This is another great article from Plumbing & Mechanical 1994 That was posted on July 12, 2000 on their website.

They were the Bill Gates and Steve Jobs of their day. They were the ones who tinkered alone and envisioned a world well beyond the grasp of their contemporaries.

They were the toilet makers — the men who understood with incomplete knowledge that there was a better way than chamber pots and open trenches, and set about finding it. They labored long hours, usually alone and for little reward. In some cases, there was no reward, just ridicule for an invention too far ahead of its time.

The English Origins

There was a noble origin to the water closet in its earliest days. Sir John Harrington, godson to Queen Elizabeth I, set about making a “necessary” for his godmother and himself in 1596. A rather accomplished inventor, Harrington ended his career with this invention, for he was ridiculed by his peers for this absurd device. He never built another one, though he and his godmother both used theirs.

Two hundred years passed before another tinker, Alexander Cummings, would reinvent Harrington’s water closet. Cumming’s invented the S-trap, a sliding valve between the bowl and the trap. It was the first of its kind.

However, it didn’t take long for others to follow Cumming’s lead. Two years later in 1777, Samuel Prosser applied for and received a patent for a plunger closet. On his heels came Joseph Bramah, only one year later. His closet had a valve at the bottom of the bowl that worked on a hinge — a predecessor to the modern ballcock. Himself a bit of a sailor, Bramah’s closet was used extensively on ships and boats of the era.

The master toilet maker among the Englishmen would emerge in the next decade. Thomas Twyford revolutionized the water closet business in 1885 when he built the first trapless toilet in a one-piece, all-china design. A preeminent potter, Twyford competed against other notable companies in the pottery plumbing business including Wedgwood and Doulton.

Twyford’s design was unique in that it was of china, rather than the more common metal and wood contraptions. The internal workings of his water closet were the work of one the first pioneers of the “sanitary science.” J.G. Jennings patented a washout closet in 1852. This unit had a shallow basin with a dished tray and water seal. The flush water drove the contents into the pan and then through the S-trap. It was a design the Twyford would refine and promote for the rest of the decade.

On American Shores

The work of the English inventors didn’t travel with settlers to the new world. The only item to make the journey was a chamber pot, so American inventors were on their own.

On their own, yes, but not very far behind. In fact water closet developments in the new world paralleled inventions in the mother country. First it was the conical-shaped hopper set in a lead trap that was placed under the floor. The pan closet came next. It improved on the previous model with an upper ceramic basin and a shallow copper pan with 3 to 5 inches of water as a seal at the base. A washdown closet followed. The water was flushed by a direct line from a storage tank hidden high above, usually in the attic.

The first Americans awarded a patent for a water closet are James T. Henry and William Campbell. In 1857, their plunger closet resembled some of the twin-basin water closets developed and derided in England. These units were less than sanitary and shunned by some of the industry’s earliest pioneers.

From the late 1850s to the mid-1890s the number of patents granted for water closet designs grew as more and more inventors realized the potential market for a improved model. An American, John Randall Mann was granted a patent for his three-pipe siphonic closet in 1870. In 1876, William Smith earned his own for a jet siphon closet. This model caught the attention of the famous American sanitary engineer George Waring who developed it into larger pieces of sanitaryware, as it was then called.

Thomas Kennedy, another American improved on Mann’s designed and patented a siphonic closet which required only two delivery pipes. One flushed the rim and the other started the siphon. Still further improvement occurred in 1890 with William Howell’s water closet that eliminated the lower trap, but maintained the same superior function.

By the turn of the century water closet innovations were occurring on a nearly daily basis. The U.S. Patent Office received applications for 350 new water closet designs between 1900 and 1932. Two of the first granted in the new decade were to Charles Neff and Robert Frame. These New Englanders were the first to produce a siphonic wash-down closet that would become the norm in this country in later years.

Problems with the bowl design in Neff and Frame’s unit were fixed 10 years later by Fred Adee. He redesigned the bowl, eliminating the messy overflows that sometimes occurred, and in doing so gave birth to production of the siphonic closet in America.

