A toilet is a sanitation fixture used primarily for the disposal of human excrement, often found in a small room referred to as a toilet/bathroom/lavatory. Flush toilets, which are common in many parts of the world, may be connected to a nearby septic tank or more commonly in urban areas via a sewerage system to a more distant sewage treatment plant; chemical toilets are used in mobile and many temporary situations where there is no access to sewerage, dry toilets, including pit toilets and composting toilet require no or little water with excreta being removed manually or composted in situ. The word toilet may also be used, especially in British English to describe the room containing the fixture for which euphemisms such as restroom or bathroom are used in American English. Prior to the introduction of modern flush toilets, most human waste disposal took place outdoors in outhouses or latrines. Pail closets were introduced in England and France in an attempt to reduce disease in rapidly expanding cities.
Ancient civilisations used toilets attached to simple flowing water sewage systems included those of the Indus Valley Civilization, e.g., Harappa[1] and Mohenjo-daro[2] which are located in present day India and Pakistan[3] and also the Romans and Egyptians.[4] Although a precursor to the modern flush toilet system was designed in 1596 by John Harington,[5] such systems did not come into widespread use until the late nineteenth century.[6] Thomas Crapper was one of the early maker of toilets in England.
Diseases, including cholera which affects some 3 million people each year, can be largely prevented when effective sanitation prevents fecal matter contaminating waterways, groundwater and drinking water supplies.[7] There have been five main cholera outbreaks and pandemics since 1825, during one of which 10,000 people died in London alone. The physician John Snow proved that deaths were being caused by people drinking water from a source that had been contaminated by a nearby cesspit; the London sewer system of the time had not reached crowded Soho and many houses had cellars (basements) with overflowing cesspools underneath their floorboards.
According to The Global Water Supply and Sanitation Assessment 2000 by the World Health Organization, 40% of the global population does not have access to 'excreta disposal facilities', mostly in Asia and Africa. There are efforts being made to design simple effective squat toilets for these people.[8] Usually, they are made by digging a hole, then installing a premade plastic squat toilet seat atop this hole, covering the walls with canvas.[9]
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A typical flush toilet is a vitreous ceramic bowl containing water plus special plumbing made to be rapidly filled with more water. The back of the toilet bowl is connected to a hollow drain pipe shaped like a upside down U connecting the drain from the bowl to a hollow siphon tube longer than the water in the bowl is high. The siphon tube connects to the drain. The bottom of the upside down U shaped drain pipe limits the height of the water in the bowl before it flows down the drain. If water is poured slowly into the toilet bowl it simply flows down the drainâthe toilet does not flush. The water in the bowl both acts as a barrier to sewer gas entering and as a receptacle for waste. Sewer gas is vented though a vent pipe attached to the sewer line. At the top of the toilet bowl is a rim built into the toilet with many slanted drain holes connected to the toilet tank to fill, rinse and induce swirling in the toilet bowl when it is flushed. Mounted above the toilet is a large holding tank with about (now) 1.6 US gallons (6.1 L) to 1.2 US gallons (4.5 L) of water. This tank is built with a large drain 2.0 inches (5.1 cm) to 3.0 inches (7.6 cm) diameter hole at its bottom covered by a flapper valve that allows the water to rapidly leave the tank. The toilet's plumbing is built to allow entry of the toilet tankâs water into the toilet in a very short period of time. This water enters through the holes in the rim and a siphon jet hole about 1.0 inch (2.5 cm) diameter in the bottom of the toilet. Other toilets use a large hole in the front of the rim to allow rapid filling of the toilet bowl. When a user flushes a toilet he/she opens the flapper valve and allows the tank's water to quickly enter the toilet bowl. This rapid influx of water into the toilet bowl of the tank water causes the swirling water in the bowl to rapidly rise and fill the upside down U shaped drain and the siphon tube mounted in the back of the toilet. This starts the toilet's siphon action. Siphons work by the molecular attraction that keeps the liquid's molecules bound to each other such that a falling continuous column of liquid falling below the height of a liquid will "pull" the liquid up and over a rim. This siphon action rapidly (5â7 seconds) âpullsâ nearly all of the water and waste in the bowl and the on-rushing tank water down the drainâit flushes. When most of the liquid has been pulled down the drain the continuous column of water up and over the bottom of the upside down U shaped drain pipe is broken when air gets into the siphon tube and the toilet gives its characteristic gurgle as the siphon action ceases. After flushing, the flapper valve in the water tank closes the bottom of the tank and various water lines and valves connected to a input water supply refill the toilet tank and bowl. The toilet is again ready for use. A two piece movable seat and toilet bowl lid is typically mounted on the back of the toilet bowl to allow covering the toilet or sitting (or not) while using the toilet.
