VICTORIAN BATHING MACHINES: A Modest Contraption

Close your eyes for a moment and imagine the perfect seaside vacation: You travel to a fashionable costal resort for a weekend of sun, sand, and surf. When it’s time to hit the beach, you even have the privilege of using a private, mobile changing-room that rolls right down to the water’s edge; unfortunately, the towels are dirty, the floor is damp, and you are legally required to change into a ‘swimsuit’ more accurately described as a thick, heavy outfit covering you from neck-to-toe before a burly stranger suddenly opens the door and throws you into the ocean. Oh, I almost forgot to mention - you don’t know how to swim. I have just described the experience of using an invention known as the Bathing Machine. For more than a century, these strange devices littered the beaches of France, Germany, Belgium, Mexico, and the United States, although they were most popular in Victorian Britain. Some were little more than wooden crates on wheels, while others were extravagant affairs fitted out with the most