The Constipation Express: Everything You Need To Be A Pooper
Toilets In The Ancient World
In the ancient world people were capable of designing quite sophisticated toilets. Stone age farmers who lived in a village at Skara Brae in the Orkney Islands used stone huts with drains built under them, and some houses had cubicles over the drains. (They may have been inside toilets.)
In Ancient Egypt the wealthy had proper bathrooms and toilets in their homes. The seats were made of limestone. The poor made do with a wooden stool with a hole in it. Underneath was a container filled with sand, which had to be emptied by hand. (If you were wealthy slaves did that!)
In the Indus Valley civilization (c.2,600-1,900 BC) streets were built on a grid pattern and networks of sewers were dug under them. Toilets were flushed with water.
On the island of Crete the Minoan civilization flourished from 2,000 to 1,600 BC. They too built drainage systems, which also took sewage. Toilets were flushed with water.
The Romans also built sewers to collect rainwater and sewage. They even had a goddess of sewers called Cloacina! Although the wealthy had their own toilets, the Romans also built public lavatories. In them there was no privacy - just stone seats next to one another without partitions of any kind. Despite the public lavatories many people still went in the street. After using the toilet people wiped their behinds with a sponge on a stick.
Toilets Of The Middle Ages
There were actually public lavatories in the Middle Ages. Toilets were simply pits in the ground with wooden seats over them. Monks often built stone or wooden lavatories over rivers. At Portchester Castle in the 12th century monks built stone chutes leading to the sea. When the tide went in and out it would flush away the sewage.
In castles the toilet was called a garderobe and it was simply a vertical shaft with a stone seat at the top. Some garderobes emptied into the moat. People hung their robes in the garderobe because they believed the smell would ward off moths. The wealthy often used rags to wipe their behinds, while everybody else used a plant called common mullein or woolly mullein. In time the word garderobe changed to wardrobe.
Modern Day Toilets
Although there were public lavatories in the 16th century, they were rare at that time. Often people went wherever they could. In 1547 people were forbidden to go in the courtyards of royal palaces so presumably it must have been a real nuisance.
In 1596 Sir John Harrington invented a flushing lavatory with a cistern. However the idea failed to catch on. People continued to use chamber pots or cess pits, which were cleaned by men called gong farmers. (In the 16th century a toilet was called a jakes).
In 1775 Alexander Cumming was granted a patent for a flushing lavatory, and in 1778 Joseph Brahmah made a better design. However, flushing toilets were a luxury and they did not become common till the late 19th century. In the early 19th century working class homes often did not have their own toilet and had to share one. Sometimes you had to queue to use it.
Also popular in the 19th century were earth closets. An earth closet was a box of granulated clay over a pan. You pulled a lever and clay covered the contents of the pan. In rural areas flushing lavatories did not replace earth closets until the early 20th century.
Toilet pans were made of porcelain. They were usually decorated, embossed or painted with attractive colors. Seats were of wood and cisterns were often emptied by pulling a chain. At first toilet bowls were boxed in but the first pedestal toilet bowl was made in 1884. Meanwhile the vacant/engaged bolt for public toilets was patented in 1883. However, inside toilets were still considered a luxury. Working class homes almost always had outside lavatories. About 1900 some houses were built for skilled workers with bathrooms and inside toilets. However it was decades before inside toilets became universal.
The first modern public lavatory, with flushing toilets opened in London in 1852. Meanwhile Joseph Gayetty invented toilet paper in 1857. At first toilet paper was sold in sheets. It was first sold in rolls in the USA in 1890. It was first sold in rolls in Europe in 1928. Soft toilet paper went on sale in 1942. However, after it was invented, in the west toilet paper was a luxury. In the early 20th century many families used newspaper.
Thomas Crapper
Thomas Crapper was born in Thorne, Yorkshire, in 1836. His father, Charles, was a sailor. In 1853 he was an apprentice to his brother George, a master plumber. After his apprenticeship and three years as a journeyman plumber, Crapper set himself up as a sanitary engineer, with his own brass foundry and workshops. His company, Thomas Crapper & Co, owned the world's first bath, toilet and sink showroom. In a time when bathroom fixtures were barely spoken of, Crapper heavily promoted sanitary plumbing and pioneered the concept of the bathroom fittings showroom. Contrary to widespread misconceptions, Crapper did not invent the flush toilet. He did, however, do much to increase the popularity of the toilet.
In the 1880s, Prince Edward purchased his country seat of Sandringham House in Norfolk and asked Thomas Crapper & Co. to supply the plumbing, including thirty lavatories with cedarwood seats and enclosures, thus giving Crapper his first Royal Warrant. (Royal warrants of appointment have been issued for centuries to tradespeople who supply goods or services to a royal court or certain royal personages.)
It has often been claimed that "crap" originated with Thomas Crapper when American servicemen stationed in England during World War I saw his name on cisterns and used it as army slang, i.e. "I'm going to the crapper".
Types Of Toilets
Squat Toilet
The squat toilet (also called “squatter” or “squatty-potty”) consisted of a hole in the ground. However, there are modern versions that flush like a seated toilet, which are not to be compared to a contemporary portable toilet that has no plumbing. To use this toilet, one is in a squatting position rather than sitting, by placing one foot on each side of the toilet and squatting over it.
In public lavatories they’re in separate stalls, and include toilet tissue rolls for the user's convenience. The squatting method is accompanied by advantages such as health benefits. The squat toilet is most commonly found in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, but can also occasionally be found in some European (Romania), Mediterranean, and South American countries.
Closed Stool
A slightly more comfortable and dignified toilet was the closed stool. If you’ve ever wondered how feces came to be called “stool”, well, take a guess. The Closed Stool was similar to a modern toilet-chair. It was a box with a hole in it. Inside the box was a large bucket. After the daily interaction with the stool, the bucket was removed, emptied, washed and replaced inside the stool. An altogether cleaner and more comfortable toiletry experience, however, what was done with the waste when the bucket was full is another matter.
HISTORY
An evolving business that really stinks...
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Thomas Crapper
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The Thomas Crapper
branding that appeared
on their toilets.
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A toilet bowl from the
Weald and Downland Museum.
HISTORY
Poops
and
Bladders
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