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toilet

 
Dictionary: toi·let   (toi'lĭt) pronunciation
 
n.
    1. A fixture for defecation and urination, consisting of a bowl fitted with a hinged seat and connected to a waste pipe and a flushing apparatus; a privy.
    2. A room or booth containing such a fixture.
  1. The act or process of dressing or grooming oneself.
  2. Dress; attire; costume.
  3. The cleansing of a body area as part of a surgical or medical procedure.
  4. Archaic. A dressing table.

[French toilette, clothes bag, from Old French tellette, diminutive of teile, cloth. See toil2.]


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How Products are Made: How is a toilet made?
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Background

A system for dealing with excrement is necessary in every human community, and the need becomes more pressing the more densely populated the area. Though simple pit latrines are still common in many rural areas today, more complex lavatory designs date back thousands of years. The Old Testament contains several references to toilets, from laws about how to cover waste out of doors to mention of King Eglon of Moab's indoor privy chamber. Some kind of lavatory flushed with water is believed to have been used by residents of the Indus Valley by around 2000 B.C. Even earlier, in about 2750 B.C., the ancient Indian city of Mohendro Daro was equipped with toilets connected to a drain. Dating back to approximately 4000 B.C., the neolithic stone huts of the Scara Brae settlement in the Orkney Islands seem to have had indoor lavatory provisions. Apparently used as toilets, stone chairs have also been unearthed from the site of the Sumerian city of Ashnunnack, dating to around 4000 B.C. The palace of King Minos of Crete, from about 2000 B.C., had elaborate indoor plumbing, including marble toilets that were flushed with water dumped from a vase in an adjoining room.

The remains of Roman lavatories are still extant in many places. Some private Roman houses had their own toilets, which were in most cases a seat located over a drain or a cesspit. Roman public lavatories were more impressive. They were often built next to or as part of public baths. Rows of stone or marble seats in pairs, divided by armrests, stood over a trench. Excess water from the baths flowed into the trench, and washed the waste into a main sewer. A smaller trench filled with fresh water flowed past the base of the stone toilets. This water was used for rinsing. Roman forts, which housed hundreds of soldiers, also boasted impressive toilet facilities. The builders of Housesteads, a Roman fort in northern England dating to 122 A.D., diverted a river to flow underneath the latrine and carry waste out of the fort. The latrine itself was a large room with benches built around three walls. The benches had about 20 holes with no dividers for privacy. Roman cities also took care of the needs of travelers by erecting huge vases along the roadways for people to urinate into, thus keeping waste off the public streets.

During the Middle Ages, lavatories drained with running water were common in British abbeys, which housed large groups of monks. Similar to the Roman forts, abbey latrines were usually meant for many people to use at once, and drained over a river or stone drain. Stone castles were often designed with vertical shafts for the emptying of waste. The waste flowed into a trench leading in most cases to the moat. Indoor toilets consisted of wooden closets or cupboards, which concealed a seat over a chamber pot. Servants emptied the pot into the moat.

In Medieval European cities, common practice was to empty indoor chamber pots directly into the streets, a foul practice that bred disease. Something akin to the modern flushing toilet first came into use in England at the end of the sixteenth century. A water-operated "water closet" was invented in 1596 by Sir John Harrington. Queen Elizabeth I had Harrington's device installed in her palace, setting the vogue among the nobility. However, flushing toilets did not catch on with the bulk of the population until much later. The first British patent for a water closet was awarded to Alexander Cumming in 1775. His device used a pan with a sliding door. The pan contained a few inches of water. When finished, the user would pull a lever that opened the pan, letting the contents slide out into a drain, and at the same time opening a valve that let fresh water into the pan. The Bramah water closet, patented by Joseph Bramah in 1778, used a similar but more complex flushing device that kept the water running for about 15 seconds. By about 1815, water closets of this type had become common in London households. A modern sewer system was completed in London in 1853, and a large-scale toilet manufacturing industry dates to around this time.

