Candido Jacuzzi - inventor

Improvised hydrotherapy device became world's favourite spa bath

Candido Jacuzzi with the pump
he made for his son's treatment

Candido Jacuzzi, whose surname became familiar across the world because of what followed his invention of a hydrotherapy bath for his sick son, was born on this day in 1903 in Casarsa della Delizia, a town in Friuli-Venezia Giulia about 80km (50 miles) northwest of Trieste, the regional capital.

His family joined many Italians in the early 20th century in emigrating to the United States in search of economic prosperity. After a number of years, they set up a business, Jacuzzi Brothers Inc., initially working in the burgeoning aircraft sector before later manufacturing pumps for agricultural use. It was based in Berkeley, California.

Business was successful if not spectacularly so and it was not until 30 years later that Candido, who was by then the father of a young child diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, hit upon the idea that would turn Jacuzzi into a household name.

Jacuzzi's son, Kenneth, was only 15 months old when he was diagnosed with the painful, inflammatory condition, for which there was no cure. He was given hydrotherapy sessions to ease the symptoms and regular immersion in a bath of hot, aerated water, followed by a massage, made him feel much better. 

The problem for Candido and his wife, Ines, was that these therapy sessions involved a two-hour round-trip to a hospital several times a week. It would be much more practical, Jacuzzi thought, if he could install a similar bath at home.

But none existed for home use at the time and the only real option open to him was to build one himself.  Jacuzzi studied the hydrotherapy unit used by the hospital and realized that it was run by pumps, which gave him a head start as pumps were part of the family business. He decided to experiment by modifying an agricultural pump by adding an air intake, reversing its pump action and submerging it in a bathtub of hot water. 

To his great satisfaction, it worked. The strong jet of bubbles emerging from the pump replicated the whirlpool effect of the hospital bath and Kenneth could now have his treatments without leaving the house. 

The therapists who now visited Kenneth at home encouraged Candido to make more of the devices so that other sufferers could benefit.  He talked to his older brothers, who had been the founders of the business, and other family members, and they agreed to give it a try.

Candido Jacuzzi (left) with brothers Gelindo, Frank,
Joseph and Valeriano at their factory in Berkeley

While the merits of the whirlpool bath pump were obvious to Candido and his wife, it needed exposure for its benefits to become more widely known. Thankfully, this came thanks to a daytime TV programme, Queen for a Day, who agreed to take a number of Jacuzzi’s pumps to give away as prizes.

Sales took off, with the unexpected bonus that its appeal would spread beyond those who needed it for medical reasons to others - many celebrities among them - who simply liked the idea of luxuriating in a bath of perpetual bubbles.

To cater for this market, Candido and his nephew, Roy Jacuzzi, devised a way of incorporating their pump in a custom-made fibreglass tub as a single, self-contained unit, a luxury item that could be made large enough to hold two people or more. With its own hot-water supply, it could even be used outside.

After the first two-person Jacuzzi 'Roman' Spa Bath was sold in 1970, the brand soon became a household name. 

Given the family’s humble start, it was quite a success story.  Candido’s family in Italy were not poor. His father, Giovanni, ran a fruit and vegetable shop in Casarsa, selling produce from his farm. But money was tight. Italy as a country was suffering economic hardship at the start of the 20th century and the possibility of war in Europe was looming.

The family was made up of 13 children and keeping them all on the proceeds of the farm was a challenge. Candido’s older brothers had already been sent to Germany for months at a time to find work.

The popularity of the Jacuzzi made it
the world's best-known spa bath brand

Most of them worked as bricklayers but the oldest, Rachele, was smart enough to become a telegraph operator while attending classes to further his education. He joined the Italian army, making a point of studying aeronautics, which he had identified as a field likely to throw up opportunities.

He might have seen active service, but as a world war became more likely, Giovanni decided to protect his older sons from the possibility of being conscripted and sent them to America, at first to Washington State

Rachele used the knowledge he had acquired in the Italian military to get a job with McDonnell Douglas, the aircraft manufacturer, for whom he designed an aircraft propeller with thin, aerodynamically efficient blades made of wood that became known as the “Jacuzzi Toothpick”. 

It was so successful it was bought by both the US and Russian military. Thanks to his rights as the inventor, the two major contracts provided him with enough money to launch the family business, Jacuzzi Brothers Inc., which had its headquarters in San Pablo Avenue, Berkeley. 

Initially, their factory made products for the aviation industry, including one of the first fully enclosed aircraft cabins, which was used by the postal service to transport mail. When one of these planes crashed, however, with Giacomo Jacuzzi, one of Candido’s brothers, among those killed, the family turned their back on the aircraft business and diversified into other products, including water pumps.

