path: root/unused/toiletresearch.txt

Background
A system for dealing with excrement is necessary in every human community, and the need becomes more pressing the more densely populated the area. Though simple pit latrines are still common in many rural areas today, more complex lavatory designs date back thousands of years. The Old Testament contains several references to toilets, from laws about how to cover waste out of doors to mention of King Eglon of Moab's indoor privy chamber. Some kind of lavatory flushed with water is believed to have been used by residents of the Indus Valley by around 2000 B.C. Even earlier, in about 2750 B.C., the ancient Indian city of Mohendro Daro was equipped with toilets connected to a drain. Dating back to approximately 4000 B.C., the neolithic stone huts of the Scara Brae settlement in the Orkney Islands seem to have had indoor lavatory provisions. Apparently used as toilets, stone chairs have also been unearthed from the site of the Sumerian city of Ashnunnack, dating to around 4000 B.C. The palace of King Minos of Crete, from about 2000 B.C., had elaborate indoor plumbing, including marble toilets that were flushed with water dumped from a vase in an adjoining room.
The remains of Roman lavatories are still extant in many places. Some private Roman houses had their own toilets, which were in most cases a seat located over a drain or a cesspit. Roman public lavatories were more impressive. They were often built next to or as part of public baths. Rows of stone or marble seats in pairs, divided by armrests, stood over a trench. Excess water from the baths flowed into the trench, and washed the waste into a main sewer. A smaller trench filled with fresh water flowed past the base of the stone toilets. This water was used for rinsing. Roman forts, which housed hundreds of soldiers, also boasted impressive toilet facilities. The builders of Housesteads, a Roman fort in northern England dating to 122 A.D., diverted a river to flow underneath the latrine and carry waste out of the fort. The latrine itself was a large room with benches built around three walls. The benches had about 20 holes with no dividers for privacy. Roman cities also took care of the needs of travelers by erecting huge vases along the roadways for people to urinate into, thus keeping waste off the public streets.
During the Middle Ages, lavatories drained with running water were common in British abbeys, which housed large groups of monks. Similar to the Roman forts, abbey latrines were usually meant for many people to use at once, and drained over a river or stone drain. Stone castles were often designed with vertical shafts for the emptying of waste. The waste flowed into a trench leading in most cases to the moat. Indoor toilets consisted of wooden closets or cupboards, which concealed a seat over a chamber pot. Servants emptied the pot into the moat.
In Medieval European cities, common practice was to empty indoor chamber pots directly into the streets, a foul practice that bred disease. Something akin to the modern flushing toilet first came into use in England at the end of the sixteenth century. A water-operated "water closet" was invented in 1596 by Sir John Harrington. Queen Elizabeth I had Harrington's device installed in her palace, setting the vogue among the nobility. However, flushing toilets did not catch on with the bulk of the population until much later. The first British patent for a water closet was awarded to Alexander Cumming in 1775. His device used a pan with a sliding door. The pan contained a few inches of water. When finished, the user would pull a lever that opened the pan, letting the contents slide out into a drain, and at the same time opening a valve that let fresh water into the pan. The Bramah water closet, patented by Joseph Bramah in 1778, used a similar but more complex flushing device that kept the water running for about 15 seconds. By about 1815, water closets of this type had become common in London households. A modern sewer system was completed in London in 1853, and a large-scale toilet manufacturing industry dates to around this time.
Raw Materials
Toilet bowls and tanks are made from a special clay called vitreous china. Vitreous china is a mix of several kinds of clay, called ball clay and china clay, silica, and a fluxing agent. Clays are hardened by first drying in air, then being fired (baked) in a very hot oven called a kiln. Usually a shiny, waterproof coating called a glaze is applied only after a first firing, and the clay is fired a second time. Vitreous china is an exception, in that clay and glaze can be fired together. The whole clay body vitrifies, or turns glassy, so the toilet is actually waterproof and stainproof through its entire thickness.
Toilet seats are generally made from one of two materials. Plastic toilet seats are made from a type of thermoplastic called polystyrene. The less expensive and more common type of toilet seat is made from a blend of wood and plastic. The wood is hardwood, usually maple or birch, which has been ground up into the consistency of flour. This wood flour is blended with a powdered plastic resin called melamine. Zinc stearate is a third ingredient in wooden toilet seats. This prevents the wood-resin mix from sticking to the mold in the manufacturing process. The metal tank fixtures are made of stainless steel or copper, and the joints that hold the seat to the bowl are usually a rubber-like plastic.