A toilet's body is essentially a work of fired pottery made from vitreous china, which starts out as a thin clay mixture called a slurry slip. The clay mixture is delivered or made in the factory as a liquid. It is thinned, filtered to remove any leftover impurities, and re-thickened. It takes about 20 kilograms (44 lb) of slurry per toilet.
This liquid slurry is poured into the space between Plaster of Paris (gypsum) molds. Toilet bowl, toilet rim, toilet tank and toilet tank lid all require separate pairs or more molds. The filled molds sit for about an hour while the Plaster of Paris molds absorb moisture from the slurry slip making it semisolid next to the mold but staying liquid further from the mold. Then, the workers remove plugs that allows any excess slip to pour from the moldâthis excess slurry is recycled for later use. This drained out slip leaves voids inside the fixture using less material, keeping it both lighter and easier to fire in a kiln and allows the formation of intricate waste lines in the fixtureâthe drain's centers are poured out as liquid slurry slip. At this point the toilets parts look like and are about as strong as milk chocolate. After about one hour the top core mold (interior of toilet) is removed. The rim mold bottom, which includes a place to mount the holding tank is removed and has the appropriate slanted holes for the rinsing jets cut and the mounting holes for tank and seat punched into the rim piece. Large flapper valve holes for rapid water entry into the toilet are cut into the rim pieces. The exposed top of the bowl is then covered with a thick clay slurry called butter slurry and the still uncured rim is attached. The bowl and hollow rim are now a single piece. The bowl plus rim is then inverted and the toilet set on the top of the top rim mold and the rest of the molds are removed. As the clay dries further it hardens more and continues to shrink. After a few hours the casting is semisolid and self supporting, and is called greenware. After the molds are removed workers use hand tools and sponges to smooth the edges and surface of the greenware and remove evidence of mold joints. For large scale production pieces these steps may be automated. The parts are then left outside or put in a warm dry room to dry before going through a dryer set at about 200°F, (93°C), for about 20â36 hours.[10]
After finishing the surfaces the bowls and tanks are sprayed or painted with glaze of various kinds to get different colors. The glaze is designed to shrink and contract at the same rate as the greenware while undergoing firing. The toilet bowls, tanks and lids are placed on a conveyor belt or "car" that slowly goes through a large kiln. The belt slowly moves the greenware plus glaze into the kiln, which has different temperature zones starting at about 400°F (200°C) at the front of the kiln increasing in the middle to over 2,200°F (1,200°C) degrees and exiting the kiln at about 200°F (90°C). Vitreous china with glaze is an exception to normal pottery and glazing materials in that both the clay and glaze are made to be fired together. During the firing in the kiln the greenware and glaze are vitrified (turns to a form of glass) as one finished unit. The finished toilet is now glass like, stronger, germ resistant, waterproof and stain proof through its entire thickness. The trip through the kiln takes around 23â40 hours.
When the pieces are removed from the kiln and fully cool, they are ready for inspection for cracks. After inspection, the flushing mechanism may be installed on a one piece toilet. On a two piece toilet with a separate tank the flushing mechanism may only be put on the tank with final assembly waiting installation. The seat too may be installed at this time, or the parts may be sold separately and assembled by a plumbing distributor.[11]
Various forms of flush toilets have become widely used in modern times[12] The amount of water used by modern toilets is a significant portion of personal water usage, totaling as much as about 90 litres (24 USgal) of water per capita per day.[13] Modern low flush toilet designs allow the use of much less water per flush--1.6 US gallons (6.1 L) to (1.2 US gallons (4.5 L)gallons per flushâbut may require the sewage treatment system be modified for the more concentrated waste. Dual flush toilet allow the use to select between a flush for urine or feces saving a significant amount of water over conventional units. You push the flush handle up for one kind of flush and down for the other.[14] In some places users are encouraged not to flush after urination. Flush toilets, if plumbed for it, may also use greywater (water previously used for washing dishes, laundry and bathing) for flushing rather than potable water (drinking water). Some modern toilets pressurize the water in the tank which initiates flushing action with less water usage. Heads (on ships) are typically flushed with seawater.