Some of the names of the other inventors who refined water closet design at this time have been lost, but their accomplishments have not. In the early 1900s patents were granted for the flushometer valve, a backflow preventer, a wall-mounted closet with a blow-out arrangement, a tank that rests on the bowl, and reverse trap toilets.

Modern Age Inventors

This isn’t to say there aren’t inventors alive and working today who will be added to this list of who’s who in the years to come. However, some of the modern day water closet wonders aren’t plumbers or even plumbing engineers. They’re scientists working on motors to create the “jet flush” toilet.

Engineers at the Emerson Motor Co. in St. Louis have developed a 3.3-inch motor and a 0.2 horsepower pump that fits in a toilet tank to add speed and power to each flush. These motorized toilets incorporate a steeper bowl than other gravity-style toilets to allow waste water to flow out easier. A slanted bowl and pressurized flush also allow the system to employ less water than a traditional gravity-flow toilet. To operate, the unit is plugged into a standard outlet in the bathroom. To date, Kohler Co. is the first plumbing manufacturer to market this technology.

Motors are impacting plumbing in other ways too. Emerson partnered with pump manufacturers Zoeller Co. and Hydromatic Pump Co. to develop a plumbing system that liquefies waste. A pump is positioned in waste water pipes below the toilet and allows fixture manufacturers to meet existing water consumption requirements by chopping waste into a liquid consistency. As waste moves through the system, a 5.5-inch, high-torque motor drives a sharp-tooth pump (much like that on a garbage disposer) that chops waste and toilet paper and pushes the resulting slush through the waste water system.

Who Can Resist?

How complete would an article on the men behind the water closet be without at least one mention of Thomas Crapper? For an individual who had little or nothing to do with inventing the water closet, he has become a modern age folk hero. Despite all the evidence, people who should know — as well as those who don’t — continue the tale of Thomas Crapper as the man who “invented the toilet.” They were the Bill Gates and Steve Jobs of their day. They were the ones who tinkered alone and envisioned a world well beyond the grasp of their contemporaries.

We found this and decided to Post It Here.  The original was found in c Plumbing & Mechanical 1988

American plumbers have accomplished more in two centuries than the Romans did in 10. Now their works are in danger of falling apart.

When it comes to plumbing history, all roads surely do lead to Rome. Plumbing technology flourished during the Roman Empire in a way that wasn’t duplicated for more than 1,000 years.

The ancient Romans were the best plumbers who ever lived, except for American plumbers of the 19th and 20th centuries. Rome’s sanitary drainage systems were the best the world had seen until the 1800s in America. Their public baths stand as marvels of engineering genius and craftsmanship in any age. Some aqueducts they built 2,000 years ago are still in use today. Rome spread this plumbing knowledge and technology to numerous conquered lands.

The Roman Empire doesn’t come off very well in Cecil B. DeMille movies. The verdict of history judges it guilty of much tyranny throughout its 1,000-year reign. But gee whiz, those guys sure were competent!

As has happened so often in ancient and recent history alike, an objectionable regime was replaced by a ruling order that proved incomparably worse. Rome’s brutal ways were like puppy kisses next to the wantonness of their barbarian conquerors. Worst of all, the bloodthirsty tribes that dominated Europe after the fall of Rome brought no compensating good to offset their savagery.

No art, literature or technology. No tradition of democracy and debate. No knowledge of and appreciation for sanitary plumbing. Western civilization sank into a squalor of ignorance and disease that lasted as long as the Roman Empire, and wasn’t completely overcome until the 20th century.

Great progress, then stark digression, each lasting about a millennium, is the grand historical overview of Western civilization. The history of plumbing parallels it epoch by epoch.

Beginning with the Renaissance, Western man – and plumbing – began to emerge from the cultural sinkhole of the Dark and Middle Ages.

Redevelopment went slowly for several hundred years, then accelerated like a rocket. The symbol of a rocket, in fact, conjures up one of the most incredible bursts of progress – going from the Wright brothers to space flight in little more than half a century.

Meanwhile, here on earth, American plumbers of the last 200 years have done an equally miraculous job eradicating disease, increasing life-spans and providing comfort and convenience for rich and poor alike. This feat deserves much more than the passing mention, if that, it receives in history books.

