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The Story of the Toilet
by Douglas Camilli
You use it every day and so does everyone you know. You probably
don’t give it a second thought (and I can’t say I blame you), but the toilet has
a long, interesting history.
King Minos of Crete owned the first flushing water closet almost three thousand
years ago. This innovation in waste disposal, however, didn’t catch on for some
reason. It wasn’t until 1594 that a flushing water closet was built again, by
Sir John Harrington for Queen Elizabeth.
Even so, the flushing toilet didn’t reappear until Victorian times. The
invention of the modern flushing toilet is usually attributed to Thomas Crapper,
a British plumber and inventor, but this is actually not true. Though Crapper
did invent various improvements to the water closets of his time, the patent for
the flushing toilet was given to Alexander Cummings in 1775. Cummings was a
watchmaker who lived in London. He invented a method of keeping a small amount
of water in the toilet bowl after every flush in order to prevent unpleasant
sewer odors from getting into houses.
Thomas Crapper did put a lasting mark on the toilet’s history simply through his
name. American soldiers stationed in Europe during World War I picked the word
“crapper” up from the “T. Crapper” they saw printed on European toilets.
“Crapper” then became a euphemism for a toilet.
Before the invention of the flush toilet by Alexander Cummings, most people,
especially those who lived in rural areas, used outdoor outhouses. In some
regions this practice continued into the twentieth century until the use of the
flush toilet became widespread.
Surely we are all grateful to men like Alexander Cummings, who greatly improved
the cleanliness of our homes and cities. Flush toilets are so common nowadays
that most of us probably don’t even think about them or the fact that not so
long ago they didn’t exist.
Improvements in toilet design over the years since its invention include toilets
in long-distance buses, ferries, airplanes, and trains. Public toilets in some
countries such as France completely clean themselves after someone leaves.
High-tech toilets, mainly being developed in Japan, include things like
seat-warmers, jets of water for cleansing, automated opening and closing of the
toilet’s lid, and fans to dispel disagreeable smells.
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