Enamelled cast-iron bathtub
Bañera de hierro fundido esmaltado
- Date
- 1883 · confidence medium
- Place
- Sheboygan, Wisconsin, United States
- Credited to
- John Michael Kohler
- Field
- Tools
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
A cast-iron bathtub with a fired enamel coating, glossy, non-porous and easy to clean. It began with enamelling a horse trough and a hog scalder, which was sold as a bath.
Cast-iron tubs existed before 1880 in Europe and the United States; Kohler's contribution is the enamelled one the company popularised, and the 'trough turned bathtub' story is corporate tradition.
What it led to
- the fixed bathtub in the home bathroom
- enamelled fixtures such as washbasins and toilets
- acrylic and enamelled steel tubs in the 20th century