Everyday aesthetics 3 Tap Valve
Apparently evidence of taps or faucets goes back to Ancient Rome, Ancient Greece and even Knossos in Crete. That’s at least 1700 BC.
Most evidence though points to Ancient Rome where aqueducts were built to bring fresh water from the hills into the centre of the city. Thus the need for the next invention, the tap.
Water, one of the most precious requirements to life of all descriptions, but so much taken for granted. Without the valve mechanism to control the flow of water, the tap would be useless.
Hence the valve being an everyday essential and certainly deserves the importance of being considered an aesthetic.
I wouldn’t be able to run my bath or shower without the tap valve. I certainly wouldn’t be able to fill my kettle for my tea or coffee without the valve. My garden would dry out in a drought and many people across the world would die of thirst and dehydration, and there’s the real importance of the valve.
It’s certainly a feat of overlooked engineering and should be worth its value in gold yet it comes so cheap. This one I bought from Amazon but of course a valve can be obtained from anywhere that sells practical building materials. This one cost only GB£5.00.
Then there’s the story behind the single-handed water tap (or again faucet as this story is from the USA).
In 1937, Alfred M. Moen, a student from the University of Washington, innovated to create a single handed mixing faucet or water faucet with a single handle. This faucet functions to regulate the amount of water flow while adjusting the mixture of hot and cold water. This innovation created by Alfred Moen allows us to regulate and control the temperature of the water flow as desired, without having to make hot water flow and cold water flow out on different faucet handles.
However, Alfred Moen’s idea of a single handle water faucet was not immediately accepted by the faucet supplying manufacturers. It wasn’t until 1947, after World War II, when raw materials for brass and other materials were difficult to obtain due to the fact that supplies were focused on making weapons, that Alfred Moen found a manufacturer willing to produce his designs. In that year, Alfred Moen’s single-handle faucet sold 250 taps. The demand is increasing until finally Ravena Metal Products as a manufacturer produces water taps of up to 5,000 pcs per year. (source: https://vinilon.com/en/news_events/the-history-of-water-faucet)
So there you have it. The tap valve without which the everyday simple tap would be useless and no running water on demand in every household and building.
It certainly gets away from this …
Not to be taken for granted.
Everyday aesthetics 3 Tap Valve