5/9/13Jacobee Roscoe

“History of the Toilet”

The Harappan city dwellers of Indus Valley build the earliest known indoor toilets.

These toilets did not flush and empty into a brick- lined sewer system.

Going inside

Plumbers on the Greek island of Crete install the world's first flush toilet in the queen's bathroom.

It will be centuries before toilet technology rises to this level again.

Royal Flush

Rome used public toilets built above the sewer

As many as 11,000 seats are lined up in rectangular rooms along stone henches--with no partitions for privacy.

Really Public Bathrooms

1300 AD: By now many Europeans are doing their business in outhouses

A man named Richard the Raker had a fatal accident when he was cleaning his outhouse. He fell through the rotted wood floors and drown in his own monstrously excrement.

This Job is the Pits

Heads Up

Many European city dwellers relieve themselves indoors in a bowl called a chamber pot.

When the pot is full, they just toss the contents out the window, shouting "Gardy-loo!"

Joseph Gayetty of New York introduces toilet paper. Each sheet is proudly printed with Gayetty's signature

Before this, people used whatever they could find, including dried corncobs and pages from catalogs.

A Charmin’ Idea

Devoted readers who don't have time to leave the library can buy a fancy chamber pot disguised as a stack of books

Bathroom Reading

An English watchmaker named Alexander Cummings patents a device known as the S-trap, and the modern flush toilet is-finally born.

The S-trap is a valve that keeps the bowl filled with water.

Stop Making Scents

Englishman Thomas Twyford introduces the Unitas, the first one Piece, all-ceramic toilet

The new john eliminates the leaky joints that made earlier wood-and-metal models smelly

Sculptured Seats

1999: The Matsushita Electronic Industrial Company of Japan previews a toilet that's smarter than you are.

The high-tech bowl measures your weight and body-fat con tent, and chemical sensors inside analyze your output for information about your health.

Minding Your Business

The average person spends three whole years of their life sitting on the toilet.

The film “Psycho” was the first movie to show a toilet flushing – the scene caused an inpouring of complaints about indecency.

The Scott Paper Company is the first company to manufacture tissue on a roll, specifically for the use of toilet paper.

Toilet fun facts