Schoolbook History

History as we were taught it in our school days was mostly about monarchs and military leaders. Their conquests and defeats are portrayed as the epic events that shaped the world we live in today.

All true, I suppose, but also somewhat misleading. Like scriptwriters for TV cop shows, historians tend to let rare moments of action obscure the mundane realities of everyday life. For instance, we all know of the great battles of the American Civil War and their terrible casualties.

What’s not so widely known is that typhoid, dysentery and cholera killed twice as many soldiers as all that blood-curdling combat.

Wars, revolutions and assassinations have indeed changed the course of history. But so have the bacteria that have been tamed by modern plumbers.

William the Conqueror, victor at the Battle of Hastings and forefather of modern Britain, died in 1087 from what sketchy historical writings suggest may have been typhoid fever. In 1861, Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, succumbed to the same disease. In between,

English history further records two Roman-numeraled Edwards, a John and a Henry among the royal toll from sanitation-related diseases, and who knows how many more went undiagnosed or unreported. For that matter, who knows how many would-be leaders of the world fell victim while still princelings and lieutenants.

We’re referring to some of the world’s wealthiest, most powerful royalty. These were people provided with the best of everything. Today’s museums display some of their solid gold chamberpots.

Little did they realize that a crude flush toilet would have been much more valuable. And if even monarchs suffered from poor sanitation, think how bleak life must have been for the unwashed masses who, as the common refrain goes, had nary a pot to pee in!

Modern Heroes

We can get an inkling from Dr. Lewis Thomas, Chancellor of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City and one of the world’s most renowned immunologists. An article he published in the Spring 1984 edition of Foreign Affairs, “Scientific Frontiers and National Frontiers: A Look Ahead,” argued the need for global cooperation in science and technology. One of his key points was to criticize our country’s policy of building high-tech medical facilities in underdeveloped countries. What would benefit the Third World much more, he pointed out, is decent plumbing.

“There is no question that our health has improved spectacularly in the past century,” wrote Dr. Thomas.

“One thing seems certain: it did not happen because of medicine, or medical science, or even the presence of doctors.

“Much of the credit should go to the plumbers and engineers of the Western world. The contamination of drinking water by human feces was at one time the single greatest cause of human disease and death for us; it remains so, along with starvation and malaria, for the Third World. Typhoid fever, cholera and dysentery were the chief threats to survival in the early years of the nineteenth century in New York City, and when the plumbers and sanitary engineers had done their work É these diseases began to vanish.”

The average American lifespan has increased by several decades since the days of our founding fathers. By the time standards of history, this is a blink of the eye. It is startling to realize that many senior citizens living today grew up without indoor plumbing, and are only a few generations removed from the epidemics referred to by Dr. Thomas.

Yet, today in America, it is unthinkable to a person of even modest means to buy a home without at least one indoor toilet and bathing unit.

We assume clean drinking water and safe, sight-unseen waste disposal in every private and public building. We take for granted the sanitation, hygiene and convenience provided by indoor bathrooms, and are now concerned with their decorative aspects.

I began this essay paying tribute to Roman mastery of the plumbing craft. But they had 10 centuries to hone their skills. The great American plumbers accomplished even more in about a fifth of the time.

Unfortunately, these gains are in danger of disappearing even faster.

Falling Apart

The best plumbing systems in the history of mankind are in need of billions of dollars’ worth of repair, replacement and additions.

The Associated General Contractors of America estimates that our country needs to invest almost $3.3 trillion – with a “t” – in infrastructure projects over the next 20 years. Of that total, some $815 billion, more $40 billion a year, is pegged for potable water, wastewater treatment and drainage improvements.

AGC is part of a coalition called “Rebuild America,” comprised of 10 other construction industry groups and associations of public officials.

The figures just cited are from an alarming report they produced that tells how our nation’s infrastructure is aging and degrading to the point of danger.

Make that past the point of danger. It has been estimated that a quarter of our nation’s bridges are unsafe. Upwards of 4,000 are closed and a lot more probably should be. More than 100 collapse every year, though we only hear of the ones that drop unsuspecting motorists to their deaths.