Raw Materials

Toilet bowls and tanks are made from a special clay called vitreous china. Vitreous china is a mix of several kinds of clay, called ball clay and china clay, silica, and a fluxing agent. Clays are hardened by first drying in air, then being fired (baked) in a very hot oven called a kiln. Usually a shiny, waterproof coating called a glaze is applied only after a first firing, and the clay is fired a second time. Vitreous china is an exception, in that clay and glaze can be fired together. The whole clay body vitrifies, or turns glassy, so the toilet is actually waterproof and stainproof through its entire thickness.

Toilet seats are generally made from one of two materials. Plastic toilet seats are made from a type of thermoplastic called polystyrene. The less expensive and more common type of toilet seat is made from a blend of wood and plastic. The wood is hardwood, usually maple or birch, which has been ground up into the consistency of flour. This wood flour is blended with a powdered plastic resin called melamine. Zinc stearate is a third ingredient in wooden toilet seats. This prevents the wood-resin mix from sticking to the mold in the manufacturing process. The metal tank fixtures are made of stainless steel or copper, and the joints that hold the seat to the bowl are usually a rubber-like plastic.

The Manufacturing
Process

Plastic seat

  • Plastic seats begin as pellets of polystyrene. A worker feeds the pellets into a hopper attached to an injection molding machine. From the hopper, a precisely measured amount of pellets flows into a container that heats the material until it melts. Then the liquid polystyrene flows through a small hole in the center of a two-part mold. The mold is made of chrome-plated machined die steel. Its two halves are hollowed in the shape of the toilet seat and cover. When the mold is full, it is clamped together by a huge hydraulic press. This exerts 10,000 lb per sq in (4,540 kg per sq cm) of pressure on the mold, and heats the polystyrene to 400° F (204° C).
  • The plastic in the mold begins to solidify. Then cool water is pumped through a channel system around the mold to bring the temperature down. A worker releases the hydraulic clamp and separates the two halves of the mold. The worker removes the seat and cover from the mold, breaking off the extra plastic that formed in the water channel. Then, the worker places the seat and cover into a water bath.
  • After the seat and cover have cooled in the bath, a worker takes them to a finishing area for the final steps. Here holes are drilled for the hinges. Then, a worker smooths the rough edges at a sanding machine. The sander is a rotating wheel covered with an abrasive material. The worker passes the seat or cover along the wheel until any plastic fragments from the drilling or from the mold are sanded off. A similar machine with a softer surface may next be used to give a final polish.

Wooden seat

  • For wooden toilet seats, the first step is to mix the wood flour and the plastic resin. Workers wearing protective masks slit open bags of wood flour and empty them into a mix box. Then, the worker adds the powdered plastic resin that makes up 15% of the formula. Last, a small amount of zinc stearate is added. The mixture is passed to an attrition mill, which grinds the particles down further. After milling, the powdered mixture may be measured into boxes for loading into the molding press. Or it may be set aside, and later measured and scooped by hand into the press.
  • The processed wood and melamine mixture is next emptied into the bottom half of a mold. A worker makes sure the mix fills the mold evenly and smooths the surface. Then the worker lowers the top half of the mold and begins to heat the whole thing to 300° F (149° C). While it heats, the mold is clamped at 150 tons of force. After 6.5 minutes, the wood flour and melamine have fused together and hardened. Then, the worker opens the mold and hangs the seat and cover on an overhead conveyor rack, which moves it along to the finishing area.
  • Wooden seats are finished in the same way as plastic seats. First, they are drilled, then sanded. Then, they are hung again on an overhead conveyor and taken to the painting area. The conveyor automatically lowers the seats into a tank of paint. Then the conveyor pulls them up and passes them into an enclosed room called a vapor chamber. A paint solvent is released as a vapor, and this carries off any excess paint without leaving drip marks. Next, the painted seats pass along the conveyor into a drying oven. The paint-vapor-drying process is repeated four times. The first two coats are a primer, and the second two are an enamel paint that produces a smooth, hard, plastic-like surface.
  • Both plastic and wooden seats are assembled and packaged the same way. The seats and covers are screwed together and packed with the necessary mounting hardware. Then, they are boxed and moved to a warehouse or distribution center.

