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Who is Thomas Crapper and why you should care The history of the toilet Time lines: King minas of Crete had the first flushing water closet recorded in history and that was over 2800 yrs. A toilet was discover in the tomb of a Chinese king of the western Han Dynasty that dates back to 206 B.C to 24 A.D. The Romans had a system of sewers. They built simply outhouses or latrines directly over running water that empty into the Tiber River. [Wow, people must had avoided that area like the plague, you think?] Chamber pots were used during the middle ages. They were made out of metal or ceramic, you use it then you toss the content. (often out the window). “Talk about been shit upon” In 1596 a flushing toilet was invented and built for Queen Elizabeth 1 by her grandson Sir John Harrington The very first patent “No 1105” was on Nov 11 1775, was issue to watchmaker & inventor Alexander Cumming. 60 yrs. before Thomas Crapper was born. Thomas Crapper (1836 to 1910) The of a Yorkshire steamboat captain. Young Crapper destiny was set in stone, by age 14, when he apprentice to a master plumber. Clearly an industrials sort, Crapper was awarded 9 patents for plumbing innovation during his lifetime. Others he bought outright. The one you might know is the float in your bowl and the S trap system below the toilet. By age 25, he started Thomas Crapper & Co. Ltd. The first fully and successful manufacturing of toilet, sinks and tubs. He display his wares out front in glass show place, it’s been reported that woman in that time period, would walk by and pass out at the sight of it. He also supplied plumbing fixtures to Windsor Castle, Buckingham Palace & Westminster Abbey and many others royal estate. He made one device that wasn’t so popular, It was a spring load seat, as the incumbent arose, the seat leap up; pulling a rod to flush the toilet. But as the rubber on the bottom seat wore out, it would stick to the toilet, but being spring load, in a few seconds it would pop up to pull the chain. It affectionately became known as the Bottom Slapper. Needless to say, “The Royals were not impress.” Back when WW1 was raging across Europe, most of our service members “God bless you all” never saw toilets in America, but in Europe they were everywhere. With the Thomas Crapper& Co. logo on then. Thus the slang “Going to the crapper” came back from over overseas. The company is still in business today, they also made manhole covers, which for some strange reason is becoming a tourist attraction in Europe. Why I’ll never know. Imagine asking your buddy what you did over there, and he says “I spent the day looking at CRAPPERS.” |
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And so today we can say we use the crapper.
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