A chamber pot.

Some Victorians couldn't abide the thought of indoor toilets because they reviled at the notion of odor and unclean gases associated with them. Today, it is difficult to imagine life without indoor plumbing. How awful to have to scurry to the outhouse in cold weather or to stumble to the privy late at night when duty called.
One did not always have to walk to the privy on these occasions, however. Instead, one could use a ceramic chamber pot. It functioned like an indoor toilet that did not flushÑone perched upon it for defecation or used it as a urinal and then the "slop jar" was emptied into the outhouse. Some chamber pots were decorated with lacy covers along the edge of the bowl called silencers and presumably muffled the noise of clanking of the top upon the bowl at night so that others weren't awakened by its use.
The chamber pot in the photo is part of a large set of ceramics used for personal hygiene in the days before indoor plumbing. Many bedrooms had a pitcher for fresh water, a basin to hold the water for cleansing, a soap dish and a chamber pot. These ceramics were always fashionably decorated, so that the bedroom could be attractively appointed even for these disagreeable tasks.
The Manufacturing
Process
Plastic seat
	¥	1 Plastic seats begin as pellets of polystyrene. A worker feeds the pellets into a hopper attached to an injection molding machine. From the hopper, a precisely measured amount of pellets flows into a
	¥	
	¥	A plastic toilet seat is made by a process called injection molding, where plastic pellets are melted and injected into a mold. A wooden toilet seat is produced from a mixture of wood powder and melamine mixture that is heated to 300¡ F (149¡ C). Once both types of seats are molded, they are hung on an overhead conveyor rack that moves them along to the finishing area.
	¥	container that heats the material until it melts. Then the liquid polystyrene flows through a small hole in the center of a two-part mold. The mold is made of chrome-plated machined die steel. Its two halves are hollowed in the shape of the toilet seat and cover. When the mold is full, it is clamped together by a huge hydraulic press. This exerts 10,000 lb per sq in (4,540 kg per sq cm) of pressure on the mold, and heats the polystyrene to 400¡ F (204¡ C).
	¥	2 The plastic in the mold begins to solidify. Then cool water is pumped through a channel system around the mold to bring the temperature down. A worker releases the hydraulic clamp and separates the two halves of the mold. The worker removes the seat and cover from the mold, breaking off the extra plastic that formed in the water channel. Then, the worker places the seat and cover into a water bath.
	¥	3 After the seat and cover have cooled in the bath, a worker takes them to a finishing area for the final steps. Here holes are drilled for the hinges. Then, a worker smooths the rough edges at a sanding machine. The sander is a rotating wheel covered with an abrasive material. The worker passes the seat or cover along the wheel until any plastic fragments from the drilling or from the mold are sanded off. A similar machine with a softer surface may next be used to give a final polish.
Wooden seat
	¥	4 For wooden toilet seats, the first step is to mix the wood flour and the plastic resin. Workers wearing protective masks slit open bags of wood flour and empty them into a mix box. Then, the worker adds the powdered plastic resin that makes up 15% of the formula. Last, a small amount of zinc stearate is added. The mixture is passed to an attrition mill, which grinds the particles down further. After milling, the powdered mixture may be measured into boxes for loading into the molding press. Or it may be set aside, and later measured and scooped by hand into the press.
	¥	5 The processed wood and melamine mixture is next emptied into the bottom half of a mold. A worker makes sure the mix fills the mold evenly and smooths the surface. Then the worker lowers the top half of the mold and begins to heat the whole thing to 300¡ F (149¡ C). While it heats, the mold is clamped at 150 tons of force. After 6.5 minutes, the wood flour and melamine have fused together and hardened. Then, the worker opens the mold and hangs the seat and cover on an overhead conveyor rack, which moves it along to the finishing area.
	¥	6 Wooden seats are finished in the same way as plastic seats. First, they are drilled, then sanded. Then, they are hung again on an overhead conveyor and taken to the painting area. The conveyor automatically lowers the seats into a tank of paint. Then the conveyor pulls them up and passes them into an enclosed room called a vapor chamber. A paint solvent is released as a vapor, and this carries off any excess paint without leaving drip marks. Next, the painted seats pass along the conveyor into a drying oven. The paint-vapor-drying process is repeated four times. The first two coats are a primer, and the second two are an enamel paint that produces a smooth, hard, plastic-like surface.
