die S 
A 
Novel Hot - Water Apparatus 
FOR 
Rain or Douche Baths. 
BY 
WM. PAUL GERHARD, C. E. 
Consulting Engineer for Sanitary Works 
NEWYORK, N. Y. 
1894. [Reprinted from the American Architect of June 2, 1894.] 
S. J. PARKHILL & CO., PRINTERS, 222 FRANKLIN STREET, BOSTON. A Novel Hot-water Apparatus for Rain 
or Douche Baths. 
IN my recent article on “ The Modern Rain-bath I referred, in 
speaking of the hot-water arrangements for bathing purposes, to a 
novel and ingenious form of hot-water apparatus. This is called 
a “ Gegenstrom Apparat,” and it is now extensively used in Germany. 
It is invented and patented by Mr. Schaffstaedt, of Giessen, Ger- 
many. 
The water is heated in this apparatus by means of high or low 
pressure, or by exhaust steam, and the apparatus derives its name 
from its special construction, it being so arranged that the cold water 
and steam travel in opposite directions (Gegenstrom) without at all 
mixing together. 
The Figures, 1 and 2, show a section and elevation of a small size of 
this heater. The cold water enters at a and travels upward in the 
direction of the arrow, while steam enters at b and travels downward, 
issuing in a condensed form at outlet c, which may be connected with 
the return steam-pipes. Pipe d carries the warm water to the douche 
e, which is placed inclined at a proper height above the bather. The 
water and steam cocks are designated by letters / and g, and a hot- 
water thermometer is placed at h. 
The object of the apparatus is to heat water instantaneously to any 
desired temperature by means of steam, without the latter passing 
through the water. This it accomplishes thoroughly; the water is uni- 
formly heated and the apparatus works without any noise whatever. 
1 Published in the American Architect of February 10, 1894. 4 
It is so simple, and at the same time so efficient in construction, 
that the writer, with the approval of the medical superintendent, of 
the Utica State Hospital, has adopted and ordered for its new bath- 
house now in course of construction, four heaters, each capable of 
supplying warm water for twelve douches, each discharging, on an 
average, about two and a half or three gallons per minute of warm 
water heated to 100° Fahrenheit. These will be the first “ Gegen- 
strom ” apparatus put in actual use in the United States. 
In this apparatus, as is clearly seen in the illustration, the water 
and steam valves are so arranged that it is impossible to turn on the 
steam without first turning on the water. Moreover, the amount of 
heating-surface is so calculated and adjusted in all apparatus con- 
structed specially for bath purposes, that for a certain constant 
pressure and temperature of steam, the temperature of the warm 
water will not exceed 110° Fahrenheit, when all the douches for 
which the apparatus is calculated are running simultaneously. 
All similar appliances for warming water by direct admixture of 
steam are open to the objection that it is impossible, owing to 
changes in the water and steam pressure, to control exactly the 
temperature of the warm water. Sometimes the steam is not com- 
pletely condensed, and, as a result, the bather may be scalded by 
particles of steam escaping with the water. Moreover, all mixing- 
valves for steam and water cause more or less disagreeable noises, 
and often the water becomes impregnated with a peculiar odor, or else 
it is rendered somewhat impure by admixture of oil from the steam- 
pipes. The chief advantages claimed for the “ Gegenstrom ” appar- 
atus are the following: 
1. It accomplishes the instant warming of any quantity of water to 
any desired temperature; that is, by turning on both the cold water 
and the steam, the water which is admitted cold is discharged as 
warm water at the douche or at the nozzle; hence this apparatus 
effects a saving in time. 
2. It also saves the first cost of a hot-water reservoir or boiler, 
because no such reservoir is needed; the space needed for the usual 
hot-water tank can be appropriated for other uses. 
3. It saves fuel, because there is no heat wasted as is the case with 
hot-water reservoirs. 
4. The warm water generated by this method has no bad smell or 
bad taste, and is not in any way rendered impure. Fig. I. 
