It would be nice to know how many people had the idea of inventing a
water heater, tried and failed or gave up before completing it. There is no record written about any of them, but history attributes the invention of the first water heater to a man from England who was not an engineer or an inventor. In 1868, Benjamin Maugham –who was a décor painter by profession–, patented the first water heater and called it the Gas Geyser. What were his reasons for calling it a Gas Geyser? One could speculate that his first prototype made so much noise when the gas burner ignited, that it may have reminded him of a geyser.
His boiler was made of cast iron and fuelled by natural gas. The gas geyser would heat the water from the mains, which was stored in a hot water tank. When the faucet opened, the hot water would come out into the tub. His was a wonderful idea that was meant to modernize the bathing system of his days.
But although everyone wanted to have a water heater and the commodity that it implied for their hygiene and comfort, rumors went out that it wasn’t safe. The water from the boiler was very hot and could scald the bather as it did not have a temperature regulator. Mothers did not want their children to take that risk. Another inconvenient of Maugham´s gas geyser was not having a ventilation system. The dangerous combustion gases could become a serious hazard by inadvertently being dispersed inside the bathroom. Maugham must have felt very disappointed when he realized that his great invention was not safe enough to be commercialized. After all, Maugham was not an engineer and could not foresee all those complications: He was more like an idea man, an artist or a visionary. He gets the historical recognition of having been the first person to invent and patent the combi boiler.
Maugham must have already been deceased when Edwin Ruud, 21 years later, heard about his Gas Geyser and decided to do something about it. Ruud was a remarkable engineer from Norway who had emigrated to the US with his family. He studied the Gas Geyser prototype, made some changes and improvements, took care of all the safety glitches, and finally patented a successful automatic storage water heater, or –as it is called nowadays—a combi boiler.
Ruud´s combi boilers were cast iron gas heaters with a copper heat exchanger incorporated. A valve turned on the heater´s burners when the water faucet was opened, and hot water was instantly delivered into the bathtub or sink.
Ruud´s boiler became successful and in much demand. Only ten years after, the Ruud Manufacturing Company was opened in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It became the leader in water heating products and is still operative nowadays.
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