fluid flows through a tube which then narrows. When the tube narrows, the fluid's speed increases, and because of the Venturi effect, its pressure decreases. Vacuum is taken from this point.

History of bathing

Documented early plumbing systems for bathing go back as far as around 3300 BC with the discovery of copper water pipes beneath a palace in the Indus Valley Civilization The Indus Valley Civilization was a Bronze Age civilization (3300–1300 BCE; mature period 2600–1900 BCE) which was centred mostly in the western part of the Indian Subcontinent and which flourished around the Indus river basin.[n 1] Primarily centered along the Indus and the Punjab region, the civilization extended into the Ghaggar-Hakra River of ancient India The history of India begins with evidence of human activity of Homo sapiens as long as 75,000 years ago hominids from about 500,000 years ago. The Indus Valley Civilization, which spread and flourished in the north-western part of the Indian subcontinent from c. 3300 to 1300 BCE, was the first major civilization in India. A sophisticated and. Evidence of the earliest surviving personal sized bath tub was found on the Isle of Crete Crete is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea at 8,336 km2 (3,219 sq mi). Crete is one of the 13 peripheries of Greece and covers the same area as the Greek region of Crete from before the 1987 administrative reform. It forms a significant part of the economy and cultural heritage where a 5-foot (1.5 m) long pedestal tub was found built from hardened pottery. This tub is the most likely forefather of the classic 19th century clawfoot tub.

The Roman Empire The Roman Empire was the post-Republican phase of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean. The term is used to describe the Roman state during and after the time of the first emperor, Augustus is most widely known as the early champions of bathing. Around 500 BC Roman citizens were encouraged to bathe daily in one of the many public baths. Private bathing rooms were far more ornate and typically would resemble shallow swimming pools that encompassed the entire room. The Romans used marble for the tubs, lead and bronze for pipes, and created a complex sewage system Sewage collection and disposal systems transport sewage through cities and other inhabited areas to sewage treatment plants to protect public health and prevent disease. Sewage is treated to control water pollution before discharge to surface waters for sanitation purposes. The Roman empire set the early bar for modern personal hygiene.

Contrary to popular belief, bathing and sanitation were not a lost practice with the collapse of the Roman Empire. Soapmaking SOAP, originally defined as Simple Object Access Protocol, is a protocol specification for exchanging structured information in the implementation of Web Services in computer networks. It relies on eXtensible Markup Language as its message format, and usually relies on other Application Layer protocols (most notably Remote Procedure Call (RPC) and first became an established trade during the Early Middle Ages The Early Middle Ages was the period of European history lasting from the 5th century to approximately 1000. The Early Middle Ages followed the collapse of the Western Roman Empire and preceded the High Middle Ages . The period saw a continuation of trends begun during the decline of the Roman Empire, including population decline, especially in. Also, contrary to myth, chamberpots were not disposed of out the window and into streets in the Middle Ages - this was instead a Roman practice. Bathing in fact did not fall out of fashion until shortly after the Renaissance The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Florence in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historic era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not uniform across Europe, this is a general use of the, replaced with the heavy use of sweat-bathing and perfume Perfume is a mixture of fragrant essential oils and aroma compounds, fixatives, and solvents used to give the human body, animals, objects, and living spaces a pleasant scent . The odoriferous compounds that make up a perfume can be manufactured synthetically or extracted from plant or animal sources, as it was thought that water could carry disease into the body through the skin. Modern sanitation was not widely adopted until the 19th and 20th centuries.

The bathtub's modern spouse, the toilet A toilet is a plumbing fixture primarily intended for the disposal of human excreta: urine and fecal matter. Additionally, vomit and menstrual waste are sometimes disposed of in toilets in Western societies. The word toilet describes the fixture and, especially in British English, the room containing the fixture. In American English, the latter is, had problems gaining acceptance. Sir John Harington John Harington (August 4, 1561 – November 20, 1612) of Kelston was a courtier, author and master of art. He became a prominent member of Queen Elizabeth I's court, and was known as her 'saucy Godson'. But because of his poetry and other writings, he fell in and out of favour with the Queen, as well as with her successor, James I invented the first flushing toilet for himself and for his godmother, Queen Elizabeth I Elizabeth I was Queen regnant of England and Queen regnant of Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called the Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty. The daughter of Henry VIII, she was born a princess, but her mother, Anne Boleyn, was executed two and a half, in 1596. When Harington published a book describing his invention, he was roundly chided by peers, embarrassing him to the point of retirement from plumbing. His two toilets were the only ones he ever produced. The next water closet A flush toilet is a toilet that disposes of human waste by using water to flush it through a drainpipe to another location. Flushing mechanisms are found more often on western toilets , but many squat toilets also are made for automated flushing. Modern toilets incorporate an 'S','U', 'J', or 'P' shaped bend that causes the water in the toilet would not be seen for 200 years when it was introduced by Alexander Cummings in 1775. This event would mark the very beginnings of the modern bathroom.

It was now time for the piping to catch up with the fixtures. Until the 19th century, most water pipes in the US were made from hollow trees. In the early 1800s, cast-iron production began reducing American reliance on England for this material. Finally, in 1848, The National Public Health Act was passed in the US, creating a plumbing code for the first time.