The Gegenstrom Apparatus : small size. 
Fig. 2. 6 
5. The apparatus works perfectly noiselessly, because water and 
steam do not come in contact with each other. 
6. The apparatus is perfectly safe and free from the danger of 
inflicting scaldings. 
7. The apparatus is capable of perfect regulation, and gives 
instantly hot water of any desired temperature (limited to 110° 
Fahrenheit in those apparatus which are constructed specially for 
bathing purposes). 
8. The apparatus is exceedingly economical in actual use, because 
it does away with hot-water tanks, and the corresponding amount of 
piping and a double set of valves or faucets. It requires only four 
connections, viz.: two steam, a supply and return connection, and two 
water, the cold-water inlet and the warm-water outlet, connections 
to the douche or the tub, as the case may be. 
The Gegenstrom Apparatus is manufactured in various sizes and 
capacities. For smaller rain-bath establishments, and wherever it is 
contemplated to allow each bather to regulate the water himself, the 
smallest size, as shown in Figures 1 and 2, is used and each apparatus 
supplies but one nozzle or douche. 
In larger establishments, and wherever it is desired to bathe a 
number of people together and as quickly as possible, it is better to 
fit up the larger sizes of the apparatus, capable of supplying warm 
water to two, four, six, eight, ten, twelve, or twenty douches, and in 
this case the apparatus is controlled by some attendant and not by 
each bather individually. 
The illustrations, Figures 3 and 4, show a front and a side elevation 
of one of the apparatus used in the Utica State Hospital rain-baths, 
designed to supply twelve douches. A is the cold-water-supplv 
connection inlet, B the steam-supply and inlet, C the warm-water 
connection or outlet leading to the douches, D the steam return con- 
nection for the condensed steam, E and F are the water and steam 
valves and G is a hot-water thermometer. 
A modification of the apparatus is suitable wherever large quantities 
of boiling or hot water are needed for washing or other purposes. A 
further modification of the same apparatus constitutes an economical 
and efficient feed-water heater for steam boilers. 
After what I said in my previous article concerning the adaptation 
of douche or rain-baths, it is obvious that the “ Gegenstrom ” appa- 
ratus is suitable for a great many purposes. In fact, wherever steam Front Ft vfw on. 
Jmtuv/nwN. 
Counter-stream Apparatus for warming Water by Steam suitable for twelve douches 
as used at the State Hospital, Utica, N. Y. (Schaffstaedt Patent.) 
Fig. 3. 
Fig. 4. 8 
is available it may be considered one of the most reliable, cheapest, 
and most economical apparatus for heating water of which 1 have 
knowledge. The Gegenstrom apparatus is, therefore, applicable to 
public or people’s baths, whether the same be fitted up with bath-tubs 
or with rain-baths or with swimming-baths; it will also be particularly 
adapted in the case of hot mineral-baths, because with this apparatus 
the mineral water can be heated without losing any of its component 
parts. The apparatus will likewise be adapted for rain-baths in 
factories, manufacturing establishments, schools, hospitals and insti- 
tutions. A modification of the same is applicable for heating water 
for washing and scrubbing purposes. 
It can be used on board of ocean steamships or vessels of the Navy 
for rain or tub baths for the passengers, officers and sailors, and for 
boiling water for making coffee, or tea, or other hot drinks, or for 
washing purposes, particularly in the emigrants’ quarters. In hos- 
pitals, prisons, asylums, and other public institutions, as well as in 
hotels, one form of the apparatus can be used for baths and another 
for heating water for kitchen and household service. In breweries 
and malt-houses it will be useful in connection with the cleaning of 
vats, kegs and barrels. In slaughter-houses or abattoirs, where large 
quantities of hot water are used for flushing and cleaning the floors 
of the buildings, in gas-works and numerous other industries the 
“ Gegenstrom ” apparatus may be used with advantage.