	¥	7 Both plastic and wooden seats are assembled and packaged the same way. The seats and covers are screwed together and packed with the necessary mounting hardware. Then, they are boxed and moved to a warehouse or distribution center.
Bowl and tank
	¥	8 The toilet bowl and tank are made at a type of factory known as a pottery. The pottery receives huge amounts of vitreous china in a liquid form called slurry slip. Workers at the pottery first thin the slurry slip to a watery consistency. Then, they feed it through very fine screens in order to sieve out any impurities. The purified slip is thickened again, and pumped into storage tanks in preparation for use in casting.
	¥	9 Next, the slip is carried through hoses and pumps into the casting shop. Workers fill plaster of Paris molds with the slip. The molds are in the shape of the desired piece, except they are about 12% bigger, to allow for shrinkage. The workers fill the molds completely with the slip, and let it sit for about an hour. Then, the workers drain out any excess slip. This is recycled for later use. The clay sits in the mold for another few hours. The plaster of Paris absorbs water from the clay, and the clay dries to the point where the mold can be safely removed. At this point, the casting is semisolid, and is called greenware. Workers use hand tools and sponges to smooth the edges of the casting and to make holes for drains and fittings.
	¥	10 The greenware castings are left to dry in the open air for several days. Then they are put into a dryer for 20 hours. The
	¥	
	¥	Toilet bases are cast from a slurry of vitreous china and molded into the base shape. Once molded, the greenware, as it is called, goes through a series of drying, glazing, and firing steps until it reaches final inspection.
	¥	dryer is set to 200¡ F (93¡ C). After the castings come out of the dryer, they have lost all but about 0.5% of their moisture. At this point workers spray the greenware castings with glaze. Now, the pieces are ready for the kiln.
	¥	11 The kilns at a large industrial pottery are warehouse-sized tunnels, and the pieces move through the kiln on a conveyance called a car. Each car is loaded with a number of pieces, and then it moves automatically through the hot kiln at a very slow pace. Because rapid changes in temperature will cause the clay to crack, the cars move leisurely through graduated temperature zones: the first zone is about 400¡ F (204¡ C), and it increases in the middle of the kiln to over 2,200¡ F (1,204¡ C) degrees. The temperature gradually decreases from there, so that the final temperature is only about 200¡ F (93¡ C). The whole firing process takes approximately 40 hours.
	¥	12 When the pieces are removed from the kiln and fully cool, they are ready for inspection. After inspection, the flushing mechanism is installed. This is either manufactured at the plumbing fixture company or bought from a contractor. The seat too may be installed at this time, or the parts may be sold separately and assembled by a plumbing distributor.
Quality Control
As with any industrial process, quality checks are taken at several points in the manufacturing of toilets. The clay is sieved and purified before it is pumped into the factory's tanks. Workers doing the manual finishing of the castings check the pieces for cracks or deformities. After firing, each toilet is tested individually. Random sample checks are not a good enough gauge of quality: each piece must be inspected for cracks. There are several ways to do this. One test is to bounce a hard rubber ball against the piece. It should emit a clear, bell-like ringing sound. A cracked piece will give off a dull sound, indicating a crack that might not have been visually obvious.
Byproducts/Waste
The pottery is able to recycle much of its clay. As long as it has not been fired, all the clay is reusable. Even the air-dried greenware can be scrapped, softened and reprocessed into the watery slip of the first step of the process.
Where to Learn More
Books
Barlow, Ronald S. The Vanishing American Outhouse. El Cajon, California: Windmill Publishing Company, 1989.
Hart-Davis, Adam. Thunder, Flush and Thomas Crapper. North Pomfret, Vermont: Trafalgar Square Publishing, 1997.
Reyburn, Wallace. Flushed with Pride: The Story of Thomas Crapper. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1971.
ÑAngela Woodward








