The Thoughts The Come Unbidden come at the oddest times and in the oddest places. A recent encounter with a low-flush toilet got me to thinking about a lovely bit of engineering I found in Amsterdam in the apartment of a friend: the two-stage flush. Ingenious, really. Don’t have a lot to dispose of, then press the small button to release the water in the small chamber inside the tank. Been in there a while? Press the large button and both chambers inside the tank empty. Saves on water, certainly, and it’s just a neat idea. But this isn’t about flushing. No, it’s about something that has caused more problems than its inventors could ever have possibly imagined.
I was moved to wonder the other day as I noticed that plastic hinge on the one on the toilet I normally use at the office was broken why, exactly, it’s necessary for a toilet to have a seat?
The flush toilet is a staple in residences in urban areas in most industrialized countries. Chances are that even if you live in a place that doesn’t feature its very own toilet you can just wander down the hall and find one in the common bath (assuming, of course, that your neighbor hasn’t beaten you to it with the Sunday paper in hand). Wikipedia’s entry on the flush toilet freely admits to being “anglocentric” in its chronology of invention.
Thomas Twyford is credited with inventing in 1885 the one-piece “china” (read porcelain) design that incorporated progress made by previous inventors (chiefly the S-trap invented by Alexander Cumminngs in 1775 which helps keep noxious gasses from the sewer pipe from backing up into the bathroom). While Wikipedia’s entry on toilets is fascinating, it tells me nothing about the toilet seat, the source of so much friction and so many jokes (indeed, the bathroom explosion where someone stumbles forth mussed and smoking with a toilet seat around his neck is nearly as hackneyed a device as the single tire that rolls forth from the car explosion, and the “up or down” debate still regularly appears in advice and etiquette columns).
Toiletology.com features an interesting history of the toilet and a very interesting history of the Church Toilet Seat company, makers of the white, wooden core seat that is so common in the U.S. we don’t really see it any more, but it tells me nothing at all about who put the first toilet seat on a toilet. It does, though, link to an entry for The Porcelain God: A Social History of the Toilet by Julie L. Horan, Deborah Frazier (Illustrator), the cover illustration for which seems to indicate that the flush toilet didn’t always have that now-ubiquitous ring on top of the bowl.
The market for toilet seats is vast, vaster than I ever thought possible. There are toilet seats that come with lid art, seats made out of solid oak, soft seats, seats with safety arms, and seats for a kid sized butt (and that’s all from one company). There are even seats specially designed to accommodate larger individuals and clear plastic seats.
Maybe it’s economics. Maybe the toilet seat manufacturing industry self-perpetuates. But with injection molding what it is, why not just size the rim of the bowl, shape it in such a way that the basic seat isn’t necessary? It would certainly solve a lot of cleaning problems and all of those seat up or seat down issues. Then the only thing left to argue about would be whether the toilet roll should go in the spindle over or under.
Often in Europe one finds toliets with no seats. I used to think this odd, but after reading your post, I realize that perhaps I’m odd. Indeed, what is the need for toilet seat except perhaps better aim if you arer a fellow, or short of that (no pun intendend) one who takes responsibility after the fact!
STB
Most of the local parks and even highway rest stops are using stainless steel one-piece toilets. I prefer the toilet seat (to not) because it’s made of a material less likely to remain cold after I sit on it.
Here’s what I found out about the “hill.”
Tal’s Hill
The brainchild of Astros general manager (no longer) Tal Smith, the back of the 90-foot wide slope in center field rises five feet from the normal field level. The grassy knoll is in play even though it is behind the warning track.
Now this doesn’t tell us what Mr. Smith might have been drinking when he “thought” up this idea. Was he thinking they were playing miniature golf? Who knows.
Only in TEXAS.
STB
Go Astros!
This is very interesting, especially since my own toilet is acting up right now, so the topic of toilets has been on my mind a lot.
I agree with sttropezbutler – I’ve always assumed that the point of the toilet seat was to lift it up and give men a greater area to aim for. I grew up with three brothers, and believe me, they need the widest target possible. For this reason, I fully support toilet covers. I don’t care so much who leaves the seat up or down, so long as it’s clean and not peed on.