Bowl and tank

  • The toilet bowl and tank are made at a type of factory known as a pottery. The pottery receives huge amounts of vitreous china in a liquid form called slurry slip. Workers at the pottery first thin the slurry slip to a watery consistency. Then, they feed it through very fine screens in order to sieve out any impurities. The purified slip is thickened again, and pumped into storage tanks in preparation for use in casting.
  • Next, the slip is carried through hoses and pumps into the casting shop. Workers fill plaster of Paris molds with the slip. The molds are in the shape of the desired piece, except they are about 12% bigger, to allow for shrinkage. The workers fill the molds completely with the slip, and let it sit for about an hour. Then, the workers drain out any excess slip. This is recycled for later use. The clay sits in the mold for another few hours. The plaster of Paris absorbs water from the clay, and the clay dries to the point where the mold can be safely removed. At this point, the casting is semisolid, and is called greenware. Workers use hand tools and sponges to smooth the edges of the casting and to make holes for drains and fittings.
  • The greenware castings are left to dry in the open air for several days. Then they are put into a dryer for 20 hours. The dryer is set to 200° F (93° C). After the castings come out of the dryer, they have lost all but about 0.5% of their moisture. At this point workers spray the greenware castings with glaze. Now, the pieces are ready for the kiln.
  • The kilns at a large industrial pottery are warehouse-sized tunnels, and the pieces move through the kiln on a conveyance called a car. Each car is loaded with a number of pieces, and then it moves automatically through the hot kiln at a very slow pace. Because rapid changes in temperature will cause the clay to crack, the cars move leisurely through graduated temperature zones: the first zone is about 400° F (204° C), and it increases in the middle of the kiln to over 2,200° F (1,204° C) degrees. The temperature gradually decreases from there, so that the final temperature is only about 200° F (93° C). The whole firing process takes approximately 40 hours.
  • When the pieces are removed from the kiln and fully cool, they are ready for inspection. After inspection, the flushing mechanism is installed. This is either manufactured at the plumbing fixture company or bought from a contractor. The seat too may be installed at this time, or the parts may be sold separately and assembled by a plumbing distributor.

Quality Control

As with any industrial process, quality checks are taken at several points in the manufacturing of toilets. The clay is sieved and purified before it is pumped into the factory's tanks. Workers doing the manual finishing of the castings check the pieces for cracks or deformities. After firing, each toilet is tested individually. Random sample checks are not a good enough gauge of quality: each piece must be inspected for cracks. There are several ways to do this. One test is to bounce a hard rubber ball against the piece. It should emit a clear, bell-like ringing sound. A cracked piece will give off a dull sound, indicating a crack that might not have been visually obvious.

Byproducts/Waste

The pottery is able to recycle much of its clay. As long as it has not been fired, all the clay is reusable. Even the air-dried greenware can be scrapped, softened and reprocessed into the watery slip of the first step of the process.

Where to Learn More

Books

Barlow, Ronald S. The Vanishing American Outhouse. El Cajon, California: Windmill Publishing Company, 1989.

Hart-Davis, Adam. Thunder, Flush and Thomas Crapper. North Pomfret, Vermont: Trafalgar Square Publishing, 1997.

Reyburn, Wallace. Flushed with Pride: The Story of Thomas Crapper. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1971.

[Article by: Angela Woodward]


 
Architecture: toilet
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1. A water closet;
W.C. 2. The room containing the water closet.


 

The cleansing and dressing of a wound.

 
Word Tutor: toilet
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pronunciation

IN BRIEF: n. - A room or building equipped with one or more toilets; A plumbing fixture for defecation and urination.

pronunciation Today you can go to a gas station and find the cash register open and the toilets locked — Joey Bishop

 
Dream Symbol: Toilet
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Dreaming about a toilet can relate to any number of different meanings regarding waste products. A toilet dream could reflect something as simple as the feeling that one has unloaded something that was burdening him or her, or even releasing tightly held feelings. The dream might also be drawing on the meaning of such common idioms as "in the toilet" or "down the toilet."