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Toilet paper is thought to have been introduced at around 850 in China.
In 1913, the Russian airline became the first to feature a toilet on board.
The movie Psycho is said to be the first film to show a toilet being flushed.
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The modern toilet was invented by a watchmaker
It is often incorrectly quoted that the toilet was invented by a Mr Thomas Crapper in the 18th century. Actually, simple toilets have been used since Babylonian times. In 1596, John Harrington invented an indoor water closet for Queen Elizabeth I. But Harrington then published a book with tasteless puns about his own invention. The toilet then dropped into obscurity for nearly 200 years. In 1775, London watchmaker Alexander Cummings patented the forerunner of today's toilet.
There was a Mr Crapper around at the time - he happened to be a successful plumber, appropriately.
The British word for toilet, "loo", derives from the French "garde a l'eau!" In medieval Europe people had liittle conception of hygene and threw the contents of their chamber pots out the window into the street below. In France the practice was preceded by "garde a l'eau!" ("watch out for the water!"). In England, this phrase was Anglicised, first to "gardy-loo!", then just "loo", and eventually came to mean the toilet/lavatory itself. The American word for toilet, "john", is called after the John Harington mentioned above.





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History The History of Bathing and Bathrooms
Bathing is a very old custom, practiced by the ancient Babylonians, Egyptians, and Romans. For a long

time, bathing was a common and welcome part of every-day life. As these ancient empires fell and Europe entered the Middle Ages, bathing suffered a decline. Cities were now being built without sewers or a water-delivery system, which made bathing a very difficult task. Bathing was widely discouraged by the church, which regarded it as a sinful pleasure of the flesh, as well as a vehicle for the spread of diseases such as plague and syphilis. Throughout the Middle Ages and into the eighteenth century, few people bathed regularly, if at all.
By the nineteenth century, ideas about bathing began to change. From the Middle Ages through the

renaissance, doctors warned against bathing, saying that it washed off a protective layer of filth. In the late 1700Õs, many doctors began to believe that regular baths would help cure the sick. In the mid 1800Õs, the discovery of germs demonstrated the benefits of cleanliness. Bathing gained popularity, and people began to take regular baths.
Taking a bath was not easy, however. Water had to be carried from rivers or public fountains to the house, heated on the stove, and poured into a large portable tub. For the wealthy, servants would carry out this difficult work, but the rest of the population had to do it for themselves. A bath was a major undertaking, and many families made a habit of bathing only once a week; usually on Saturday nights, so they could be clean on Sunday.
Tubs

In the early days of the resurgence of bathing, tubs were no more than large wooden buckets. These tubs were not fixed in a specialized room, because most families had their baths in the kitchen, next to the source of warm water, the stove. Wealthier people may have kept their tub in a hidden compartment in their bedrooms, and had servants bring hot water up from the kitchen. As bathing became more widespread, bathtubs were made of tin or copper, with a small plug and hole at the bottom to let the water drain out. These were built in the familiar long and rounded shape. Some bathtubs were built like lounge chairs, and a few even had cushioned backrests.
Toilets
The ancestor of the modern toilet was the outhouse, a small wooden building situated behind the main home, which consisted of a wooden seat placed

over a cesspit below. It could be a long walk to the outhouse, especially in the sub-zero temperatures of winter. The answer to this dilemma was the handy chamber pot; a round metal pot with handles which one kept hidden discretely beneath the bed until needed. The pot could be emptied into the cesspit of the outhouse in the morning. A few people had more elaborate versions of the chamber pot. Some would build a seat over the chamber pot, creating the closestool, which was often hidden away in a cupboard or water closet in the bedroom. People in these times were very private about cleanliness, and took great measures to keep toilet facilities hidden in elaborate and beautiful furniture disguises.
Sinks
The original sink was a pitcher and a bowl, which would be kept on a table in a bedroom. Many people built elaborate cupboards and panels to hide these items from view, a common practice when it came to bathroom facilities.
Indoor Plumbing
The tub, toilet, and sink were rarely found in one room together before indoor plumbing became available. Hot and