Dry toilets, which use very limited or no water for flushing include the pit toilet (a simple hole in the ground, or one with ventilation, fly guards and other improvements) and composting toilet (which mix excrement with carbon rich materials for faster decomposition), incinerating toilet (which burn the excrement), the Tree bog (a simple system for converting excrement as direct fertiliser for trees. The pig toilet from the Indian state of Goa which consist of an outhouse linked to a pig enclosure by a chute is still in use to a limited extent but the subsequent use of the pigs for food carries a significant risk for human health.[15] The unsanitary 'flying toilet' used in African slums where plastic shopping bags are first used as as a container for excrement and are then thrown as far away as possible."[16] This practice has led to the banning of the manufacture and import of such bags in Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania.[16] A toilet that pays its users has been opened in Musiri, Tamil Nadu, India. It is the first of its kind. The feces it receives are composted, and the urine is used as fertilzer for bananas and other food crops. Users are paid up to 12 U.S. cents a month.[17] Before the introduction of modern flush toilets it was common for people to use a chamber pot at night and then to dispose of the 'nightsoil' in the morning; this practice (known as slopping out) continued in prisons in the United Kingdom until recently and is still in use in the Republic of Ireland. The garderobe was used in medieval times and then the privy midden and pail closet in early industrial Europe.
These toilets have two compartments. One for urine diversion and one for the feces. A urine diversion toilet, UD toilet or UDT, flushes one or both compartments with water. A urine diversion dry toilet, UDD toilet, or UDDT is more similar to a dry toilet. The term UDDT can also refer to a system incorporating a UD or UDD toilet to recover water or utilize wastes as a fertilizer or biofuel. Astronauts use a UDDT to recover potable water in the space station.[18]
Chemical toilets which do not require a connection to a water supply are used in a variety of situations. Examples include passenger train toilets and airplane toilets and also complicated space toilets for use in zero-gravity spacecraft.
A public toilet, frequently called a restroom, is accessible to the general public. It may be within a building that, while privately owned, allows public access. Access to a public toilet may require a fee, (pay toilet), or may be limited to business's customers.
Depending on culture, there may be varying degrees of separation between men and women and different levels of privacy. Typically, the entire room, or a stall or cubical containing a toilet is lockable. Urinals, if present in a men's toilet, are typically mounted on wall with or without a divider between them. In the most basic form, a public toilet may be not much more than an open latrine. Another form is a street urinal known as a Pissoirs after the French term[19] (see Urinal).
In more luxurious variations there may be an attendant, towels, showers, etc. A fairly common feature in more modern toilets is an area to change baby diapers.
A charge levied in the UK during the mid-20th century was one British penny, hence the generally adopted term "spend a penny" meaning to use the toilet.[20]
The portable toilet is used on construction sites and at large outdoor gatherings where there are no other facilities. They are typically self contained units that are made to be easily moved to different locations as needed. Most portable toilets are unisex single units with privacy ensured by a simple lock on the door. The units are usually light weight and easily transported by a flatbed truck and loaded and unloaded by a small forklift. Many portable toilets are small molded plastic or fiberglass portable rooms with a lockable door and a receptacle to catch waste in a chemically treated container. If used for an extended period of time they have to be cleaned out and new chemicals put in the waste receptacle. For servicing multiple portable toilets tanker trucks, often called "Honey Trucks", are equiped with lage vacuums to evacuate the waste and replace the chemicals.
'High-tech' toilets include features such as: automatic-flushing mechanisms that flush a toilet or urinal when finished; water jets, or "bottom washers" like a bidet; blow dryers; artificial flush sounds to mask noises; and urine and stool analysis for medical monitoring. Matsushita's "Smart Toilet" checks blood pressure, temperature, and blood sugar. Some feature automatic lid operation, heated seats, deodorizing fans or automated paper toilet-seat-cover replacers. Interactive urinals have been developed in several countries, allowing users to play video games as with the 'Toylet', produced by Sega, that uses pressure sensors to detect the flow of urine and translates it into on-screen action.[21]
A floating toilet is essentially an outhouse built on a platform built above or floating on the water. Instead of wastes going into the ground they are collected in a tank or barrel. To reduce the amount of waste that needs to hauled to shore, many use urine diversion. It was developed for residents without quick access to land or connection to a sewer systems.[22][23] It is also used in areas subjected to prolonged flooding.[24] The need for this type of toilet is high in areas like Cambodia where the World Bank cited in 2008 that nearly 10,000 people died as a result of poor sanitation.[25]
The word toilet came to be used in English along with other French fashions. It originally referred to the toile, French for "cloth", draped over a lady or gentleman's shoulders while their hair was being dressed, and then (in both French and English) by extension to the various elements, and also the whole complex of operations of hairdressing and body care that centered at a dressing table, also covered by a cloth, on which stood a mirror and various brushes and containers for powder and make-up: this ensemble was also a toilette, as also was the period spent at the table, during which close friends or tradesmen were often received.[27] The English poet Alexander Pope in The Rape of the Lock (1717) described the intricacies of a lady's preparation:
| â | And now, unveil'd, the toilet stands display'd
Each silver vase in mystic order laid. |
â |
These various senses are first recorded by the OED in rapid sequence in the later 17th century: the set of "articles required or used in dressing" 1662, the "action or process of dressing" 1681, the cloth on the table 1682, the cloth round the shoulders 1684, the table itself 1695, and the "reception of visitors by a lady during the concluding stages of her toilet" 1703 (also known as a "toilet-call"), but in the sense of a special room the earliest use is 1819, and this does not seem to include a lavatory.[28]
Through the 18th century, everywhere in the English-speaking world, these various uses centred around a lady's draped dressing-table remained dominant. In the 19th century, apparently first in the United States,[29] the word was adapted as a genteel euphemism for the room and the object as we know them now, perhaps following the French usage cabinet de toilette, much as powder-room may be coyly used today, and this has been linked to the introduction of public toilets, for example on railway trains, which required a plaque on the door. The original usages have become obsolete, and the table has become a dressing-table.