Between 1912 and 1920, the whole Jacuzzi family left northern Italy for California, including Candido, then entering his teens, who would work for the company until ill health forced his retirement in 1975 at the age of 72, having been president since 1971. He died in 1986 at the age of 83.

The Church of Santa Croce e Beata Vergine
del Rosario, with its distinctive twin towers

Travel tip:

The town of Casarsa della Delizia is in the province of Pordenone, a town about 15km (9 miles) to its west, surrounded by flat, fertile countryside shaped by waterways and vineyards. The La Delizia wine cooperative, established in 1931, is still a major local institution. Casarsa, with a population of around 8,500 inhabitants, is known mainly for its association with the writer and film-maker, Pier Paolo Pasolini, whose mother was from Casarsa, where he spent part of his childhood. The town became a place of memory for his admirers, these days drawn by the Centro Studi Pier Paolo Pasolini, a cultural centre dedicated to Pasolini’s life and work, hosting exhibitions, archives, and events.  Just outside the main town lies Versuta, a tiny hamlet where Pasolini lived during World War Two. II. In the town centre, the Church of Santa Croce e Beata Vergine del Rosario, the twin towers of which give the town its most recognisable architectural silhouette, has frescoes by Pomponio Amalteo, a notable 16th‑century painter of the Venetian school, the presence of whose work is an example of how Friuli’s religious buildings often hide unexpected artistic treasures.  The fertile quality of the land around Casarsa is due to the nearby Tagliamento River and a network of irrigation channels.  Casarsa is surrounded by vineyards, and seasonal festivals celebrate Friulian varieties such as Friulano, Refosco and Prosecco.   

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The Palazzo del Governo is one of several grand
palaces flanking Trieste's Piazza Unità d'Italia

Travel tip:

The seaport of Trieste, capital of the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region, officially became part of the Italian Republic in 1954. It had been disputed territory for thousands of years and after it was granted to Italy in 1920, thousands of the resident Slovenians left. The final border with Yugoslavia was settled in 1975 with the Treaty of Osimo. The area today is one of the most prosperous in Italy and Trieste is a lively, cosmopolitan city and a major centre for trade and ship building.  At its heart is the Piazza Unità d'Italia, the main square, which faces the Adriatic and is thought to be Europe's largest square located next to the sea. When it was built, Trieste was the most important seaport of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire. Its impressive buildings include the city's municipal offices and other important palaces. Trieste has a coffee house culture that dates back to the Habsburg era.  Caffè Tommaseo, in Piazza Nicolò Tommaseo, near the grand open space of the Piazza Unità d’Italia, is the oldest in the city, founded in 1830. Just along the coast is the Castello di Miramare, which stands over the harbour at Grignano, located on the end of a rocky spur jutting into the Gulf of Trieste, about 8km (5 miles) from the city itself. This Habsburg castle was built between 1856 and 1860 for Austrian Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian and his wife, Charlotte of Belgium, based on a design by Carl Junker.  Legend has it that Ferdinand chose the spot to build the castle after taking refuge from a storm in the gulf in the sheltered harbour of Grignano that sits behind the spur.

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More reading:

The world renowned coffee brand with its roots in Trieste

The father who invented ‘Lorenzo’s Oil’ for sick son

The Italian-American believed to have made the world’s first ice cream cone

Also on this day:

1530: The coronation of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V

1607: The premiere of Monteverdi’s historic opera L’Orfeo 

1896: The birth of restaurateur Cesare “Caesar” Cardini

1934: The birth of politician Bettino Craxi

1934: The birth of soprano Renato Scotto

1990: The death of popular president Sandro Pertini

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Giuseppe Ravizza - inventor

His writing machine was forerunner of typewriter

Ravizza used piano keys in his prototype
design for his Cembalo Scrivano

The 19th century inventor Giuseppe Ravizza, whose Cembalo Scrivano machine could be seen as the world’s first typewriter, died on this day in 1885 in Livorno, on the Tuscan coast, about 25km (16 miles) south of Pisa.

Ravizza created the first working prototype for his writing machine in 1846 and was granted patent in 1855. Yet, although he hailed from a wealthy Piedmontese family in Novara, he did not have the opportunity in pre-unification Italy to manufacture the device on a commercial scale.

As a result, the invention of the typewriter is most commonly credited to Christopher Latham Sholes, an American inventor whose design was not patented until 1868, yet had many of the characteristics of Ravizza’s Cembalo Scrivano.

Produced with the help of Sholes's fellow designers Carlos Glidden and Samuel Souley, the American machine was eventually manufactured at scale by E Remington and Sons in 1873, marking the beginning of the typewriter's widespread use.

Born in Novara in 1811, Ravizza’s education was aimed at him becoming a lawyer and though he graduated he rarely practised. He was much more interested in engineering, specifically in producing a machine that could replicate the art of writing.

