History of the Toilet

By: Elisa CorsiniApril 10, 2013

Going Inside

2500 BC- Harappa city dwellers built indoor toilets

Non-flushable toilets empty into a sewer system

1500 BC – The technology is lost during an invasion

Advances in toilets take place in Europe

Royal Flush

1500 BC- Plumbers of Crete installed a flushable toilet for the Queen

When flushed, the rainwater fills the bowl and the contents empty through clay pipes

1400 AC- Earthquake destroyed the palace

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Really Public Bathrooms

800 BC- Cloaca Maxima construction in Rome Sewer System that carried waste to Tiber

River Toilets made above sewers 11,000 toilets lined in rectangular rooms– no

privacy To wipe they used ONE sponge at the end of

a stick

This Job is the Pits

1300 AD- Europeans used outhouses and sheds with a seat built over a hole in the ground

While cleaning, Richard the Racer fell through the hole and drown

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Heads Up

1500- Indoor toilets called chamber pots

When the bowl is full, the waste gets tossed out the window

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A Charmin’ Idea

1857- New Yorker Joseph Gayetty introduced toilet paper

Each sheet had Gayetty’s signature Before toilet paper, people used

whatever they could find

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Bathroom Reading

1672- Devoted but busy readers could buy chamber pots disguised as a stack of books

Stop Making Scents

1775- Alexander Cummings created S-traps- a modern flushable toilet

The S-trap allows waste to go down taking the smell with it

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Sculptured Seats

1885- Thomas Twyford introduced Unitas- one piece ceramic toilets

Eliminates leaky joints which caused bad smells

Many ceramic toilets take on elaborate decorations

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Minding Your Business

1999- The Matsushita Electronic Industrial Company of Japan look at toilets smarter than you

High tech bowl measures weight and body-fat content

Chemical sensors analyze information regarding health

Interesting Facts

November 19th- World Toilet Day

The average person spends 3 years of their life sitting on a toilet

There are 333 squares of toilet paper in each role

Fun Toilet Facts | It Thing!