Deterioration of underground sewers and water mains is not as visible but no less real. The pipelines serving our older cities were installed well over a century ago. Rebuild America reports that leaky pipes cause some major cities to lose as much as 30 percent of their fresh water supply each day. They say we’ll need to spend $7.1 billion a year over the next 20 years to repair and improve our potable water supply lines, and another $6 billion annually for drainage work.

That’s the good news! The bad is that some $553 billion will be needed over the next two decades to finance wastewater treatment plants.

Even that pales beside the $1.6 trillion, $65.5 billion annually, required to fix up U. S. highways.

Out Of Mind

Our deficit-ridden federal budget can’t satisfy all the big-ticket demands placed upon it, but in this matter, do we have a choice? No matter how strapped your household budget might be, you would figure out a way to finance repairs if your toilet stopped flushing or the water coming out of your faucet turned purple. It’s a matter of what’s important – “prioritizing,” as they say in bureaucratease.

The title of the report put out by the Rebuild America Coalition is “Making America’s Economy Competitive Again.” They make the case that spending on infrastructure is an investment as opposed to an expenditure. They city economic thinkers from the ancient Greeks to Adam Smith to John Kenneth Galbraith in arguing that public works are critical for, in Smith’s words, “facilitating the commerce of the society.” They argue, for instance, that billions of dollars, and billions of gallons of fuel, are wasted each year due to transportation delays and restrictions caused by faulty roads and bridges, along with considerable vehicle damage.

And how’s this for an anecdotal grabber – a worker tied up for 10 minutes each way in rush hour will waste nearly two working years of time fighting traffic in a 45-year job career!

These alarms all ring true, but nothing happens. Our crumbling infrastructure is not even on the map as an issue in this presidential election year, and it can’t be blamed entirely on the money crunch. The politicians aren’t afraid to come out in favor of spending zillions for Star Wars, or universal housing and health care, or various other grandiose and/or (depending on your point of view) worthwhile programs.

Nor are they averse to public works expenditures. The pork barrel bursts open every election year. It’s just that the spending tends to go for new buildings and other structures that are prominent and sleek and shiny – and sometimes named after their political sponsors. Fixing something up is not as sexy as erecting something new. No politician has a sewer system named after him or her, and most no doubt would decline the honor if it were offered. That which is out of sight is out of mind, absent from our trivial public policy debates.

Save Your Legacy

This is not a happy state of affairs in the 212th year of the United States of America.

History shows us quite vividly that nothing lasts forever – not the Roman Empire, not the standards of sanitation and hygiene they engendered. Nor will the robust health and safety of the American people outlast the plumbing and piping systems that are largely responsible.

What the American plumbing industry has accomplished in the last couple of centuries will cause historians of the future to marvel, just as we do over the ruins and artifacts of the Roman Empire.

Unless we put some pressure on our elected officials, ruins and artifacts will be all that’s left of our industry’s glorious legacy.

Brian’s WOW Plumbing does mobile home and double wide plumbing repairs.  Call us for a quote 877-487-3969

Check Out our Press Release regarding Mobile Home Plumbing Here

Did you ever wonder what that funny looking pipe under the sink was?  You know the curved one. 

That is a P-trap and what that does is trap water in the pipe to prevent sewer gas from entering the house.  The P-trap combined with proper venting will keep your house from smelling like a sewer and more importantly may keep safe from disease, specifically SARS.

You have to remember severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) that hit China back in 2003 don’t you?  Well it appears that, according to the World Health Organization “… that ineffective P-traps in the drainpipes of the Amoy Garden apartments in Hong Kong triggered the…outbreak.

US plumbing is required to have P-traps on drainlines for  all sinks, tubs, showers and toilets to prevent this sort of issue.  So look if you smell sewer gas or see tiny gnats flying around your house you are probably a victum of a poor or untrained plumber that failed to install a P-trap somewhere in your house.

Water damage happens and it isn’t pretty. While rain water is pure, the other stuff isn’t. Floods bring debris, mud, sewage, chemicals, and other contaminants into your home. Once the water recedes, guess what’s left behind? Even if the water damage came from a relatively clean source, such as a refrigerator water line break or an unattended faucet causing a sink or bathtub overflow, the water mixes with dirt hidden deep within your carpets and soaks everything it comes in contact with. To make matters worse, structural damages like soggy drywall, ruined carpets, and shorted-out electrical systems are common. Finally, unless cleaned up quickly, mold is sure to sprout, further damaging your home. No matter how the flooding began, the damage has been done and you’ve got a mess on your hands.

