Flush toilet

the close coupled tank–bowl combination has become the most popular residential system, as it has been found by ceramic engineers that improved waterway design is a more effective way to enhance the bowl's flushing action than high tank mounting.

The float is usually shaped like a ball, so the mechanism is often called a ball-valve or a ballcock (cock in this context is an alternative term for valve; see, for example, stopcock).

By virtue of its more compact layout, interference between the float and other obstacles (tank insulation, flush valve, and so on) is greatly reduced, thus increasing reliability.

Water flows through the perforated disc past the flap until the cistern is empty, at which point air enters the siphon and the flush stops.

[12] During flushing, the user activates the valve via a button or lever, which releases the pressurized water into the bowl at a flow rate much higher than a conventional gravity-flow toilet.

Some flushometer models require the user to either depress a lever or press a button, which in turn opens a flush valve allowing mains-pressure water to flow directly into the toilet bowl or urinal.

In retrofit installations, a self-contained battery-powered or hard-wired unit can be added to an existing manual flushometer to flush automatically when a user departs.

[citation needed] Examples of this type of toilet can be found in Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands, and some regions of Poland, although it is becoming less common.

[citation needed] Additionally, this design presents the disadvantage of creating a strong lingering odor since the feces are not submerged in water immediately after excretion.

The British singer Ian Wallace composed and performed the humorous song "Never Do It at the Station", which mentioned the old-fashioned trackbed dumping toilets which were still in use during the mid-20th century in Britain.

[27] If clogging occurs, it is usually the result of an attempt to flush unsuitable items, or as feces size often increases with age or too much toilet paper.

The Mesopotamians introduced the world to clay sewer pipes around 4000 BCE, with the earliest examples found in the Temple of Bel at Nippur and at Eshnunna,[36] utilised to remove wastewater from sites, and capture rainwater, in wells.

[40] The oldest neolithic village in Britain, dating from circa 31st century BC, Skara Brae, Orkney, used a form of hydraulic technology for sanitation.

Broken parts of the 2,400-year-old lavatory, as well as a bent flush pipe, were unearthed among ancient palace ruins in the Yueyang archaeological site in the central city of Xi'an by researchers from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences' Institute of Archeology.

[48] In 1596 Sir John Harington (1561–1612) published A New Discourse of a Stale Subject, Called the Metamorphosis of Ajax, describing a forerunner to the modern flush toilet installed at his house at Kelston in Somerset.

Prolific inventor Joseph Bramah began his professional career installing water closets (toilets) that were based on Alexander Cumming's patented design of 1775.

Thomas Bowdich, an English traveller, visited Kumasi, capital of the Ashanti Empire in 1817 and mentioned that majority of the houses in the city especially those near the king's palace included indoor toilets that were flushed with gallons of boiling water.

This period coincided with the dramatic growth in the sewage system, especially in London, which made the flush toilet particularly attractive for health and sanitation reasons.

George Jennings established a business manufacturing water closets, salt-glaze drainage, sanitary pipes and sanitaryware at Parkstone Pottery in the 1840s, where he popularized the flush toilet to the middle class.

At The Great Exhibition at Hyde Park held from 1 May to 15 October 1851, George Jennings installed his Monkey Closets in the Retiring Rooms of The Crystal Palace.

[citation needed] His flush toilets were designed by inventor Albert Giblin, who received a British patent for the "Silent Valveless Water Waste Preventer", a siphon discharge system.

Another early watercloset on the European continent, dating from 1860, was imported from Britain to be installed in the rooms of Queen Victoria in Ehrenburg Palace (Coburg, Germany); she was the only one who was allowed to use it.

William Elvis Sloan invented the Flushometer in 1906, which used pressurized water directly from the supply line for faster recycle time between flushes.

This molding process allows the formation of intricate internal waste lines in the fixture; the drain's hollow cavities are poured out as slip.

After being sprayed with glaze, the toilet bowls, tanks, and lids are placed in stacks on a conveyor belt or "car" that slowly goes through a large kiln to be fired.

The belt slowly moves the glaze-covered greenware into a tunnel kiln, which has different temperature zones inside it starting at about 200 °C (392 °F) at the front, increasing towards the middle to over 1,200 °C (2,190 °F) degrees, and exiting at about 90 °C (194 °F).

Lidded "chamber pots", kept in specially designed bedside cabinets and used in bedrooms by ladies and invalids, and portable bathtubs, could be emptied and washed in an outhouse.

American plumbers and codes use the term "water closet" or "WC" to denote a small room or enclosure with a toilet which is usually located within a larger bathroom that contains other fixtures such as a sink and tub.

The Royal Spanish Academy Dictionary accepts "váter" as a name for a toilet or bathroom, which is derived from the British term "water closet".

On the scale of bathtubs and toilets, the Rossby number is on the order of billions,[76] and so the Coriolis effect is too weak to be observed except under carefully controlled laboratory conditions.

A flush toilet bowl during flushing action
Typical sound of a flush toilet
Vacuum toilet in a train in Switzerland
The ballcock or float valve is often used to regulate the filling of a tank or cistern. When the fluid level drops, the float descends, levering the valve opening and allowing more fluid to enter. Once the float reaches the 'full' position, the arm presses the valve shut again.
Concentric Float Valve
One type of concentric float valve. The concentric float valve opens when the fluid level is low, allowing more fluid to enter [Figure 1]. When the fluid level returns to the full level, the valve is shut [Figure 2].
Diagram of a siphonic WC cistern
A simplified diagram of a siphonic WC cistern. The siphon is formed of a vertical pipe (1) that links the flush pipe (2) to a domed chamber (3). A perforated disc (4) covered by a flexible plate or flap (5) is joined by the siphon rod (6) to the flush lever (7).
An elevated cistern produces a high-pressure flush using hydrostatic pressure .
Sloan pressure vessel
Illustration of four common types of WC pan.
Four common types of WC pan: washdown (figure 1); washout (figure 2); double-trap siphonic (figure 3); single-trap siphonic with jet (figure 4).
Diagram of a siphonic toilet.
A simplified cross-section through a siphonic toilet. The arrows show the flow of the flush water through the rim and jet into the bowl and out through the elongated S-shaped siphon.
A double-trap siphonic WC.
A double-trap siphonic WC. Water enters at (A) pulling air into the aspirator (B) from the siphon leg (E) before passing into the rim (C) and into the pan (D). Water from the first trap in the bowl (F) is pushed through the siphon and out through the second trap (G) to the drain.
Washout WC
A washout toilet which holds fecal matter in a shallow depression until flushed.
Example of a squat toilet in Rome , Italy
Roman public latrine found in the excavations of Ostia Antica
Alexander Cumming 's 1775 patent for the S-trap , which laid the foundations for the modern flush toilet.
Joseph Bramah 's improved version was the first practical flush toilet.
Thomas William Twyford was one of the leading marketers of flush toilets in their first boom of popularity after the Great Exhibition of 1851.
George Jennings trademark on his manufactures
Flush toilets were widely available from the mid to late 19th century. Although Thomas Crapper did not invent the flush toilet, he was a leading manufacturer.
Spraying glaze onto a closet
The bowl drain is visible at the rear of the bowl, connected to the waste pipe.