Crapper did not invent the toilet, but he did develop the ballcock, an improved tank-filling mechanism still used in toilets today. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! Twice a week we compile our most fascinating features and deliver them straight to you.
Live TV. This Day In History. And that was the second residence in my short career that began with the bathroom. More commonly though, toilets shape the spaces of our skyscrapers.
It was actually years earlier, during the 16th century, that Europe discovered modern sanitation. The credit for inventing the flush toilet goes to Sir John Harrington, godson of Elizabeth I, who invented a water closet with a raised cistern and a small downpipe through which water ran to flush the waste in He built one for himself and one for his godmother; sadly, his invention was ignored for almost years: it was was not until that Alexander Cummings, a watchmaker, developed the S-shaped pipe under the toilet basin to keep out the foul odours.
As the population of Britain increased during the 19th century, the number of toilets did not match this expansion.
In overcrowded cities, such as London and Manchester, up to people might share a single toilet. Sewage, therefore, spilled into the streets and the rivers. This found its way back into the drinking water supply which was brown when it came out of the pipes and was further polluted by chemicals, horse manure and dead animals; as a result, tens of thousands died of water-borne disease, especially during the cholera outbreaks of the s and s.
In , the government decreed that every new house should have a water-closet WC or ash-pit privy. However, after a particularly hot summer in , when rotting sewage resulted in " the great stink pictured right in a cartoon of the day ", the government commissioned the building of a system of sewers in London; construction was completed in At last, deaths from cholera, typhoid and other waterborne diseases dropped spectacularly.
He patented a number of toilet-related inventions but did not actually invent the modern toilet, although he was the first to display his wares in a showroom right. Bathroom technology really arrived in the 20th century with flushable valves, water tanks resting on the bowl itself and toilet paper rolls first marketed only in As a result, companies all over the world moved to develop better, low-flush toilets to prevent clogging.
Many toilets now have automatic flushes and the sealed " vacuum water closet ", as seen on planes or boats, is already being introduced in some countries, most notably Japan. Some of these toilets also compost the waste produced so it can be used as a garden fertiliser pictured right. This device is still used in toilets today and helps the water tank fill up with just enough water to distribute to the bowl.
His inventions and sales efforts got the attention of King Edward VII, who commissioned Crapper to build private bathrooms in the royal palace. Crapper worked alongside other inventors who helped him improve the flush toilet and its various parts and components.
They were responsible for implementing some of the changes that occurred to toilets throughout the 20th century. The flush valve moves water from the tank into the bowl after the flushing action has occurred. The Industrial Revolution helped the flush toilet to become more common among everyday people rather than just the nobility. Toilets still used the original S-shaped pipe invented by Alexander Cummings. In , William Elvis Sloan invented the Flushometer , which directly accessed the supply lines to force pressurized water into the toilet for more efficient flushing.
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