Vestiges of the original meaning continue to be reflected in terms such as toiletries, eau de toilette and toiletry bag (to carry flannels, soaps, etc). This seemingly contradictory terminology has served as the basis for various parodies e.g. Cosmopolitan magazine ("If it doesn't say 'eau de toilette' on the label, it most likely doesn't come from the famed region of Eau de Toilette in France and might not even come from toilets at all.")
The word toilet itself may be considered an impolite word in the United States, while elsewhere the word is used without any embarrassment. The choice of the word used instead of toilet is highly variable, not just by regional dialect but also, at least in Britain, by class connotations. Nancy Mitford wrote an essay out of the choice of wording; see U and non-U English. Some manufacturers show this uneasiness with the word and its class attributes: American Standard, the largest manufacturer, sells them as "toilets", yet the higher priced products of the Kohler Company, often installed in more expensive housing, are sold as commodes or closets, words which also carry other meanings. Confusingly, products imported from Japan such as TOTO are referred to as "toilets", even though they carry the cachet of higher cost and quality. When referring to the room or the actual piece of equipment, the word toilet is often substituted with other euphemisms and dysphemisms (See toilet humor).
As old euphemisms have become accepted, they have been progressively replaced by newer ones, an example of the euphemism treadmill at work. The choice of word used to describe the room or the piece of plumbing relies as much on regional variation (dialect) as on social situation and level of formality (register).
The term lavatory, abbreviated in slang to lav, derives from the Latin: lavÄtĹrium, which in turn comes from Latin lavĹ ("I wash"). The word was used to refer to a vessel for washing, such as a sink/wash basin, and thus came to mean a room with such washing vessels, as for example in medieval monasteries, where the lavatorium was the monks' communal washing area.[30] The toilets in monasteries however were not in the lavatorium but in the reredorter. Nevertheless the word was later associated with toilets and the meaning evolved into its current one, namely the polite and formal euphemism for a toilet and the room containing it. Lavatory is the common signage for toilets on commercial airlines around the world, see Aircraft lavatory.
The origin of the (chiefly British) term loo is unknown. According to the OED, the etymology is obscure, but it might derive from the word Waterloo. The first recorded entry is in fact from James Joyce's Ulysses (1922): "O yes, mon loup. How much cost? Waterloo. Watercloset".
Other theories are:
The WC refers to the initial letters of Water Closet, which, despite being an English language abbreviation, is not in common use in English-speaking countries - but is widely used internationally: in France (pronounced "le vay-say" or "le vater"), in Italy (pronouced "vi-ci" or "vater"), Romania (pronounced "veh-cheu") and Hungary (pronounced "vey-tsay"), the Netherlands (pronounced "waysay"), Germany and Switzerland (pronounced "ve-tse"), Denmark (pronounced "ve-se"), Norway (pronounced "vay-say") Poland (pronounced "vu-tse") and others. The CR refers to the initial letters of Comfort Room, used commonly in the Philippines.
Lexicographer Eric Partridge derives khazi, also spelt karzy, kharsie or carzey, from a low Cockney word carsey originating in the late 19th century and meaning a privy.[31] Carsey also referred to a den or brothel. It is presumably derived from the Italian casa for house, with the spelling influenced by its similar sound to khaki. Khazi is now most commonly used in the city of Liverpool in the UK, away from its cockney slang roots.[32]
An alternative derivation is from Christopher Chippindale,[33] who states that khazi derives from Army slang used by expatriate officers of the British Empire who took a dislike to the habits of, and steaming rain forest inhabited by, the Khasi people of the Khasia hills on the northern frontier of India.
