The earliest plumbing systems ever discovered date back nearly 6000 years to the Indus River Valley in India where copper water pipes were excavated from the ruins of a palace. Fast forward 3000 years to the island of Crete where the ancestor of a pedestal tub was unearthed--five feet long, made of hard pottery, its shape resembling the 19Th century claw foot tub.Up until the 1800's in the U.S., most water pipes were made of hollowed trees. Cast iron pipe imported from England had one of its first installations in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. By the early 1800's, cast iron production began domestically in New Jersey. In 1848, the National Public Health Act was passed creating a plumbing code for the U.S.
Almost simultaneously in 1883, both the Standard Sanitary Manufacturing Company (now American Standard) and Kohler began the process of enameling cast iron bathtubs to form a smooth interior surface. Kholer's first claw foot tub was advertised as a "horse trough/hog scalder, when furnished with four legs will serve as a bathtub." These tubs soon became mass-produced as they were recognized as having an extremely sanitary surface that was easy to clean, thus preventing the spread of bacteria and diseases.
As most of you know, "the man" and myself have been renovating this ol' homestead for three years now. When we will finish this project, is any one's guess. However, we did recently install a gorgeous claw foot tub in the partially/new/old bathroom. I say partially, because we only have a smidgen of tile layed, a tub on top of that, new paint above that, new bead board on the wall...........and that's it! The remainder of the bathroom is still in the works..........hmmmm. Anyway, I bought this tub two and a half years ago for "the man." Because we were trying to keep the dignity of the 1925 homestead intact, he wanted a claw foot, so I bought him one.
Now this tub has housed baby chicks, baby ducks, wool, dirt and who knows what else. However, a good scrubbin', new paint, new hardware, and we're ready to bathe. After finally installing the tub, checking for any plumbing leaks, etc. I was ready to fill er' up and hop in. Now this is were the story gets real interesting......................I pour a glass of chardonnay, ease into the nice, hot water, lie back and commend "the man" on his superb installation job. That's when it happened...............the tub went backwards, water sloshed all over the floor, and I'm hollerin' at "the man" to HELP ME!!!! He pulls me out of the tub, and tries to upright, the now downhill tub................full of water mind you. Somehow, ten minutes or so later we get it upright again, seems one of the ol' claws decided to hop right off that tub. My pride is bruised (literally), I'm wet, humiliated, naked..............holding my glass of Chardonnay.................when "the man" turns to me and says......................"nice save on the wine babe."
