Thomas Twyford
Thomas William Twyford (1849 – 1921) was a Pottery manufacturer in England. He invented the single piece, ceramic flush toilet. He also made infamous Thomas Crapper's toilet. At the time of Twyford's death he was recognized as a leading pioneer in the application of principles of hygiene to sanitary appliances.
Life
On September 23, 1849, Thomas William Twyford was born to Thomas Twyford and Sarah Jones; he would be Thomas and Sarah's oldest child of four sons and one daughter. He was born in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire at Hanover Street. Twyford's father would establish two different located earthenware factories: one, the Bath Street works in Hanley, and two, the Abbey works in Bucknall.[1]
he was able to build a substantial trade-base in both the mainland of Europe and the United States. In September 1872, Twyford's father died, leaving him the family business; however, the company was under management and control by trustees for a short period before Twyford was able to take over.[1]
On June 20, 1872, Twyford married Susannah Whittingham, the daughter of Edward Whittingham; a local farmer. Twyford and Susannah would have one son and one daughter.
In March 1879, Twyford released his first sanitary ware catalogue. The 1870, proved to be a defining period for the sanitary industry and the water closet; the debate between the simple water closet trap basin made entirely of earthenware and the very elaborate, complicated and expensive mechanical water closet would fall under public scrutiny and expert opinion.[1]
In 1875, the "wash-out" trap water closet was first sold and was found as the public's preference for basin type water closets. By 1879, Twyford had devised his own type of the "wash out" trap water closet, he titled it the "National". The National met all of the requirements of the quintessential wash-out trap water closets, most defining, the shallow basin water reserve that would be forced through the water-sealed trap when flushed. The National came out as the market place's most popular wash-out water closet.[1]
In 1881, Twyford's National had won an honorary awards at sanitary exhibitions at kensington and Brighton. In 1882, with the success granted by the National, Twyford had released a second wash-out closet entitled "The Crown", and again in 1883, he had designed and released his third wash-out closet named "The Alliance". All three of these models of wash-out closets were not free-standing and required the support of a wooden seat within a substratum wooden enclosure to hold the contraptions.[1]
By the 1880s, the free-standing water closet was released to the market place and quickly gained popularity; the free-standing water closet was able to be cleaned more easily and ergo a more hygienic water closet. It didn't take too long before Twyford would soon adopt the new innovation and try his hand at it. In 1884, Twyford had released his first free-standing water closet made with earthenware, he named it the "Unitas". The first Unitas possessed an open trap, twyford was eager to remedy this. Twyford called his best potters to deal with the Unitas' problem of having an open trap; in addition, he also commission these potters—in his employment—to produce the free-standing water closet that had a lid to the trap and was made completely of earthenware. However, even though Twyford was quick to jump on the most innovative developments in the sanitary industry—and often can be credited with being the pioneer in some of these developments—but he was in fact not the first person tog release a one-piece pedestal water closet. It is most probable that a London firm with George Jennings is attributed for releasing the first successful one-piece pedestal water closet. However, Twyford's Unitas was greatly celebrated during the 1880s as one of the best one-piece pedestal water closets; especially because it was made of entirely one piece of earthenware and Twyford made certain that that there were "pleasant to the eye" designs painted on the exterior and in the interior of the more expensive models.[1]
In 1886, Twyford released a second stylist version of the Unitas, it was titled the "Florentine" and it was put in a catalogue later that year. In 1884, Twyford submitted for the first patent for a ceramic baffle or "fan" that would aid the process of distributing the water around the basin; it was placed near the flush inlet. In 1886 and 1887, Twyford would submit further patents for improvements to the flushing rim and the outlet. Finally in 1888, he would apply for a patent protection for his "after flush" chamber; the device allowed for the basin to be refilled by a lower quantity of clean water in reserve after the water closet was flushed.[1]
In 1887, Twyford exhibited in a catalogue the after flushing reservoir chamber in a previous basin trap water closet. He included it in his 1879 catalogue calling the device the "Lillyman"; however, regardless of its finer ingenuity to other products in the market, it didn't match the success of its counterpart the "National". It is possible that the "Lillyman" didn't find success purely because of its poor placement in Twyford's catalogue: being in the back and sharing its page with the lower and cheaper models of trap water closets with the intended use for clients that were either poor or servants.[1]
In the later 1880s, Twyford had made further improvements to the sanitary industry and lengthen his reach beyond water closets. He produced and released a pedestal hand-basin made completely of earthenware that had "improved holes for the taps"; he eventually even attached overflow chambers and an outer-layer of material that was more pleasing to see to cover the iron brackets that supported the basin. Twyford had even developed a bidet that was made completely of earthenware that had both a hot and cold tap.[1]
From the time of the mid-1870s to the turn of the century, Twyford's sanitary products business had dramatically increased five-fold. He had established showrooms for water closets in Berlin, Germany; Sydney, Australia; and Cape Town, South Africa. He made certain that the reach of his trade expanded out to as far from Russia to South America. In 1903, in order to fend off the high demands from his German competitors, Twyford had established a new fireclay works in Ratingen, a town near Düsseldorf.[1]
In 1911, Twyford continued to expand his fireclay works: the first fireclay works was erected opposite of the Cliffe Vale works. In 1912, Twyford had built another local fireclay works on Garner Street in Etruria. In 1896, Twyford's firm became a private limited company; Twyford was serving as the chairman initially.
From 1898, Twyford lived in Whitmore Hall in Newcastle under Lyme and increased his public prominence. In 1906, he became a high sheriff of Staffordshire. As a political activist, he supported the Liberal Unionists and later founding the Unionist paper the Staffordshire Post; down the road, the paper would later combine with The Staffordshire Sentinel, Twyford eventually became Chairman of the paper. In 1907, Twyford had run and lost as the conservative party's candidate in the North-Western Staffordshire election.
On March 21, 1921, Twyford died at the Chine Hotel in Boscombe in the suburb of Bournemouth. He was buried in the Whitmore churchyard.[1]