Safety First When water damage occurs, always put your safety first. Turn off the power and make sure that the building is safe to enter.

Stop the Water from Flowing Once the area is safe to enter, stopping the flow of water is critical. After all, what good is mopping up a mess when the sludge continues its onward flow? If the water damage is due to a plumbing mishap, shut off the water at its source. For example, use the shut off valves below the toilet if your toilet is overflowing. You may need to turn off the main shut-off valve to the home for pipe bursts and other plumbing problems.

If the water damage is due to weather conditions, you may have no choice but to ride out the storm. Emergency repairs may lessen the amount of water damage that occurs. When possible, do what you can to stop the water from coming in. Use sandbags, tarps, buckets, storm shutters, and other materials and tools to stop the flow of water.

Cleanup and Dry Out Mopping up and drying out the home is crucial. The sooner that you can do this, the better. Otherwise, the water will soak in further causing more damage while mold spores will soon find the ideal environment from which to thrive. Use protective clothing, gloves, and a breathing mask, especially if the water is likely contaminated with sewage or chemicals. Depending on the extent of the flooding, you may need to remove furnishings and carpets. Before throwing damaged goods out, document the damage for insurance purposes.

Clean, clean, and clean some more. Clean and disinfect any items that came in contact with the water. Electronics may be unsalvageable. Again, keep your safety in mind and document any water damage before discarding damaged items. Once the mess is mopped up and cleaned, air out the building, using fans to assist in blowing out the moisture. Remember that mold loves a moist environment, so drying out the building quickly is essential.

Repair Structural Water Damage Warped floorboards, damaged electrical systems, ruined carpets and drapes, damaged roofs, broken windows, and soggy drywall are common victims of water damage. Depending on the damage, you may need to hire a contractor to make the repairs.

Water causes serious damage that gets progressively worse with every delay. Fortunately, you don’t have to clean up on your own. Consider hiring a water damage professional to mop up the mess.

By: Mr. Mark Decherd

Mark Decherd

http://www.articlesbase.com/home-and-family-articles/water-damage-and-the-dreaded-cleanup-process-731216.html

If you own a home you should know that anything can happen at just about any time. You need to be prepared to handle an emergency when it happens. If you want to be prepared for when the worst happens you should read this article to learn how to handle three common disasters.

The first disaster that you should be ready to handle is a broken pipe. Pipes break all the times and can quickly flood an entire home. But do you know where your water shut off valve is? Many people do not. Make sure that everyone in your home knows where the water shut off valve is and how to use it. Quickly shutting off the water can save you thousands of dollars in water damage.

Another emergency that is common is a clogged toilet. Do you know where your homes plunger is? Do you even have one? Make sure that you have at least one plunger in your home. Even better would be for you to have a good plunger in every bathroom.

The last emergency I will talk about is a broken water heater. They can break with little to no notice so there is only one good way to prevent this type of emergency. You should have a drain pan located underneath the water heater. It will allow any water leaked to be immediately drained out of your home.

These are three of the most common plumbing disasters that you will face in your home. I hope this article will help you to avoid them or to at least deal with them. Good luck.

James C
http://www.articlesbase.com/diy-articles/three-easy-ways-to-avoid-a-plumbing-disaster-701527.html

A septic tank is a large, underground, watertight container, typically about 9 feet long, 4-5 feet wide and 5 feet tall that is connected to the home’s sewer line. While typically designed with a 1,000-gallon liquid capacity, the size of the tank is legally determined by the number of bedrooms in the home. (Septic tanks come under the legal supervision of counties in Montana.) Septic tanks may be rectangular or cylindrical and may be made of concrete, fiberglass or polyethylene.

Raw waste water from the bathroom, kitchen and laundry room flows into the tank where the solids separate from the liquid. Light solids, such as soap suds and fat, float to the top and form a scum layer. This layer remains on top and gradually thickens until you have the tank cleaned. The liquid waste goes into the drainfield, while the heavier solids settle to the bottom of the tank where they are gradually decomposed by bacteria. But some non-decomposed solids remain, forming a sludge layer that eventually must be pumped out.