cold water could now be delivered to the home without heating on the stove or hauling up from a fountain. It was soon realized that tubs, toilets, and sinks could be linked to these water pipes to make life much easier. And if one had to install water pipes leading to only one room, then all the better. Thus the bathroom was born, a room with a ready supply of hot and cold water. The sink, tub, and toilet were pulled out of the shadows and thrust into public view. People became less shy about cleanliness, and toilet facilities lost their clever disguises.
In the early days of the bathroom, the facilities were made of tin or aluminum, while porcelain was favored by the wealthy. Later on, most tubs and sinks were made of the newly developed enameled cast iron, which became widely popular as a cheap substitute for porcelain.
The entire family shared the bathroom. In old houses, families would convert a small bedroom into a bathroom, as they did in Haney House. Newly built houses would have a room specially designated and designed as the bathroom.
Medicine Cabinet: The medicine cabinet is a common feature of most modern bathrooms. It probably appeared once the widespread use of patented medicines became common. Not all of these medicines actually helped cure anything, and many of them contained liberal quantities of alcohol and even various poisons as special ingredients.
Soap: Romans and Greeks used mixtures of oil and ash to remove dirt and sweat. The Gauls used a mix of fat and potash to make their hair shiny. Around 1250 AD people began to make and sell soap in blocks. After cleanliness became an important part of daily life, soap could soon be found in most homes. Many people in more isolated communities made their own soap using animal fat and lye.
Toothbrush: Different teeth-cleaning tools have been used by many cultures throughout history. Ancient peoples such as the Sumerians used toothpicks to clean their teeth. In sixteenth century China, an actual bristle toothbrush appeared. The toothbrush as we know it is said to have been invented by William Addis, who was a prisoner in the Newgate prison in London. He thought up the idea while he was in prison, and founded a toothbrush company upon his release.

Toilet Paper: When outhouses were in common use, most people used pieces of newspaper for toilet paper, and some even used dried corn leaves or corncobs. In the late 1800Õs the first commercially prepared toilet tissue became available for purchase, though it was some time before this became widely sold.


University of Wisconsin Madison:
"The Chamber Pot: Culture Contained."
November 15 - December 31, 2004
Kohler Art Library, Elvehjem Art Museum
Is there a cultural story in your toilet? What about in a chamber pot? Chamber pots have largely been neglected by the academic community and polite circles due to their less than savory connotations. This exhibit of chamber pots from 1450 to 1940 looks at the field of material culture as an approach to studying objects, analyzing the shifting cultural values embodied in the use of and production of chamber pots.

Curated by Matthew Baumann, Meghan Doherty, Matthew Harris, Ellen Hickman, Andrea Hoffman, Anna Huntley, Margaret Lee, Philip Lyons, Cory Pillen, and Sooyun Sohn (graduate students in Art History 800, "Ceramics in America," taught by Professor Ann Smart Martin).


Julie I. Horan opens her recently published look at the history of the toilet by saying, "Toilet-philes argue that civilization began not with the advent of written language but with the first toilet." The Porcelain God: A Social History of the Toilet explores the history of the toilet and the customs and manners that surround it. Starting at the third millennium B.C. Horan escorts the reader down through time to the modern day challenges of disposing of solid waste aboard a shuttle in space at a cost of 23.4 million dollars. 


"Clean & Decent"
the Fascinating History of the Bathroom and the Water-Closet by Lawrence Wright
Who would have thought there was so much to learn about toilets and bathroom culture? This is a great primer for those who wonder just how people did bathe and perform 'ablutions' before the days of indoor plumbing and water-trapped toilets for all (or at least those of us in western countries). Written in 1960, it assumes a bit more familiarity than most of us have with English-style boilers and toilets, and more knowledge of history than the average high school graduate would have today. 






gleaming tribute to human ingenuity stands silent and ready for use at a moments notice. This invention is now largely ignored, or taken for granted, but it has done as much to revolutionize the health of the world as any vaccine. This marvelous invention is the flush toilet.
We don't like to think about what our lives would be like without modern conveniences such as electricity, automobiles, and appliances. Could you imagine what your life would be like if you did not have modern plumbing? Most of us can not imagine life with out a toilet, but until the 1800's, disposal of human waste was a daily struggle, and a disgusting task.
The earliest written reference to the disposal of human waste is more than 3600 years old and is found in The Holy Bible. "And you shall have an implement among your equipment, and when you sit down outside, you shall dig with it and cover your refuse..."(Deuteronomy 23:12-13). For hundreds of thousands of years before the bible was written, human beings simply squatted when they had the urge to relieve themselves.


