The reason for the two converging streams of water is to provide a
"pyramid of water at the apex of the stream" while keeping the user's
mouth from touching the surfaces of the water-projector. This serves a
sanitary purpose while maximizing user satisfaction. Having used
old-style water fountains that shoot water from a single stream, I can
appreciate the difference; the two-stream system manages to get a
large amount of water into the user's mouth in a controlled fashion
without unpleasantly high water pressure, and (if the machine is in
proper adjustment) there is no need for the user's lips to touch the
hardware.
On the Web site of the Halsey Taylor Corporation, the inventor of the
two-stream drinking fountain, I found this information:
"In 1896, Halsey W. Taylor lost his father to typhoid fever caused by
contaminated water. Years later, as a plant superintendent for the
Packard Motor Car Company, Taylor noticed dysentery spreading quickly
through the workers, and again suspected drinking water.
These personal experiences inspired Halsey W. Taylor to dedicate his
life to providing a safe drink of water in public places. In 1912 he
developed the Puritan Sanitary Fountain and began producing it at the
original manufacturing site in Warren, Ohio.
The era soon brought the dawn of World War 1, and sanitary drinking
water in over crowded army camps was a major problem. Concerned,
Halsey Taylor had an idea for a bubbler that would provide a safer
drink, resulting in the development of the historic Double Bubbler™
which remains one of the industry's most important innovations ever.
It projects two separate streams that converge to form an abundant
pyramid of water at the apex of the stream, for a fuller, more
satisfying drink. The Double Bubbler™ was the first of many
innovations that helped to make Halsey Taylor the drinking fountain
and water cooler of choice for nearly a century."
Halsey Taylor: About Halsey Taylor
http://www.halseytaylor.com/about-ht.html
A similar explanation of the history and purpose of the two-stream
fountain is given by Plumbing & Mechanical Magazine:
"In 1896, Halsey W. Taylor lost his father to typhoid fever caused by
a contaminated water supply. This personal tragedy led the young
Taylor to dedicate his life to providing a safe, sanitary drink of
water in public places. His quest led to the invention of the Double
BubblerT, which projects two separate streams of water that converge
to provide a fuller and more satisfying drink. The Double Bubbler also
ensures that people drink far away from the actual projector.
Taylor founded the company that bears his name in 1912. He developed
his two-stream Mound building projector, as it was called then, for
the U. S. government during World War I. Soon after, in 1926, he
perfected and patented what is now known as the Double Bubbler."
Plumbing & Mechanical Magazine: Greatest Plumbing & Heating
Inventions(1900-1950)
http://www.pmmag.com/CDA/ArticleInformation/features/BNP__Features__Item/0,2379,6736,00.html
From "The Straight Dope," here's a portion of Cecil Adams's answer to
this question (Cecil is billed as "The World's Smartest Human Being,"
which may be partly hype, but he certainly does know quite a lot of
stuff.)
"...the Double Bubbler enables you to take in more water and less air
when you drink. As a result, you don't burp. Think of all the delicate
social negotiations you've been involved in that have gone awry
because of an ill-timed eructation (that's belch for you dropouts).
Had you been drinking from a Double Bubbler, that fat contract (job,
babe, whatever) might have been yours.
The Double Bubbler serves other purposes as well. You get less
spraying, presumably because the water slows down when the two streams
merge. The double streams also act as a sort of pressure regulator. If
the water pressure is unusually strong one day, a single-stream
fountain might give the unwary sipper a shot in the eye. When the twin
streams of the Double Bubbler meet, however, their upward momentums
tend to cancel out no matter how high the pressure gets.
One last thing. You know how kids like to hold their thumbs over the
bubbler to make the water spray all over the room? Halsey Taylor has a
way to deal with that too. Its fountains have an "anti-squirt groove"
consisting of a slot cut through the bubbler head just below the tip.
If some wisenheimer puts his thumb over the tip to try to make the
fountain squirt, the water merely dribbles harmlessly out the sides
through the anti-squirt groove..."
The Straight Dope: Archives
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_279.html
My Google search strategy:
"drinking fountains" + "two streams"
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=%22drinking+fountain%22+two+streams
Thanks for asking an interesting question! If anything further is
required, please ask for clarification before rating my answer.
Best regards,
pinkfreud |
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