Septic tanks may have one or two compartments. Two-compartment tanks do a better job of settling solids and are required in some areas for new installations. Tees or baffles at the tank’s inlet pipe slow the incoming wastes and reduce disturbance of the settled sludge. A tee or baffle at the outlet keeps the solids or scum in the tank. All tanks should have accessible covers for checking the condition of the baffles and for pumping both compartments.

The Drainfield: Further treatment of wastewater occurs in the soil beneath the drainfield. The drainfield consists of long underground perforated pipes or tiles connected to the septic tank. The network of pipes is laid in gravel-filled trenches (2-3 feet wide), or beds (over 3 feet wide) in the soil. Liquid waste or effluent flows out of the tank and is evenly distributed into the soil through the piping system. The soil below the drain-field provides the final treatment and disposal of the septic tank effluent. After the effluent has passed into the soil, most of it percolates downward and outward, eventually entering the groundwater. A small percentage is taken up by plants through their roots, or evaporates from the soil.

The soil filters the effluent as it passes through the pore spaces. Chemical and biological processes treat the effluent before it reaches groundwater, or a restrictive layer, such as hardpan, bedrock, or clay soils. These processes work best where the soil is somewhat dry and permeable, and contains plenty of oxygen for several feet below the drain field. The size and type of drainfield depends on the estimated daily wastewater flow and soil conditions.

Tips for using your septic system:

-Even a properly designed and installed septic system cannot treat wastewater if the tank is not used and maintained properly. Here are a few tips for installing and using your septic system:
-For future maintenance and to avoid deep root planting and other damaging activities in the drain-field area, make an accurate diagram showing the location of your
tank, drainfield and replacement area.
-Keep a record of pumping, inspection, and other maintenance. Include name, address and phone numbers for installers and pumpers.
-To simplify tank access for inspection and maintenance, install a watertight concrete riser over the septic tank.
-The area over the drainfield should be left undisturbed, with only a mowed grass cover. Roots from nearby trees or shrubs may clog and damage your drain lines.

Scott Byers
http://www.articlesbase.com/self-help-articles/septic-tanks-an-overview-57395.html

We’ve all had to deal with an overflowing toilet before and depending on what the contents of it is at that time, it might be just a little more unpleasant to.

Overflowing toilets can be a real source of water damage over time if they are let to overflow like this on a regular basis, so you need to do your best to not put anything in the toilet that does not belong there.

If you have toddlers that like to play around in the bathroom, one of the things that you can invest in to keep them from putting objects in the toilet is a lid lock.

These are pretty inexpensive and can save you a lot of time cleaning up after a toilets overflowing that was caused by a toy car or even a small stuffed animal. They are designed so that an adult can easily open them, but a child cannot.

Your first instinct when a toilet overflows after you try to flush it is to simply try and flush it again. The water should return to its normal level before you try to flush it again and you should make sure that the rest of your household knows this, as well.

As soon as the toilet starts to overflow, turn the stop tap underneath the tank off. If this does not work, you can lift the lid of the tank and pull the cup or the float ball up. The main stop tap should be turned off next and this should be underneath the kitchen sink or wherever the water service pipe goes into the home.

Finding what is causing the block is the next thing to do. If you can manage to retrieve the object from the toilet with your hand, thats good. If not, you might need to get a plunger or a plumbing snake to try and unclog it.

If you need to use a plunger or a plumbing snake, bale out as much water from the toilet as you can first. The clog should be removed after one of these two methods and when you think it is gone, take a bucket full of water and pour it into the toilet before attempting to flush. If the blockage has gone, the water should go down normally.

If none of this worked, then you should call in an expert. There are a number of emergency plumbers that can be called in, depending on where you live. If a blocked sewer is the problem, then calling the water company is about the only thing that you can do. If it is a private sewer on your own property, then you need to find a drainage engineer to help you.

Jim Corkern
http://www.articlesbase.com/home-improvement-articles/not-maintaining-your-toilet-could-put-your-whole-home-in-a-stink-305661.html