As the world became more populated, disposal of human wastes became a bit more difficult. In ancient Egypt, cities began to spring up from the desert. By 2500 B.C., the Egyptians had solved the waste disposal dilemma, and had constructed bathrooms with latrines which were flushed by hand with buckets of water. The latrines emptied into earthenware pipes, many of which are still functional today (Wright, Lawrence 10). Rome also had a public sewage system called cloxa maxima. It was constructed to prevent the streets from filling up with rain water and human waste. Public latrines were erected over channels of water. The latrines had stone seats with a hole in the center of them, much like the modern toilet seat that is in use today (Coleman Penny 26). Much of this forward- thinking technology had not spread to Europe, however, and the Europeans struggled with sanitation for centuries to come before they realized that something needed to be done.
By 1189, the city of London was an absolute mess. The population had grown rapidly, and many of it's inhabitants lived in squalor. London did have public and private facilities called garderobes. A garderobe was a toilet, or bank of toilets, either in a private castle or public hall. It was connected to a pipe through the side of the building that housed it. The waste emptied directly into a pit, moat, or river directly outside the building. A huge public garderobe emptied directly into the Thames river, causing stench and disease for the entire population of London. The Thames river was squalid and ripe with the smell of rotting sewage. A public law, stating that garderobes must be walled in, or at least 5 * feet from the nearest neighbor, was written in 1189 by the London Health Board, but the law did little to improve the sanitary conditions (Wright 50).

The garderobe was no longer built by the year 1530, and the close stool was the newest modern convenience. The close stool was simply a chair with a porcelain or metal pot underneath, which needed to be removed and emptied. The stool had a seat which was padded with velvet, and was often equipped with handles for traveling (Wright 68-70). This was a great invention for Kings and Queens, Noblemen and Ladies. The poor, however, still relieved themselves in the street, or in a bucket or cistern inside their homes.
What did these people do with the waste? They threw it out into the street, of course. They would shout "gardez l'eau" (watch out for the water) before tossing the contents of their chamber pot out an open window or door, usually to the dismay of the passers by on the street. Londoners would rather live with the stench and filth than pay higher taxes to have underground sewer systems installed (Coleman 45). The public had not yet made the association with sewage and disease.
R.H Mottram, in 1830, stated in a public report regarding the streets of Leeds, England: "568 streets were taken in for examination...Whole streets were flooded with sewage... The death rate in the clean streets was 1 in 36; and in the dirty streets; 1 in 24." Children seemed to be dying at an amazing rate. Death rates for children were 480 per thousand in the city, while in the country, the death rate for children was 240 per thousand (Wright 144). The rulers, as well as the public, knew that something must be done. Cholera was rampant and the smell was unbearable. Louis Pastuer, a noted scientist, convinced Europe that if drinking water came from a well, it may be contaminated from any number of nearby cesspits, and if it came from a river, it was most certainly contaminated ( 148). The Cholera epidemic between 1844-1855 claimed 20,000 lives, and something had to be done, so London built a sewer system (149). With the new sewer system came the need for a toilet that flushed with water in order to prevent the future spread of disease, and the flush toilet was born.



Leornardo da Vinci drew plans for a number of flushing water closets for the castle of Francis I at Ambrose, including flushing channels inside the walls, and a ventilating system which reached through the roof. Unfortunately, like DaVinci's plans for flying machines and military tanks, the project was scrapped and considered nonsense ( 54-55). For the actual invention of the flush toilet, the credit must go to Sir John Harrington.
Sir John Harrington, godson to Queen Elizabeth I, was a writer by trade. In 1596 he penned a tongue- in- cheek article named "Plan Plots of a Privy of Perfection." In the article, he described in detail his invention, the first flushing water closet. He erected one at Kelston, near Bath, England. The water closet, for the most part, worked, and the Queen had Sir John install a water closet in the Royal Palace. The Queen was so pleased with her new convenience, that she had his article bound, and hung it next to her water closet. One of the many problems with Sir John's water closet was that it was inadequately vented, and sewer gas constantly leaked into the Royal powder room. The Queen remedied this problem by placing bowls of herbs and fragrances around the room (71). The flush toilet, however, would not be deemed "popular" for several hundred years.

