From Chamber Pot to Smart Toilet: Key Events in the History of Toilets

From Chamber Pot to Smart Toilet: Key Events in the History of Toilets

They’re humble. The butt of jokes. Taken for granted and underappreciated. But toilets are one of the most important public health inventions we’ve ever known. Have you ever thought about their history? How they evolved to what they are today? And where they’re going in the future?

Lucky for us, Angela and Shawn, hosts of Orenco System’s “Make It Clear” podcast, did all the research for us. Here are our top 10 highlights from Episode #101, “History of the Toilet,” that will make you take another look at the unassuming commode.

1. Back in the late 1500s, people referred to chamber pots and garderobes as “a jakes.” Sir John Harrington – an inventor, poet, tinkerer, court gossip, and godson of Queen Elizabeth I – wasn’t one to buck a trend. He developed what history considers the very first true water-flush toilet – and he named it the “Ajax,” a wordplay on the popular slang term. Though its marketing idea was genius, the Ajax didn’t catch on.
2. Alexander Cumming, a Scottish watchmaker and inventor, should receive more credit for his work. Not only did he receive the first patent for a flush-toilet design in 1775, but he also invented the S-trap – a plumbing feature on the toilet with its namesake “S” shape that prevents odors from coming back up the drain.
3. Another inventor worth knowing: Joseph Brahma. In 1778, he improved the flush-toilet design with a flap in the bottom of the bowl that prevented liquids (and other things) from coming back up through the drainpipe. The flap is now engineered into the tank. Fun fact: Brahma’s flap caught on great with the Navy – it stopped oceanwater from rising up through the head during rough seas.    
4. We have Joseph Bazalgette to thank for getting rid of The Great Stink of 1858. The tremendous stench rose from London’s overflowing cesspits and untreated waste flowing into the River Thames. He was tasked with building out the sewers in the city – he did and then some. As a result of his overbuilding, flush toilets became more mainstream.
5. The popularity of toilets sparked the first consumer “sanitaryware” showrooms. In the late 1800s, a man named Thomas Crapper started a new business, T. Crapper and Company, that sold sanitaryware – i.e. toilets, baths, and sinks – with showrooms and galleries that featured wooden, metal, and porcelain plumbing fixtures for bathrooms. “Crappers,” as toilets came to be nicknamed, were manufactured and installed all over Europe.
6. Across the pond in the United States, toilets were also becoming mainstream. The pages of Sears, Roebuck and Co. catalogs from the early 1900s included toilets and other sanitary fixtures. Running water with indoor plumbing and brand-new commodes were selling features of new neighborhoods. And U.S. building codes came into play that defined how things were to be built.
7. The global droughts of the 1970s pushed engineers to develop a toilet that used less water per flush; at the time, they used around 3 gallons per flush (GPF). Australian developers led the way with the groundwork for the dual-flush toilet. By the 1980s, a company called Caroma released the first commode with two settings – full flush (3 GPF) and half flush (1.5 GPF).
8. By the 1990s, 1992 to be exact, the U.S. federal government officially began regulating low-flush toilets through the Energy Policy Act, which mandated 1.6 GPF. Unfortunately, early versions failed to fully empty the bowl, but they slowly improved.
9. Toilet engineering innovations have since exploded. Today’s crappers have control panels that allow you to heat the seat, play toot-drowning music, and run the built-in bidet. They give you flush options depending on what’s in the bowl. They even flag health issues hidden in urine, like dehydration.
10. As we move into the future, toilet makers will continue to evolve Harrington’s and Cumming’s first designs. Engineers are developing ways to provide sanitation in remote areas, like new composting or incinerating toilets. They’re looking at how to separate solids and liquids and recover nutrients from the waste. “Smart” toilets are here to stay!

Toilets have been one of the most important public health inventions we’ve ever known. Along with sewage systems and treatment plants, toilets whisk waste away from our homes and out of our minds (and noses). Unfortunately, as part of infrastructure that we take for granted, we don’t think much about them – but we should. So, the next time you take a seat on the porcelain throne, thank all those inventors who created it.