Waterbeds

Something you don’t hear much about anymore are waterbeds. Back in the 1970s and maybe early 80s they were fairly popular. Claire’s sister had waterbeds and when visited, we slept on one. Actually, that’s the only time I ever slept on a waterbed. This subject came up the other day when we were discussing things that were once popular but have pretty much just faded away today.

But since I haven’t been terribly busy lately, I thought I’d look into waterbeds….
I found that there is evidence that the Persians slept on goat skins filled with water more than 3,600 years ago — so, I guess the waterbed was actually invented in Persia. 

But in the early 1800s, Neil Arnott (a Scottish physician) invented something called the Hydrostatic Bed — it was basically a trough of water covered with a rubber cloth. It was designed to prevent bedsores. 
The first patent for a waterbed was issued to Dr. William Hooper, of Portsmouth, England, in 1883. His bed resembled a giant hot-water bottle and it turned out to be cold and leaky and it was a complete commercial flop. The first successful waterbed wasn’t produced until the invention of durable, water-proof fibers, like vinyl, came along.

But for some reason, the waterbed has gone the way of the typewriter….I’ve heard you can make a waterbed more bouncy if you use spring water — maybe if the bed manufacturers had pushed that a little harder, they’d still be in business.
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