The Dunny is an Australian expression for an outside toilet or outhouse. The person who appeared weekly to empty the pan beneath the seat was known as the dunnyman. The word derives from the British dialect word dunnekin, meaning dung-house.[34]
It is now an informal word used for any lavatory and is most often used referring to drop or pit lavatories in the Australian bush, which are also called thunderboxes.
The Privy is an old fashioned term used more in the North of England and in Scotland; "privy" is an old alternative for "private", as in Privy council. It is used interchangeably in North America for various terms for the outhouse.
The netty is the most common word used in North East England. Many outsiders are often bemused when a Geordie or a Mackem states they are "gannin te the netty" (going to the bathroom). The etymology of the word is uncertain, but it is believed to be either derived from a corruption of "necessity" or from graffiti scrawled on Hadrian's Wall. It is linked to the Italian word gabinetti meaning "toilets" (singular gabinetto).[35]
The standalone toilet has been variously known as backhouse, house of ease, house of office, little house, or outhouse.[36] The house of office was a common name for a toilet in seventeenth century England, used by, among others, Samuel Pepys on numerous occasions: October 23, 1660: ...going down into my cellar..., I put my foot into a great heap of turds, by which I find Mr Turner's house of office is full and comes into my cellar.[37]
Latrine is a term common in the military, specifically for the Army and Air Force for any point of entry facility where human waste is disposed of, which a civilian might call a bathroom or toilet, regardless of how modern or primitive it is. Traditionally the Royal Navy along with the United States Navy and Marine Corps use the nautical term "Head" to describe the same type of facility, regardless of whether it is located on a ship or on the land.
According to Teresi et al. (2002):[38]
The third millennium B.C. was the "Age of Cleanliness." Toilets and sewers were invented in several parts of the world, and Mohenjo-Daro circa 2800 B.C. had some of the most advanced, with lavatories built into the outer walls of houses. These were primitive "Western-style" toilets made from bricks with wooden seats on top. They had vertical chutes, through which waste fell into street drains or cesspits. Sir Mortimer Wheeler, the director general of archaeology in India from 1944 to 1948, wrote, "The high quality of the sanitary arrangements could well be envied in many parts of the world today."
The toilets at Mohenjo-Daro, built about 2600 B.C. and described above, were only used by the affluent classes. Most people would have squatted over old pots set into the ground or used open pits.[39] The people of the Harappan civilization in Pakistan and north-western India had primitive water-cleaning toilets that used flowing water in each house that were linked with drains covered with burnt clay bricks. The flowing water removed the human wastes.
Early toilets that used flowing water to remove the waste are also found at Skara Brae in Orkney, Scotland, which was occupied from about 3100 B.C. until 2500 B.C. Some of the houses there have a drain running directly beneath them, and some of these had a cubicle over the drain. Around the 18th century B.C., toilets started to appear in Minoan Crete; Egypt in the time of the Pharaohs and ancient Persia. In Roman civilization, toilets using flowing water were sometimes part of public bath houses.
Roman toilets, like the ones pictured here, are commonly thought to have been used in the sitting position. But sitting toilets only came into general use in the mid-19th century in the western world.[40] The Roman toilets were probably elevated to raise them above open sewers which were periodically "flushed" with flowing water, rather than elevated for sitting. Squat toilets (also known as an Arabic, French, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Iranian, Indian, Turkish or Natural-Position toilet) is a toilet used by squatting, rather than sitting and are still used by the majority of the world's population.[12] There are several types of squat toilets, but they all consist essentially of a hole in the ground or floor with various provisions for human waste.
There are also many different ways to clean oneself after using the toilet depends significantly on national mores and local resources. An important part of early childhood education is toilet training.
The most common method of cleaning after using a toilet in the Western world is toilet paper or sometimes using a bidet. In the Middle East and some countries in Asia, and South Asian countries such as India and Pakistan, the custom is to use water, either with or without toilet paper. Traditionally, the left hand is used for this, for which reason that hand is considered impolite or polluted in many eastern countries. Many poems have been composed on Latrines in India like "Latrine Karne Jaa Rae Hain, Chakkar Laga Ke Aa Rae Hain, Ghoom Ghoom Ke Aa Rae Hain" (I'm going latrine, and just coming after feeling fresh). The Islamic faith has a particular code, Qadaa' al-Haajah describing Islamic toilet etiquette.[41][42]
Toilet humour is a name given to a type of off-colour humour dealing with defecation, urination, and flatulence.
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