Jacuzzi
Template:Short description {{#invoke:other uses|otheruses}} Template:About Template:Use dmy dates {{#invoke:Infobox|infobox}}Template:Template otherTemplate:Main other{{#invoke:Check for clobbered parameters|check|nested=1|template=Infobox company|cat=Template:Main other|name; company_name|logo; company_logo|logo_alt; alt|trade_name; trading_name|former_names; former_name|type; company_type|predecessors; predecessor|successors; successor|foundation; founded|founders; founder|defunct; dissolved|hq_location; location|hq_location_city; location_city|hq_location_country; location_country|num_locations; locations|areas_served; area_served|net_income; profit|net_income_year; profit_year|owners; owner |homepage; website }}{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:Infobox company with unknown parameter "_VALUE_" | ignoreblank=y | alt | area_served | areas_served | assets | assets_year | aum | brands | company_logo | company_name | company_type | defunct | dissolved | divisions | embed | equity | equity_year | fate | footnotes | former_name | former_names | foundation | founded | founder | founders | genre | homepage | hq_location | hq_location_city | hq_location_country | incorporated | image | image_alt | image_caption | image_size | image_upright | income_year | industry | ISIN | key_people | location | location_city | location_country | locations | logo | logo_alt | logo_caption | logo_class | logo_size | logo_upright | members | members_year | module | name | native_name | native_name_lang | net_income | net_income_year | num_employees | num_employees_year | num_locations | num_locations_year | operating_income | owner | owners | parent | predecessor | predecessors | production | production_year | products | profit | profit_year | rating | ratio | revenue | revenue_year | romanized_name | services | subsid | successor | successors | traded_as | trade_name | trading_name | type | website| qid | fetchwikidata | suppressfields | noicon | nocat | demo | categories }} Jacuzzi is an American private company that manufactures and markets hot tubs, pools, and other bath products.<ref name="Italia 2019">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> It is best known for the Jacuzzi hydrotherapy products.<ref name="WSJ 2017" /><ref name="Italia 2019" /> The company is headquartered in Irvine, California. It is the largest hot tub manufacturer in Europe<ref name="Italia 2019" /> with eight factories, the largest being in Italy.<ref name="Weinstein 2008 p. 181">Template:Cite book</ref>
The company was founded in 1915 by seven Italian immigrant brothers from the Jacuzzi family in Berkeley, California.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> It developed a variety of products including pumps for agricultural use. In 1948, Jacuzzi created water pumps to treat a family member's rheumatoid arthritis.<ref name="nytimes/saga-jacuzzi-family">Template:Cite news</ref> The water pumps were a niche medical product until they were integrated into a recreational hot tub in 1968. As the popularity of hot tubs grew, Jacuzzi created more models that were more advanced. Jacuzzi was family-run until 1979, after which it then changed hands several times, before being bought by its current owner Investindustrial in 2019.
Due to its popularity and market dominance among hot tub sales, the word Jacuzzi became akin to a generic trademark in advertising and product marketing, synonymous with "hot tub" itself in American English. However, the Associated Press Stylebook lists Jacuzzi as a trademark brand for products such as hot tubs, whirlpool spas, and whirlpool baths,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> and not as a legally genericized trademark.
HistoryEdit
BeginningsEdit
Jacuzzi was founded by seven siblings in the Jacuzzi family: Giocondo, Frank, Rachele, Candido, Joseph, Gelindo and Valeriano, who were from Casarsa della Delizia in northern Italy.<ref name="Euvino Filippo 2001 p.">Template:Cite book</ref> Their original last name was Iacuzzi, but when the first two brothers emigrated from Italy to the US in 1907, immigration staff misspelled their name as "Jacuzzi".<ref name="Dodd 2008 p.">Template:Cite book</ref> All seven siblings had emigrated by 1910.<ref name="Dodd 2008 p."/> More family members emigrated to the U.S. when the brothers won a contract to provide propellers to the U.S. for World War I planes.<ref name="Fucini 1985 p.">Template:Cite book</ref>
Jacuzzi began as a machining company.<ref name="Martone 2016 p. 240">Template:Cite book</ref> The brothers worked on a citrus farm owned by an early aviation inventor.<ref name="Dodd 2008 p. "/> They offered to help develop aviation products, creating an early wood propeller that was curved instead of flat<ref name="Dodd 2008 p. "/> and was used in World War I.<ref name="Johnson 1982">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> One of the first propellers they made is now either in storage at or on loan from the Smithsonian Institution.<ref name="Dodd 2008 p. "/> They also developed one of the first fully-enclosed cabins for airplanes, called the Jacuzzi J-7, which was used to transport mail.<ref name="Dodd 2008 p. "/>
