HISTORY OF THE TOILET

By

Matthew Fisher4/10/13

GOING INSIDE

About 2500 Bc: The Harappan city dwellers of the Indus Valley (present-day India and Pakistan) build the earliest known indoor toilets.

The toilets, which do not flush, empty into a brick-lined sewer system.

ROYAL FLUSH

About 1500 bc: Plumbers on the Greek island of Crete install the world's first flush toilet in the queen's bathroom.

an earthquake destroyed the toilet around 1400 Ac.

R E A L LY PU B L I C B AT H R O O M S

About 800 bc: The Romans constructed the Cloaca Maxima which is an enormous sewer system

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

THIS JOB IS THE PITS

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

While cleaning out an outhouse Richard the Raker feel through the rotted wood floor and drowns "monstrously in his own excrement

HEADS UP

1500s: 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

A CHARMIN’ IDEA

1857: Joseph Gayetty of New York introduces toilet paper

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

BATHROOM READING

1672:Devoted readers who don't have time to leave the library can buy a fancy chamber pot disguised as a stack of books

one of the most popular models of chamber pots in France

STOP MAKING SCENTS

1775: An English watchmaker named Alexander Cummings made the first modern flush toilet.

Unlike earlier models, it allows poop to go down without letting smells come up.

SCULPTURED SEATS

1885: Englishman Thomas Twyford introduces the first one Piece, all-ceramic toilet

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

MINDING YOUR BUSINESS

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

This toilet can give you information on your health

TOILET THEMED RESTAURANT

the first toilet-themed restaurant, Modern Toilet, opened in Taipei in 2004

One of London’s most hotly anticipated openings of 2013 is Tom Sellers’ new restaurant, Story, is a toilet restaurant