Barely a trickle or blasting higher than a geyser, there are few inanimate objects as surprising as school drinking fountains.  If you were lucky enough to have the “geyser” version, after being christened by the inaugural blast of water, you didn’t have to bend your head that low again.  Those with the trickle had to worry about the lips of others having been on parts of the faucet and, no doubt, there were concerns over discarded gum and other… “things.”

Drinking fountains ever serve as gathering places, purposefully or accidentally.  Drinking fountain lines often procured the kind of banter reminiscent of the water cooler, except, it had to be done between classes, before or after lunch and recess, and if there was enough time to make it to the school bus, after school.

The history of the drinking fountain goes back almost 120 years to the Kohler Company.  They’d already been producing water faucets, and came up with the drinking fountain design, naming it “The Bubbler.”  The Bubbler shot water one scant inch into the air and made bubbles with it.  The concept gained a lot of momentum, and soon other companies had their own version of The Bubbler with exciting names like “The Gurgler” and “The Gusher.”  One could only imagine the jokes kids would come up with for names like those!

Alas, the Bubbler, the Gurgler and the Gusher are remnants of our past; from a time and place when new and exciting inventions had to come with equally new and exciting names.  If made today, perhaps we’d see monikers like iWater or e-Drink.  Ah... but luckily we have our drinking fountain, the simplest source of refreshment.