In 1883, Standard Sanitary Manufacturing Company and Kohler Company The Kohler Company is a manufacturing company in Kohler, Wisconsin best known for its plumbing products. Kohler also manufactures furniture, cabinetry, tile, engines, and generators began producing cast-iron bathtubs. 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 hog scalder was considered a more important marketing point than its ability to function as a bathtub. Everyone knew what a hog scalder or horse trough was, but many people at that time had never bathed in a tub. The tubs eventually caught on because of the sanitary and easy-to-clean surfaces that prevent the spread of disease.

A few years later, Thomas Twyford created the first valveless toilet constructed from ceramic A ceramic is an inorganic, non-metallic solid prepared by the action of heat and subsequent cooling. Ceramic materials may have a crystalline or partly crystalline structure, or may be amorphous . Because most common ceramics are crystalline, the definition of ceramic is often restricted to inorganic crystalline materials, as opposed to the non-. Before this time, toilets were normally made from metal and wood. Thomas Crapper would gain fame as the inventor of the modern toilet when he bought the rights to a patent for a "Silent Valveless Water Waste Preventer", but he did not invent the toilet.

The bathing world was rocked by controversy when a completely inaccurate account of bathing and bathtub history was published by H.L. Mencken Henry Louis "H. L." Mencken , was an American journalist, essayist, magazine editor, satirist, acerbic critic of American life and culture, and a student of American English. Mencken, known as the "Sage of Baltimore", is regarded as one of the most influential American writers and prose stylists of the first half of the 20th in 1917. What began as a light attempt at humor ended up being adopted by the public and even reputable publications. While perhaps good reading, Mencken's account of laws prohibiting bathing, and much more, is not true.

The end of World War I World War I was a military conflict that lasted from 1914 to 1918 and involved most of the world's great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Allies and the Central Powers. More than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilized in one of the largest wars in history. More than 15 million people were resulted in a housing construction boom in the United States and a new conception of the purpose-built modern bathroom. Bathrooms prior to World War I were typically converted bedrooms or spare rooms, not rooms built originally to contain bathroom fixtures. Complete with toilet, sink, and tub, the modern bathroom was a feature of 100% of new homes by the end of the 20th century, whereas only 1% of homes had had bathrooms in 1921.

In the latter half of the 20th century, the once popular clawfoot tub morphed into a built-in tub with a small apron front. This enclosed style afforded easier maintenance and, with the emergence of colored sanitary ware, more design options for the homeowner. The Crane Company introduced colored bathroom fixtures to the US market in 1928, and slowly this influx of design options and easier cleaning and care led to the near demise of clawfoot-style tubs.

Firestopping a bathtub drain

If the bathtub is located in a building Buildings come in a wide amount of shapes and functions, and have been adapted throughout history for a wide number of factors, from building materials available, to weather conditions, to land prices, ground conditions, specific uses and aesthetic reasons with multiple stories, where the floors are required to have a fire-resistance rating A fire-resistance rating typically means the duration for which a passive fire protection system can withstand a standard fire resistance test. This can be quantified simply as a measure of time, or it may entail a host of other criteria, involving other evidence of functionality or fitness for purpose, the drain from the bathtub causes a service penetration firestop A firestop is a passive fire protection system of various components used to seal openings and joints in fire-resistance rated wall and/or floor assemblies, based on fire testing and certification listings to be required, which must be built in accordance with the provisions of the local building code A building code, or building control, is a set of rules that specify the minimum acceptable level of safety for constructed objects such as buildings and nonbuilding structures. The main purpose of building codes are to protect public health, safety and general welfare as they relate to the construction and occupancy of buildings and structures. Originally, the drain pipe A pipe is round tubular section or hollow cylinder used mainly to convey media. It can also be used for structural applications. In layman's terms the appellations pipe and tube are almost interchangeable, but in industry and engineering discipline the terms are uniquely defined. Depending on the applicable standard to which it is manufactured, is made of copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (Latin: cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is rather soft and malleable, and a freshly exposed surface has a pinkish or peachy color. It is used as a thermal conductor, an electrical conductor, a building material, and a, which is non-combustible. Since the pipe itself will not give way in the event of a fire Fire is the rapid oxidation of a material in the chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction products. Slower oxidative processes like rusting or digestion are not included by this definition, the firestop can be made of conventional means, such as firestop mortar Firestop mortars are most typically used to firestop large openings in walls and floors required to have a fire-resistance rating. They are passive fire protection items. Firestop mortars most often exhibit densities near 1 kg/L. This makes the product easy enough to handle, yet heavy enough to absorb a lot of heat from penetrants, to keep the or silicone Silicones are inert, synthetic compounds with a wide variety of forms and uses. Typically heat-resistant and rubber-like, they are commonly used in cookware, medical applications, sealants, adhesives, lubricants, insulation, and breast implants sealant, each topping off a packing material. If the pipe were made of plastic, however, the firestop would likely involve intumescent materials, which would expand in the event of a fire, in order to choke off and seal the melting and disappearing plastic pipe.

See also

• Accessible bathtub
• Bathroom
• Bathtub hoax
• Hot tub
• Jacuzzi
• Sauna
• Steam shower
• Turkish baths
• Walk-in bathtub

References

1. ^ "Quick and Easy Guide to Clawfoot Bathtubs". http://www.hihut.com/quick-and-easy-guide-to-clawfoot-bathtubs.html. Retrieved 2009-12-13.
2. ^ 5 Points to Ponder When Choosing a Clawfoot Tub

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