Mysterious Faucet Mixer Apparatus on Antique Sink

[lovesickest]

I spotted this on Kijiji (like CL) a few days ago . The seller identifies it as being an antique barber's sink. The faucet set up is complicated. Can anyone explain what is going on here ?

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[SkipW]

Looks like they opened the original faucets up and took the valves out and basically bypassed the originals and added faucets higher up in the added bit of plumbing to the higher spout

[Mick_VT]

The faucets at the bottom look to be incomplete, they would have had levers to control water flow directly into the sink. The levers higher up would control flow of water to the mixer / missing hose / sprayer in the middle. http://www.deabath.com would be able to help you rebuild if you really wanted to

[1918ColonialRevival]

These were made for a number of years. There are basically two valves on each side - one for the sink faucet and one for the mixer on top. A rubber hose with a sprayer would have attached to the center of the mixer section.

They aren't terribly difficult to rebuild, provided it's complete.

The sink itself looks to date from about 1910-1925.

[lovesickest]

I saw a quite a few via Google image search. Is this where men's hair was washed or what was the purpose of this sink ? I see many have the sort of thing in the center connection point - was this to store the hose when not in use ? What was the point of having dual faucets (I see the lowest pair is missing) ? Why was the oval pedestal sink the preferred design for this purpose ?

I have no barbering in my future but I was obviously unfamiliar with this setup. If anyone in the Toronto area wants to contact the seller I can post the Kijiji link ?

[Mick_VT]

In an era when mixers didn't really exist, (people just filled the bowl) this was a specialty device to add that functionality while retaining the separate hot cold faucet. The sprayer would have been as 1918Colonial describes and yes it would likely have been for washing hair. The sprayer would have likely hung in the middle.

I'm not sure whether or not the oval sink was a preferred design for barbering, more likely just an available design IMO - you so see them around often in regular trim

[1918ColonialRevival]

The sprayer would have been for washing hair, shaving, etc. Although sometimes they're called barber faucets, they were also used in homes where sinks were used for hair washing. There wasn't a particular style of sink favored for this to my knowledge.

Mixer faucets were around during this time (I have a Standard catalog advertising them in 1912), but they didn't have the ability to accommodate a sprayer. Not to mention, they were expensive. If you look closely at the hose attachment, you'll see that it's very similar to the water outlet on many tub faucets of the era. Hose sprayers attached to these for washing hair before showers became commonplace.