He was not the first to have envisaged such a machine. In the early 19th century, an Italian nobleman, Pellegrino Turri, designed a device he hoped would help a blind friend be able to write letters. It did not progress beyond a prototype, although it was Turri who is credited with inventing carbon paper as a means to make an imprint on the page. Another machine is said to have been designed by an American, William Austin Burt, in around 1829.

Ravizza came from a wealthy
background in Novara

Ravizza’s Cembalo Scrivano - literally ‘writing harpsichord’ - was so-called because the typing keys resembled those of a harpsichord. They were, in fact, recycled piano keys. Although it was not a qwerty keyboard, which is definitively thought to be a Sholes invention, the letters were arranged in what Ravizza felt was a logical order, with the aim that the user would be able to employ all 10 fingers in the writing process.

The upstroke mechanism that would be characteristic of the later American-produced version was also present in Ravizza’s machine, which also allowed the user to type both upper and lower case letters, an advancement not seen in the first Remington models.

His keyboard layout was almost certainly inspired by musical instruments, reflecting his belief that writing should be fluid and expressive. His ultimate vision was of a mechanised device that could put words on paper almost at the speed of thought.

Historians have noted the striking similarities between the Sholes typewriter and Ravizza’s design, and while no direct evidence of plagiarism has been uncovered it is possible that American designers will have been aware of Ravizza’s work. 

The Cembalo Scrivano was shown to the public at the Industrial Exhibition in Turin in 1856, where Ravizza sold a small number at 200 lire each, and at a similar exhibition in Novara, where it was awarded a gold medal.  The Cembalo Scrivano was also exhibited in London. 

Ravizza spent almost 40 years refining his typewriter
but it was never produced on a commercial scale

In total, Ravizza spent nearly 40 years refining his machine. Despite producing at least 16 models of his Cembalo Scrivano between 1847 and the early 1880s, his inventions never reached mass production or commercial viability. 

Italy in the mid-19th century lacked the industrial infrastructure to support such innovation, and Ravizza himself was more an inventor than a businessman, with no particular motivation to make financial gains.

Having been born into a moneyed background, in 1886 he married Alessandrina Massini, an Italian philanthropist sometimes described as a forerunner of the feminist movement. Their home became a popular bourgeois salon.

Today, he is remembered as a visionary precursor to the typewriter revolution, if not the inventor. His machines are preserved in museums and private collections, including the Civic Museum of the Broletto in Novara, which has a Cembalo Scrivano donated in 1940 by the Mayor of Ivrea on behalf of the Olivetti Society.

The towering dome of the Basilica of San Gaudenzio
dominates the landscape of Novara in Piedmont

Travel tip:

Novara, where Ravizza was born, is around 65km (40 miles) west of Milan and 100km (62 miles) northeast of Turin. With a population of just over 100,000, it is the second largest city in the Piedmont region, after Turin. Founded by the Romans, it was later ruled by the Visconti and Sforza families. In the 18th century it was ruled by the House of Savoy. In the 1849 Battle of Novara, the Sardinian army was defeated by the Austrian army, who occupied the city. This led to the abdication of Charles Albert of Sardinia and is seen as the beginning of the Italian unification movement.  Among the fine, historic buildings in Novara, which include the Basilica of San Gaudenzio - notable for its towering campanile, topped by Alessandro Antonelli's 75m cupola - and the Broletto, a complex that was at the civic heart of many medieval Italian cities, is the Novara Pyramid, which is also called the Ossuary of Bicocca. It was built to hold the ashes of fallen soldiers after the 19th century Battle of Novara.

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The busy port of Livorno on Italy's west coast
is the second largest city in Tuscany

Travel tip:

The port of Livorno is the second largest city in Tuscany after Florence, with a population of almost 160,000. It is the region’s principal seaport, a dynamic gateway to the Tyrrhenian Sea and a vital hub for both cargo and cruise traffic. The port spans over 2.5 million square meters, with 21 km of docks and around 90 berths. It handles over 35 million tonnes of goods and more than 3.5 million passengers, including 800,000 cruise passengers, each year. Positioned on Italy’s west coast, it is about 90km (56 miles) from Florence. Although it is a large commercial port with much related industry, it has many attractions, including an elegant sea front – the Terrazza Mascagni - an historic centre – the Venetian quarter – with canals, and a tradition of serving excellent seafood.  The Terrazza Mascagni is named after the composer Pietro Mascagni, who was born in Livorno. 

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More reading:

Camillo Olivetti - the founder of Italy’s first typewriter factory

The Italian engineer behind the world’s first personal computer

The priest and physicist who created the first ‘fax machine’

Also on this day:

1459: The death of humanist scholar Poggio Bracciolini

1877: The birth of businesswoman Luisa Spagnoli

1893: The birth of bodybuilder Charles Atlas

1896: The birth of conductor Antonino Votto

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