The first flush toilet was invented by Tomas Crapper in 1884. It wasfirst presented in a large Health Exhibition in London. The items thatwere used in the original “flush-test” were four tests that consisted of 3wads of paper, a sponge, 4 greased paper sheets and 10 apples. As theseitems were tossed in one after the other, the crowd was surprised by thisgreat break- through in toilet efficiency.
No, Mr. Crapper did not invent the toilet, he was the first to make apractical and efficient system to rid someone of waste. There were manyprior toilet designs and types used. Some of these consisted of thecompost toilet (which consisted of using heat to evaporate sewage and out apipe), an oil-flushed toilet (this used recyclable mineral oil, but wasnot-efficient enough), the bioelectric toilet (which used heat andcirculating air to clean waste), incinerating toilet (these reduced wasteto ash), biological toilets (which used enzymes to dissolve waste), andfinally the earth closet (a pit like well that sealed the waste in soilbelow).
All of these methods created were all inefficient in some way. Whetheris was the smell, the inability to get rid of the waste, the slowness, orthe tremendous energy put into it for every bow- movement. The basicmechanism was very simple–it was made of a float, a metal arm and asiphonic action to empty the reservoir of water.
In the beginning of this method was not popular and the flush toiletwas given the name “Valveless Water Waste Prevented”. The slogan used tosell this product was “Certain Flush with easy Pull. Will Flush when onlyTwo-Thirds Full”. Today, every toilet (or similar flushing thing) is basedon Tomas Crapper’s original model.
This invention defiantly changed the world and made it a MUCH moresanitary place! This breakthrough has unarguably saved thousands of livessince its creation. Before this toilet, there was such highly unsanitaryconditions that a hugh cholera epidemic in London in mid 19th centuryclaimed 30,000 lives!I learned many things from this report, I think one important thing ishow surprised I was that this flushable-toilet was not invented a long timeago! Can you imagine what the world would be like without the efficientflush toilets we have today ? Think of this the next time you make a punof the name “Crapper”.
