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The Toilet Yes...those tales you've heard are true.
The toilet was first patented in England in 1775,
invented by one Thomas Crapper, but the
extraordinary automatic device called the flush
toilet has been around for a long time. Leonardo
Da Vinci in the 1400's designed one that worked,
at least on paper, and Queen Elizabeth I reputably
had one in her palace in Richmond in 1556,
complete with flushing and overflow pipes, a bowl
valve and a drain trap. In all versions, ancient and
modern, the working principle is the same.
Tripping a single lever (the handle) sets in motion a
series of actions. The trip handle lifts the seal,
usually a rubber flapper, allowing water to flow
into the bowl. When the tank is nearly empty, the
flap falls back in place over the water outlet. A
floating ball falls with the water level, opening the
water supply inlet valve just as the outlet is being
closed. Water flows through the bowl refill tube
into the overflow pipe to replenish the trap sealing
water. As the water level in the tank nears the top
of the overflow pipe, the float closes the inlet
valve, completing the cycle. From the oldest of
gadgets in the bathroom, let's turn to one of the
newest, the toothpaste pump. Sick and tired of
toothpaste squeezed all over your sink and
faucets? Does your spouse never ever roll down
the tube and continually squeezes it in the middle?
Then the toothpaste pump is for you! When you
press the button it pushes an internal, grooved rod
down the tube. Near the bottom of the rod is a
piston, supported by little metal flanges called
"dogs", which seat themselves in the grooves on
the rod. As the rod moves down, the dogs slide
out of the groove they're in and click into the one
above it. When you release the button, the spring
brings the rod back up carrying the piston with it,
now seated one notch higher. This pushes
one-notch's-worth of toothpaste out of the nozzle.
A measured amount of toothpaste every time and...