The Bathing Machine…
February 5, 2010It is unknown the precise inventor of this remarkable solution to a nagging problem, but the first recording was in 1736. John Setterington showed bathers utilizing the device, ‘The Bathing Machine’ at a beach in Scarborough in a sketch in 1776. In short order they were found everywhere throughout the UK, as well as in France, America, and as far away as Mexico. In 1750 Benjamin Beale is credited with the addition of a ‘tilt’ or large canvas hood that extended off the rear of the ‘machine’ for increased protection from prying eyes.
This description by Tobias Smollett in his 1771 novel The Expedition of Humphrey Clinker is excellent:
“Imagine to yourself a small, snug, wooden chamber, fixed upon a wheel-carriage, having a door at each end, and on each side a little window above, a bench below – The bather, ascending into this apartment by wooden steps, shuts himself in, and begins to undress, while the attendant yokes a horse to the end next the sea, and draws the carriage forwards, till the surface of the water is on a level with the floor of the dressing-room, then he moves and fixes the horse to the other end – The person within being stripped, opens the door to the sea-ward, where he finds the guide ready, and plunges headlong into the water – After having bathed, he re-ascends into the apartment, by the steps which had been shifted for that purpose, and puts on his clothes at his leisure, while the carriage is drawn back again upon the dry land.”