In 1921, a mail plane crashed, killing all of the passengers on board, including Giocondo Jacuzzi.<ref name="Dodd 2008 p. "/> The siblings subsequently abandoned the aviation industry and experimented with several other products, the first successful one being a water pump created by Rachele Jacuzzi in 1926.<ref name="Hupp Sentinel 1985">Template:Cite news</ref> The product line expanded into a variety of pumps.<ref name="Leykam 1989 p. ">Template:Cite book</ref>
HydrotherapyEdit
In 1948, Candido Jacuzzi developed an improved full body hydrotherapy pump, the J-300, to treat his son's (Ken Jacuzzi) rheumatoid arthritis between hospital visits, after noting his positive response the smaller Hubbard tank at the Herrick hospital in Berkeley.<ref name="Jack 2015 p. 239">Template:Cite book</ref> He patented the pump in 1952<ref name="Martone 2016 p. 240"/> and began marketing it between 1955 and 1956 as a therapeutic aid.<ref name="Jack 2015 p. 239" /> The pump was a portable device that could turn any regular bathtub into a spa.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
From 1968, a whirlpool bath was produced, which included jets that mixed air and water. This product (called the Roman Bath) was developed by Roy Jacuzzi, a 3rd-generation member of the family.<ref name="Martin 2017 p. 87">Template:Cite book</ref> This is considered the first whirlpool tub designed for relaxation, rather than for medical use.<ref name="Professional Builder 1997 p.">Template:Cite book</ref> Jacuzzi used celebrity Jayne Mansfield and others to market the tubs, which initially gained popularity among Hollywood movie stars.<ref name="Jack 2015 p. 239" /> In the 1970s, Jacuzzi products were featured on Queen for a Day and other TV shows and grew in popularity in California.<ref name="Fucini 1985 p." /> The company started developing larger models that could fit more than one person. They also added filters and heaters, so the tub didn't need to be drained with each use.<ref name="International">Template:Cite book</ref> From 1970, family-sized spas were producted.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
By 1989, Jacuzzi had 2,200 employees.<ref name="Leykam 1989 p." /> Initially, Jacuzzi primarily sold through contractors and builders, but in 1993 it started selling through retailers.<ref name="Emert 2012">Template:Cite news</ref> In the 1990s, Jacuzzi entered markets outside the US, especially in Italy and Spain. By the end of the 1990s, half of its sales were outside the US.<ref name="International" />
Jacuzzi was influential in the trend towards larger and more luxurious bathrooms.<ref name="Hupp Sentinel 1985" />
Changes in ownershipEdit
By 1979,<ref name="Fucini 1985 p." /> there were 257 Jacuzzi family members involved in the Jacuzzi brand and there was a growing number of disputes among them.<ref name="Emert 2012" /> Then the business was acquired by Kidde for $70 million.<ref name="Fucini 1985 p." /> Most of the Jacuzzi family members left the company, except Roy Jacuzzi, who stayed on as the head of the hot tub and bath division.<ref name="The New York Times 1988">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 1987, Kidde was acquired by Hanson PLC.<ref name="Los Angeles Times 1987">Template:Cite news</ref> In 1995, Hanson spun off Jacuzzi and other brands into a public company called U.S. Industries.<ref name="International" /> USI renamed itself Jacuzzi Brands in 2003.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> This was in turn bought out by Apollo Management,<ref name="WSJ 2017">Template:Cite news</ref> and then by Investindustrial in 2019.<ref name="Interior Design 2021">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Acquisitions since the 1990s have included Haugh Products<ref name="Emert 2012" /> (above-ground pools), Sundance Spas,<ref name="Emert 2012" /> Gatsby Spas,<ref name="Emert 2012" /> Zurn Industries (toilets, sinks), Hydropool (hot tubs), Liners Direct (bath products), BathWraps (shower and bathtub renovation).<ref name="Kukec 2017">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In the 1990s, Jacuzzi had taken on too much debt and sold more than $600 million worth of businesses.<ref name="International" /> The business segment producing industrial, irrigation, well water, submersible, and centrifugal systems was sold to Franklin Electric in 2004. The plumbing division, Zurn Industries, was sold in 2007 for $950 million.<ref name="Terlep Das Dezember 2012">Template:Cite news</ref> Current brands include ThermoSpas, Sundance Spas, and Dimension One.
GalleryEdit
- HISTORIC picture of whirlpool bath.jpg
Historic whirlpool bath, circa 1969
- Jacuzzi Lowboy Advert -historic.jpg
Historic Lowboy advertisement, circa 1970
ReferencesEdit
Further readingEdit
- Template:Cite book Self-published.
- Template:Cite book