When I was growing up, bottled water was not sold yet. In fact – my mom used to make our water bottles out of empty maple syrup containers. There are pictures of us at baseball games drinking out of our syrup bottles.
The main place that we used to drink from at school and on the road was at the “bubbler.” If this means something to you – you probably originate from Wisconsin or a few other states where drinking fountains are sometimes called “bubblers.”
The term bubbler comes from a Bubbler, a trademarked name for a drinking fountain product invented in 1888 by the Kohler Company, which is based in Kohler, Wisconsin. The original Bubbler shot water one inch straight into the air, creating the bubbling phenomenon that gave the product its name.
Later, this was redesigned to cause the water to arc, which made drinking from it easier. The Bubbler name was trademarked, so other companies made drinking fountains that had names like the “Gurgler” and the “Gusher.”
The name bubbler is reported to still be used in most of Wisconsin, Portland, OR where 20 Bubbler fountains were installed in the late 1800s, Rhode Island, in a couple of cities in Massachusetts, and in Australia.
I recently have been filling up my water bottle with tap water, since the water in my town is tested and has healthy results. I will refill at work and head over to the bubbler to fill it up – but since I am in in Ohio now, I have to say drinkinfgfountain if I say it out loud or people look at me funny.
Image Source:
www.offbeatoregon.com