By: Diego Davila

HISTORY OF THE TOILET

GOING INSIDE• About 2500 BC, the city dwellers of the Indus Valley built the earliest known

indoor toilets.

• -The toilets emptied into a brick-lined sewer system. • This plumbing technology is lost to the region when the cities are invaded

around 1500 BC.

ROYAL FLUSH • About 1500 bc: Plumbers on the Greek island of Crete install the world's first flush toilet

in the queen's bathroom.

• When the queen flushes, a tankful of rainwater is released into the bowl and washes her doings down clay pipes that run through the palace.

• Around 1400 AC an earthquake destroyed the royal palace.

REALLY PUBLIC BATHROOMS• About 800 bc in Rome, construction of the Cloaca Maxima takes place.

• It's an enormous sewer system that carries the city's waste to the Tiber River

• As many as 11,000 seats are lined up in rectangular rooms with no privacy.

• For wiping, there's a sponge on the end of a stick.

THIS JOB IS THE PITS• In 1300 AD many Europeans are doing their business in outhouses

• Richard the Raker meets an unpleasant end: While cleaning out the waste under his own outhouse, he falls through the floor and drowns in his own excrement.

HEADS UP• In the 1500s many European city dwellers use a bowl called a chamber pot.

• When the pot is full, they just toss the contents out the window, shouting "Gardy-loo!“ to warn anybody unlucky enough to be walking below.

A CHARMIN’ IDEA• In 1857 Joseph Gayetty introduces toilet paper.

• Each sheet is printed with Gayetty's signature.

• Before this, people used whatever they could find.

BATHROOM READING • In 1672 devoted readers can buy a fancy toilet disguised as a stack of books.

• One of the most popular models of chamber pots is in France.

STOP MAKING SCENTS• In 1775 Alexander Cummings patents the modern flush toilet.

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

• It allows poop to go down without letting smells come up.

SCULPTURED SEATS• In 1885 Thomas Twyford creates the Unitas, which is the first all-ceramic toilet

• The Unitas eliminates the leaky joints that made earlier models smelly.

• These ceramic toilets catch on quickly and are covered with great decorations

MINDING YOUR BUSINESS• 1999: The Matsushita Electronic Industrial Company of Japan creates a smart toilet.

• This toilet measures your weight and body-fat con tent, and chemical sensors inside analyze your output for information about your health.

• Scientists expect it to be on the market in a few years.