NAPOLEON'S BATH: A BRILLIANT GIFT
In this period, all we talk about is gifts and it is no coincidence that we have decided to tell you a story that has incredibly to do with gifts, with bathroom furnishings... and with Napoleon!
Read on to find out what it's all about!
THE PREMISE
To fully understand the course of events, it is necessary to make a small premise that has to do with the microstate of Moresnet .
During the Congress of Vienna, Prussia and the Netherlands could not agree on who should administer that small piece of land and, above all, the zinc mine that was located in the area. They therefore made it a neutral territory to be managed jointly.
Since the 15th century, this small mine had not attracted the interest of many because the techniques for extracting zinc dust from calamine were complicated and expensive.
THE INVENTOR
It is at this point that Jean-Jacques Daniel Dony , a metallurgist and chemist, enters the story. Thanks to his ingenuity, he invented a reduction furnace that was able to transform zinc into gas. The zinc, rising upwards and away from the heat, condensed on sheets and then dripped into a container where it solidified at a high level of purity, thus also being able to exploit its qualities, including that of not rusting when in contact with water.
In 1805 Jean Jacques Daniel Dony requested and obtained from Bonaparte the concession and patent to extract calamine in an area north of the village of Kelmis, in the commune of Moresnet.
THE TUB: THAT BRILLIANT GIFT
In 1809, to thank the emperor, to promote the use of zinc and to demonstrate the water-repellent qualities and malleability of this new product, Dony built and gave Napoleon a bathtub .
Napoleon's bathtub was an incredible invention . The water inside it always remained hot because it was connected to a metal cylinder that burned coal in the sophisticated boiler at the back. It was a luxury item, a portable tub made entirely of zinc and covered on the outside with marble, which Napoleon loved very much and which he even took with him into battle .
As often happens, despite his brilliance, Dony had disasters of all kinds, encountered financial difficulties and died in poverty.
The ingenious and modern tank by Jean-Jacques Daniel Dony still exists and is preserved at MMIL – House of Metallurgy and Industry in Liège, Belgium.
Did you already know this story? Have you ever been given or have you ever given a bathroom accessory?
