In 1772, Dr. Joseph Priestly first recognized that soda water was impregnated with carbonic acid gas. The first discovery was infusing water with carbon dioxide by placing water over a fermenting mash. The carbon dioxide given off by the yeast dissolved in pure water suspended ever top.
A Swedish chemist named Tobern Bergman produced artificial carbonated or mineral water in 1778. He is credited with inventing a generator for making soda water in volume.
Building on Priestly’s work, Professor Benjamin Silliman of Yale proposed that the medicinal effects of natural mineral waters could be mass produced and distributed on a commercial basis. In 1806 Silliman purchased a Nooth apparatus to infuse carbon dioxide in water. He began manufacturing and bottling small quantities in New Haven in 1806. Like many early soda fountains, Silliman's sold customers on the purported health benefits of carbonated water.
At the turn of the 19th century, chemists continued experimenting with methods of impregnating carbon dioxide gas in water. An early fountain was dispensing various homemade Vichy, Kissingen, and Apollinaris “seltzers” in New York by 1810; they were supposed to cure obesity.
Improvements of soda fountain continued until Charles Plinth invented the soda syphon in 1813. This syphon allowed portions of water to be dispensed, while retaining carbonation in the used portion.
Early fountains were probably the work of local craftsmen, since the first manufacturing firm, the John Matthews Company (New York), began a small-scale operation in 1832.
It was John Mathews a British born inventor that made soda-water drinking an industry. He created an apparatus to artificially carbonate water in quantities suitable for a drugstore or street vendor. John Matthews established his soda water manufacturing plant at 55 Gold Street, in New York City.
In the beginning, soda fountains were plains, gooseneck shaped spigots that dispensed unflavored carbonated water which purportedly had medicinal benefits.
Some early merchants, hoping to increase sales, decided to make their fountains more attractive, So, they began to dispense carbonated water from ornamental urns and decorative marble columns.
Taverns were very plentiful across the nation, serving rum, beer, and all manner of libations, but for the first time, John Matthews offered them some competition with his soda fountain. In addition to selling the air-charged waters to retail stores and drug stores, he also sold them full-sized soda fountains.
By 1875, there was a soda fountain in almost every city across America. The fountain was both an apparatus for advertising and dispensing what was commonly called soda water, and a gathering site for good soda and good times. In 1919, there were 126,00 soda fountains in the United States alone.
History of soda fountain in United States
