In 1767 Englishman William Feetham patented the first mechanical shower. The system wasn’t a rip roaring success because as it was operated by a hand pump, making it only a step up from your servant pouring water over your head as seen thousands of years earlier – it also just recycled the same dirty water over and over again.

Feetham's indoor shower design, which was granted a patent, consisted of a basin, an overhead water tank, a chain, and a hand pump. The user had to use the hand pump to transport water from the basin to the tank and then pull a chain to release the water all at once from above.

Indoor plumbing was invented in late 19th Century, when people could easily use free-standing showers connected to a running water source. When was the first electric shower invented? By the 1960’s, tankless water heaters were invented with made modern showers – known as electric showers – available to the wider public in the UK.

Toward the end of the 19th century, indoor plumbing was invented. In England, it took longer for indoor plumbing to catch on. But later, many public baths had indoor showers. This indoor plumbing had free-standing showers linked to a running water source.

By the 1960s, the electric shower had debuted. In the 1980s, showers exploded in popularity and accessories like fancy showerheads hit the market for the first time. Today, showers are considered essential in most households and the technology has come a long way from its humble beginnings.