Bed warmer

Bed warmer from The Netherlands

Electrical bed warmer (with a shielded electric bulb) in Dharamkot (Himachal Pradesh), India, 1979

A bed warmer was a common household item in countries with cold winters, especially in Europe. It consisted of a metal container, usually fitted with a handle and shaped somewhat like a modern frying pan, with a solid or finely perforated lid. The pan would be filled with river stones preheated from the fireplace and placed under the covers of a bed, to warm it up and/or dry it out before use.

After the invention of rubber, the classical bed warmer was largely supplanted by the hot water bottle, which is still widely used. In the early^[1] 20th century, electric blankets and then the electric bed warmer, (containing a lampholder and low wattage light bulb), were invented to fulfill the same need.

References

External links

• 19th Century Medical Caricatures. A detail in the upper right corner of the third caricature shows a bed warmer being used as a weapon.