Life, 1919-11-20 · page 29 of 46
Life — November 20, 1919 — page 29: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page is **not a political cartoon or satire**—it's a straightforward **advertisement for Ruud Automatic Gas Water Heaters**, published in Life magazine (a general-interest publication, not primarily satirical by this era). The ad addresses a genuine domestic problem of the period: inconsistent hot water access in homes. It identifies the complaint humorously ("hot-water poor") but frames this as a real inconvenience—someone uses all the hot water, or the heater gets forgotten. The solution: an automatic gas water heater requiring no manual lighting and providing unlimited hot water throughout the house. The visual shows five different faucet styles and the basement-mounted heater unit. The appeal is to modern convenience and automatic operation, key selling points for early-20th-century appliances. This reflects the era's focus on labor-saving household technology, particularly relevant to families with laundresses or servants who managed water heating manually.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Five Kinds of Faucets and Every One Will Flow Hot Water ANY a home is hot-water poor simply because the laundress or someone else has used the hot water, or somebody has forgotten to light the heater. The situation is reversed when a Ruud Automatic Gas Water Heater is in the home—there is nothing to light and no limit to the piping hot water. The “on and off” of any hot-water faucet in the home starts and stops the heat, just as it does the flow of water —there’s nothing to worry over, or watch —and hot water is always on tap all over the house. RUUD — AUTOMATIC GAS WATER HEATER “Hot Water All Over the House” A Ruud goes in the basement or other convenient place and is controlled automatically from the faucets in bathroom, kitchen, laundry. The Ruud Automatic Gas Water Heater was the pioneer some 25 years ago—it’s the first in service today. Over 150,000 are in use. Ask any gas office, gas-appliance store, or plumber about a Ruud for your home. Write for our illustrated book on Hot Water Service The Ruud goes in the ¥ with information where to see a Ruud in action. Address basement or wher- ever convenient. Answers the turn of SH RUUD MANUFACTURING COMPANY iketene : Dept. C, Pittsburgh, Pa. Makers of Standardized Gas Water Heaters Ruud Manufaccurin: Co. of Canada: 371 Adelaide Street W.. Toronto comichooks.com