The belief that Thomas Crapper invented the first patented flushing water closet is untrue (Kerr Daisy 63). The first patent for the flushing water closet was actually issued to Alexander Cummings in 1775. A watchmaker by trade, Cummings designed a toilet in which the water supply was brought low into the bowl, and some water remained after each flush. "The advantage of this water closet," he stated, "depends upon the shape of the bowl." The Cummings water closet was generally made of copper. It was a great improvement, but the seal at the bottom of the toilet leaked, continually emitting sewer gases into the home (Wright 107). No one was aware at that time, that sewer gases were highly explosive, as well as great bacteria carriers. Other inventors sought to change both of those problems. Joseph Bramah, a cabinetmaker who regularly "fitted-up" water closets, sought to improve Cummings original idea, and a patent was issued to him in 1778. Bramah discovered that by replacing Cumming's string valve closure with a crank-type mechanism, he would essentially get an air tight seal between the toilet and what ever offending odors may be lurking beneath it. There were some problems with this new toilet, however. The flushing action failed quite often, it was incredibly noisy, and the seal would dry up if the toilet was not used often enough. Although Bramah installed over 6,000 toilets by 1797, without a tight seal, the sewer gas problem remained (107).

By 1860, people around Europe were tired of the odor from the sewer gases escaping into their homes. Along came the inventor Henry Moule, with his patented Earth Closet. This wonderful commode dispensed dirt or ashes on to the offensive materials, rendering them odorless. The problem with Moule's invention was that the contents had to be emptied by hand. People bought the earth closet in great numbers though, because they could hardly stand the stench in their own homes from their previous toilet experiences (208).
Thomas Crapper, an industrious plumber, opened his shop on Marlborough Street in London in 1861, and aptly named it The Marlboro' Works of Thomas Crapper & Company (Reyburn Wallace 11). Crapper continuously tested toilets at Marlboro Works, so much so that he had a 250 gallon water tank installed on the roof of his building (17). Crapper's claim to fame is the improvements that he made to the water closet. He invented a pull- chain system for powerful flushing, and an air tight seal between the toilet and the floor. He also patented several venting systems for venting the sewer gas by way of a pipe through the roof (50).
Crapper also teamed up with Thomas Twyford, the pottery maker. Twyford changed his pottery assembly lines from turning out tableware to turning out toilets, with Crapper supplying the inner-workings. Twyford also made toilets into art pieces, by molding them into many shapes including dolphins ( 40). The fine porcelain makers Wedgewood and Royal Doulton soon followed suit (Stein Rod). None of the porcelain manufacturers were opposed to the free advertising, as the names of their firms were emblazoned on the toilet, in a conspicuous place (Barlow Ronald 2).
Across the Atlantic, Americans were still using chamber pots, but only in the event of an emergency such as illness or bad weather. Other than that, people used the outhouse, a small building constructed over an open pit with a bench inside into which several holes were fashioned. The user would sit over the hole and relieve himself (Barlow 1). The flush toilet did not gain popularity in the United States until after World War I, when American troops came home from England full of talk about a "mighty slick invention called the crapper." The American slang term for the toilet, "the john," is said to be derived from the flushing water closets at Harvard university installed in 1735, and emblazoned with the manufacturer's name, Rev. Edward Johns (Reyburn 76).
The flush toilet is an invention of which humanity can be very proud. Without this marvelous contraption, disease would still be rampant and water supplies throughout the world would be undrinkable. The next time you see a toilet, standing at attention in a bathroom, remember the many inventors and plumbers that made it a clean, simple, easy to use device that makes our lives a little easier.
Maureen Francis
(Sylvan's Guest Writer this Week!)