Who Invented the Toilet Bowl?

Everyone uses the bathroom several times a day; however, how often do people think about who invented the toilet bowl? The answer is probably not too often, if even at all. Perhaps they should though, since they clearly owe these people a great deal of thanks. Before the toilet, the practice of disposing of waste products was quite unsanitary and quite disgusting. People simply threw their dirty water and other waste products out into the streets. Modern advances show us that getting rid of waste in such a way can cause contamination, pollution, and overall unpleasantness in an area.

Sir John Harrington, a member of Queen Elizabeth I's court, planted the seeds for the modern day toilet. He invented an indoor water closet, or flushing toilet, for Queen Elizabeth I. He did this by creating a valve that would release water from the water closet when it was pulled. His suggestion was to pull on the valve once a day for sanitary reasons. Of course, he was a bit off, and the modern toilet needs to be flushed much more than once a day, both for sanitary reasons and for preventing clogs. However, he was on the right track.

Afterwards, Harrington published a book full of dirty puns and jokes about his own invention. His achievement then fell into obscurity, and was not resurrected for hundreds of years. Despite his blunder, he is still credited with having created the first flushing toilet bowl.

Before the Toilet

In medieval Europe, after people relieved themselves, they would open up the windows and throw their waste products out into the streets. These are the same streets where food was sold, animals roamed, and children played. Did they have absolutely no concept of personal and social hygiene, or did they just not have the means and technology needed in order to care about and solve such an alarming issue?

Interestingly, the medievel method of disposal helped to shape the language of the loo today. Before they threw their wastes out of the window, the French would shout "garde a l'eau" meaning "Watch out for the water!" In British, this phrase was translated to "gardy-loo." The "gardy" was eventually dropped, and the phrase became the British word for toilet, which is still in usage today.

Thomas Crapper Plumbing Inventions

So if the person who invented the toilet bowl disappeared into historic oblivion, then how did the modern toilet finally come into being? Thomas Crapper is often credited with the development of the modern flushing toilet. Crapper was involved in the plumbing industry, and had nine patents approved for different plumbing items between 1861 and 1904. One of them was for the floating ball cock in the toilet; but, none of them were for the flushing toilet.

However, one of his employees, Albert Giblin, received a British patent for a "Silent Valveless Water Waste Preventer," also known as the modern toilet bowl. Crapper eventually purchased the rights to this patent, and he was the first one to market the modern toilet bowl on a massive scale. His ability to market the toilets is a major reason why he is often credited with inventing the toilet bowl. People tend to remember who made the money from the sales of a product.

In fact though, three separate men are to thank for that item which many people take for granted. The next time an individual takes the toilet bowl for granted, he or she should really think about the alternative. We could still be living in a time where waste products were left in the streets to rot, or where at any given moment, someone could be opening up a window to release the contents of their family's waste buckets upon our heads.