Who can claim the invention of one of the most important contributions to human health? Is it Sir John Harington, Alexander Cumming, Thomas Crapper, or the idea of an anonymous individual who lived thousands of years ago?
Although Sir John Harington did not impress Queen Elizabeth with his invention and installation of the first flushing toilet in Richmond Palace in 1596, he did receive support from other royals. The flush toilet didn’t impress the public either. Needing almost 28 liters per flush, it was seen by them as an expensive indulgence already back then!
In 1755 , Alexander Cumming, an English inventor received the first patent for a flush toilet. He is also credited for the invention of the s-bend in the pipe below the toilet bowl. This special s-bend was very important as it prevented odours from re-entering the building.
Thomas Crapper, in the late 19th century, developed the floating ballcock and u-valve that is still being used in modern toilets today. Mr Crapper invented the “lavvy” formally known as the lavatory, which is a 2-in-1 toilet with a hand-wash basin combined. He manufactured one of the first widely successful lines of flush toilets.
Although the English word “crap” predates him by centuries and means feces or something of poor or inferior quality, Crapper’s name would become synonymous with the devices he sold thanks in part to American servicemen stationed overseas during World War I. These “doughboys” referred to the toilets as “crappers”. The term came home with them and is still widely used and recognised today.
However, the idea of flushing toilets date back are far as the Bronze age. The Indus Valley has evidence of this.
The toilets were flushed using a jar of water, drawn from the house’s central well. This was led through a clay brick pipe and into a shared brick drain, that would feed into an adjacent soak pit.
The soak pits would be periodically emptied of their solid matter, to be used as fertilizer.
The Indus Valley civilisation recognized the value of recycling biological waste resources.
It is bizarre to think that after 4000 years of “progress” and with so many billions more of us all consuming the dwindling resources and spewing out vast amounts of waste, we have not been able to respond to the global need for safely managed, sustainable sanitation that addresses the benefits of a closed-loop system. Instead we continue to utilise water wasting technologies and generate unnecessary waste in the form of fecal sludge.
Many advances are being made in the understanding and implementation of safe, dignified, closed-loop toilet systems.
Changing peoples’ mindsets however, about urine diversion, dry sanitation and nutrient recycling, remains the greatest challenge.
