Jacuzzi is a term often associated with hot tubs & spas. Most people refer to the inground hot tubs they experience in hotels, health clubs and on cruise ships as Jacuzzis. This popular misconception comes from the venturi jet that Roy Jacuzzi invented and patented in 1968

Around 1900, seven brothers named Jacuzzi immigrated to the United States from Italy. They eventually settled on the West Coast in California. In 1948, brother candido developed a submersible bathtub pump for his son who had contracted rheumatoid arthritis in 1943, at the age of 15 months, which caused the boy to have chronic pain. The boy received regular hydrotherapy treatments at local hospitals but Candido could not stand to see his son suffering between the therapeutic visits. He realized that the agricultural water pumps that Jacuzzi Brothers were making for industrial use could be adapted to give his son soothing whirlpool treatments in the tub at home. Jacuzzi Brothers marketed this pump, model J-300, in 1955. The son, Kenneth Jacuzzi, eventually started to run the company.   

With most modern hot tubs the pump circulates the water through the pipes using an underwater suction fitting and several underwater jets. Each jet contains a venturi, a vented constriction near its opening that injects air into the water. In most cases, the ratio of air to water can be adjusted at a central control or at each jet or both.

When the Jacuzzi brothers patents ran out in 1976 the current American hot tub market took off using the Jacuzzi designed jet. Manufacturers improved and refined the hydrotheraputic effects of the Jacuzzi jet and integrated them into the industry leading products we manufacture today. 

Over 40 years on the hot tub industry now unanimously categorise Jacuzzis and whirlpools as hot tubs.