Birth of the Soda Fountain
The stomach soothing nature of these effervescent waters made them a regularly prescribed treatment for dyspepsia or indigestion. The lack of side effects from a glass of soda water, unlike many other medicines of the time, helped motivate researchers to discover, and recreate, how these gas bubbles dissolved in water.
The foundation for man made carbonated water starts with Englishman, Joseph Priestley, he was the first to identify oxygen and experimented with several different methods for creating mineral water. He figured out a way to infuse water with carbon dioxide by placing water over fermenting mash. The carbon dioxide given off by the yeast dissolved in the pure water suspended over top. This would have been very weakly carbonated, but sufficient to realize that it was possible.
Swiss scientist Johann Jacob Schweppe, used this information to invent a device to create artificially carbonated water. He created his mineral water with a hand cranked pump, and bottled it in corked stoneware bottles. However, Schweppe had a hard time keeping the water fizzy because glass bottles weren't widely available and the water had a tendency to go flat in the stoneware. Priestley created a company to sell his mineral water to local markets. He would sell his company in 1799, but his name is still prevalent today as the Schweppes Company.
Artificially carbonated waters quickly caught the attention of the public. Given the medicinal properties ascribed to mineral water, the idea of being able to recreate mineral waters was compelling. Making these waters available to everyone by adding formulated salt mixtures that mimicked mineral waters from around the world was desirable for businessmen and physicians alike. These artificial waters eventually transformed into flavored soda when businesses started adding flavours and sugar to the soda compositions.
At the turn of the 19th century, chemists continued experimenting with methods of impregnating carbon dioxide gas in water. It still hadn’t achieved a level of efficiency that made wide distribution possible. However, it was becoming fashionable to have soda water at home.
Improvements continued until Charles Plinth invented the soda syphon in 1813. This syphon allowed portions of water to be dispensed, while retaining carbonation in the unused portion.
Aside from yeast or mixing sodium bicarbonate with an acid in a sealed bottle, there was no cheap and efficient method for the user to artificially carbonate water. This problem wouldn’t be solved until 1832 when a British born inventor, named John Mathews, created an apparatus to artificially carbonate water in quantities suitable for a drugstore or street vendor.
Mathews’ fountain designs were primitive but functional. They consisted of a lead lined chamber where sulphuric acid and powdered marble (calcium carbonate) were mixed to produce carbon dioxide. The generated gas was purified and then sent to a tank of cool water. The tank was manually swished around for thirty minutes or more, to help the gas dissolve, and then piped to the dispensing tap. These units were sold as bottling systems and fountains. Used as a fountain it was revolutionary in terms of efficiency.
Around the time of Mathew's invention Benjamin Silliman, a chemistry professor at Yale, decided to open a shop where he could sell bottled carbonated water as a medicine. American pharmacists also sold mineral water they blended it with herbs, sarsparilla, fruit extracts, birch bark, and dandelions. He didn't have much luck selling his mineral water so he decided to purchase two soda fountains in New York City. Sillman's competitors were more successful with their soda fountain
Some of the earliest flavored sodas were root beer, ginger ale, and a mixture of mineral water, lemon, and honey. Some sodas were made extra sweet to mask the bitter flavor of the medicine like quinine and iron. Additionally, some of the mineral water drinks were mixed with pharmaceutical elixirs that could have as much alcohol as a shot of whiskey. Before long soda fountains were producing drinks that blended soda with strychnine, cannabis, morphine, opium, heroin, and a new miracle compound, cocaine. Many people thought boosted mineral water was the healthiest way to start your day, and people soon got addicted to the quick pick me up.
It is estimated that New York City had over 670 soda fountains in 1836.