History of the Toilet

By Jackson Haack

Going inside • 2500 BC• The toilets empty into a brick-

lined sewer system• This plumbing technology was

lost around 1500 BC

Royal Flush

• 1500 BC• Plumbers on Crete installed the

world's first flush toilet. • When flushed, a tankful of water

releases into the bowl and washes waste down pipes

Really public Bathrooms • 800 BC• In Rome• Cloaca Maxima, is an

enormous sewer system

• 11,000 seats are lined up in rectangular rooms

• No privacy

The job is the Pits • 1300 AD• Europeans used outhouses• Richard the Raker was cleaning

out his outhouse • Unexpectedly, he fell through

the floor and drown in his own excrement

Heads Up• 1500’s• Europeans relieved themselves

indoors in a chamber pot. • When full, they just tossed the

contents out the window, shouting "Gardy-loo” to warn anybody walking below.

Bathroom Reading • 1672• Devoted readers could buy a fancy

chamber pot disguised as a stack of books

• The most popular model in France.

→

Stop Making Scents • 1775• Alexander Cummings

patents the S-trap• The S-trap is a valve that

keeps the bowl filled with water, without letting smells come up.

A Chaiman’ Ideas

• 1857• Joseph Gayetty introduced toilet paper• Each sheet had Gayetty's signature. • Before this, people used whatever they could find:• dried corncobs • catalog pages

Sculptured Seats • 1885• Englishman Thomas Twyford

introduces the Unitas• All-ceramic toilet• The new john eliminates the

leaky joints that made earlier models smelly.

• These ceramic toilets caught on quickly

Minding Your Business • 1999• The Matsushita Company of

Japan previews a toilet that's smarter than you are.

• The high-tech bowl:• measures your weight • body-fat content• chemical sensors analyze your

health.

Fun Facts

0The average person spends 3 months of their lifetime sitting on the toilet, so eat that taco on the toilet