Mystery Antique Plumbing Fixture In My (Former) High School Gym, Class Of ’77.
These plumbing fixtures are original equipment installed in a high school gym that was built about 1942. My late aunt was in high school when the gym was built. These fixtures have been there from the beginning. They are installed at the end of the basketball court, just outside the entrance to the girl’s locker room, over the fine wooden floor. An identical pair are installed outside the boy’s locker room, but I don’t have a picture of them as they are boarded over (I presume because they don’t work/can’t find parts).
In the pictures, the fixture on the right is obviously your standard water fountain, and it still works (as of 2022)!
The fixture on the left is a mystery, at least to me. The left faucet currently doesn’t work or I would have posted a video showing what it does. When it was working, it would fan spray water on the back wall of the fountain. But for what purpose? That’s the big mystery.
I always thought the sprayer was reminiscent of a dentist’s spit sink. But again, why install a spit sink? It’s adjacent to a “normal” water fountain. If you wanted to swish and spit after 15 minutes of basketball, wouldn’t a typical high school student just spit back into the water fountain sink?
The ceramic was cast specifically with this type of sink in mind. Just as the ceramic water fountain to the right was cast with “water fountain” in mind, the sink on the left was cast with “spit sink(?)” in mind. These ceramics are not interchangeable.
I searched for “water fountain spitting” on the web. Apparently that was strongly discouraged, way more than it is now.
I also came across “Spit Spreads Death” exhibit at the Mutter Museum ( https://muttermuseum.org/exhibitions/spit-spreads-death ). The people paying for the high school in 1942 lived through the Spanish Flu pandemic. That may have influenced their decision to install spit sinks.
You’ll notice in the pictures that the manufacturer of the ceramics is Standard. I don’t know if the “Standard Plumbing Supply” on the internet is the same company. That would be great if this is the same company because they might have old catalogs, archives, or even a plumbing museum that might shine light on this.
Any antique plumbing fixture experts out there? Did they really install two spit sinks in a high school gym to discourage students from spitting in the water fountain? I’m only guessing here. Do you have a definitive answer?
View from the left
View from the center
View from the right
Sprayer
Handle
My brother says the purpose of the second sink is to stick your head under the fan spray to cool down. Personally, I don't think the high school administrators had that in mind when they had these sinks installed.
Looks like an eyewash station? I am a generalist tradeswoman at a university founded in 1853 in the US. We have lots of old fixtures from the 30s+ I’m guessing eyewash station. I’ll ask around though
If you had something in your eye, I think it would be too hard to press your face under the fan spray (my nose would get in the way). It would be much easier to put your eyes in the water fountain stream.
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I think it was for washing out your eyes if you had something in them. It looks heavily corroded so maybe it was meant to spray down, and not toward the back?
Both of them (all those decades ago when they still worked) sprayed onto the back wall, and with quite a lot of water. If it sprayed straight down without hitting the wall, there would be too much splashing.
Load More Replies... My brother says the purpose of the second sink is to stick your head under the fan spray to cool down. Personally, I don't think the high school administrators had that in mind when they had these sinks installed.
Looks like an eyewash station? I am a generalist tradeswoman at a university founded in 1853 in the US. We have lots of old fixtures from the 30s+ I’m guessing eyewash station. I’ll ask around though
If you had something in your eye, I think it would be too hard to press your face under the fan spray (my nose would get in the way). It would be much easier to put your eyes in the water fountain stream.
Load More Replies... I think it was for washing out your eyes if you had something in them. It looks heavily corroded so maybe it was meant to spray down, and not toward the back?
Both of them (all those decades ago when they still worked) sprayed onto the back wall, and with quite a lot of water. If it sprayed straight down without hitting the wall, there would be too much splashing.
Load More Replies...
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