The Flush in Toilets

Isn’t it interesting to think that something so basic yet so necessary would be something like Flush Toilets? Come to think of it, since it was invented like every other thing except natural resources, we should all thank the one who invented them. Flush toilets have surely made our lives easier and have helped us adapt to an efficient way of separating us from our waste.

One of the earliest flush toilets established in the Elizabethan Era; Source: toiletology

As hilarious as it sounds, separating us from our waste is one of the most needed things in today’s time to maintain hygiene and save us from deadly diseases that can be caused by sewage.

What is attributed as one of the most important contributions to the whole world, this invention is often credited to Thomas Crapper who was a Victorian Plumber. However, those who give credit for inventing flush toilets to Crapper are giving the credit to the wrong person. Why so when most people are giving it to Crapper only? This is because the flush toilets were an invention of Sir John Harrington back in 1596. He was a courtier of the Elizabethan era.

Crapper did most certainly play a crucial role in encouraging people to install the toilets as well as the hand basins; however, he was the one who invented the lavatory and not flush toilets per se. He was the one who patented the U-bend and floating ballcock parts of a toilet.

Coming back to the real and deserving-credit inventor of the flush toilets, they were earlier known as water closets and were first installed in the Richmond Palace. However, the idea of using water to drain the sewage is around 4000 years old, dating back to the Bronze Age. Yes, by the Bronze Age, I mean the Indus Valley Civilisation. Indus Valley Civilization gave us a lot of systemic working of different systems of infrastructure at that early age. Sanitation and flushed communal toilets with running water were some of the essential systems that the Indus Valley Civilisation provided us with. Us humans advanced that technology and later in the 1500s came to the flushed toilets or perhaps water closets as they were known then.

The first flush toilet consisted of a waterproof oblong bowl. That bowl was two feet deep and made with a mix of wax, pitch, and resin. The resisted part about this toilet was that at one flush, it would consume and send away 7.5 gallons of water. Since it was a new invention at the time it was installed at the Richmond Palace, the common folk found it expensive and something only made for the royals and the rich. It did take time for the people to get used to the concept and adopt flush toilets in their houses but sometime later, they came around to it.

Slowly, as the concept of flush toilets started to flourish and more and more people began adopting the flush toilets, new systems of its working came into existence. There were the S, U, J, and P-shaped bends incorporated as ways for the waste to exit the system and the toilet bowls through flushing.

It was in the 18th century that Crapper took the concept of flush toilets and turned it into a whole line. Crapper only took the idea and ran with it hence he’s often known as the inventor of flush toilets. That is also the same reason that we often refer to the slang term waste as ‘crap’. The credit goes to Crapper.

The world started going through a revolution and so did the flush toilets when they got helpful additions such as the flush valve, water tanks, and toilet papers. Even if these things were made available and invented to make the use of toilets easier and complement the flush toilets, it’s amusing to know that they’re all now a part of essential needs.

Model of the first working flush toilet; Source: The Family Handman