What does the expression “he did not invent hot water” mean?
After explaining who really invented fries (sorry Belgians), let’s go for a new dive into innovation. For good reason, almost no one knows who invented hot water. However, we use the famous expression “you didn’t invent hot water, that’s for sure” all the time.
But, above all, what does this expression mean? Not having invented hot water means that the person in question is a bit silly, that he said something obvious, as if it were a feat.
Moreover, this expression of hot water exists in another variant: “he did not invent the wire to cut the butter”. But there are other less well-known variants: “not having invented lukewarm water”, “not having invented the wheel”, “not having invented powder”, “not having invented four-hole buttons »…
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So, who is really the author of the invention of hot water?
Well, now that you know what this well-known expression means, who is the author of this invention that is hot water? You know who invented the light bulb, but what about hot water? Far from being simple-minded, the inventor of hot water is, according to historians, Frédéric Sauter in the sense that it was he who invented the water heater. A find he made in 1915. His achievement? Develop an electrical resistance in the water tank that allows the water to be brought to a precise temperature.
But, to debunk this belief a little, be aware that hot water does not date from the first water heaters. In fact, it has been proven that even in prehistoric times, men had hot water in their homes! Other historians like to say that hot water did not have just one inventor, but that it was democratized all over the globe in different civilizations.
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We know, for example, that Neanderthal man used hot water in his shelters. In any case, this is what scientists have concluded following an archaeological dig in Romani, in Catalonia (Spain). There, archaeologists found a shelter that was occupied about 60,000 years ago.
A dwelling place of 180 m² in which there was a hole at ground level. They also found a small dug hearth that was probably used to store hot water. Following this excavation, the scientists concluded that the water was heated there thanks to stones heated in a fire. An ancestor of the water heater, in short!
A technique that also inspired the Romans a little later. The latter used precisely this way of heating water. Herodotus, a famous Greek historian and geographer, explained in one of his works that the water was heated there by pouring it on hot stones.