 
Wikipedia: Toilet
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Early 20th Century outhouse, preserved at a ghost town in the Arizona Desert.
A urinal in a toilet found in Melbourne, Victoria.

A toilet is a plumbing fixture and disposal system primarily intended for the disposal of the bodily wastes: urine and fecal matter. Additionally, vomit and menstrual waste is sometimes disposed in toilets in western societies. The word "toilet" can be used to refer to the fixture itself or to the room containing the fixture, especially in British English. In Canadian English, the latter is euphemistically called a washroom, and in American English, a restroom or bathroom. The latter term usually refers to a room that also contains a bath tub. A room with only a toilet and a sink is sometimes called a half-bathroom or a powder room.

There are two basic types of toilets: the dry toilet, and the wet toilet - the latter being the most commonly known and producer of blackwater. The dry toilet needs no plumbing for water input or evacuation, but is often coupled with some ventilation system.

The ancient cities of the Indus Valley Civilization, e.g., Harappa[1] and Mohenjo-daro[2] which are located in present day India & Pakistan had flush toilets attached to a sophisticated sewage system[3]—and other forms of toilets were used both in the time of the Romans and Egyptians as well.[4] Although a precursor to the modern flush toilet system was designed in 1596 by John Harington,[5] the toilet did not enter into widespread use until the late nineteenth century, when it was adopted in English upper class residences.[6]

Contents

Types of toilets

Squat toilet as seen in some parts of Europe and Asia.
Greek squat toilet in 2008

The most common type of toilet in modern cities is the flush toilet, in which water takes away the waste through sewers to a waste treatment plant. In rural areas where sewers are not practical, septic tanks may be installed instead.

The most common design in western countries is the sitting toilet. Squat toilets are still used by the majority of the world's population.[7]

Main designs Specialty designs
  • Toilet with built-in bidet
  • Chemical toilet
  • Dry toilet (i.e. no water used for flushing)
    • Pit toilet: very common in camping grounds in the United States. Also known as an outhouse in the U.S.
    • Composting toilet: Very commonly found in camping grounds in Europe, and large climbing parks. Also found in some modern ecologically designed buildings.
    • Urine-diverting & dry composting: a source-separation toilet that keeps urine and feces separate and simplifies the composting process. Can also be called an eco-san (from ecological sanitation) toilet, and is a viable alternative to flush sanitation in urban areas.
    • Incinerating toilet
    • Tree bog, a system for converting human faeces to biomass
  • Head: a toilet on a boat, which has a pump to bring cleaning seawater in and pump waste overboard or into a holding tank.

Cleaning oneself

There are also many different ways to clean oneself after using the toilet. A lot depends on national mores and local resources. The most common choice in the Western world is toilet paper, sometimes used in conjunction with the bidet. (See Toilet paper and Anal cleansing for a discussion of the many alternatives used through history and in different cultures.) 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.[citation needed] Traditionally, the left hand is used for this, for which reason that hand is considered impolite or polluted in many eastern countries.[citation needed]

Public toilets

A portable urinal in the Netherlands.
Portable toilets for a pop concert

Public toilets, public lavatories, or public conveniences are toilets that are accessible to the general public with common access from the street. Conveniences being the collective term for male and female designated toilets, convenience (singular) usually acquiring a gender attribute.

A public toilet may or may not cost money to use; for those that do, see "pay toilet". Between the categories of outright free and outright pay toilets, there is a grey area of toilets where a fee is expected, but not enforced. 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.[citation needed]

Public facilities often have several toilets partitioned by stalls (US) or cubicles (UK). Facilities for men often also have separate urinals, either wall-mounted fixtures designed for a single user, or a constantly-draining basin or trough for collective use. Wall-mounted urinals are sometimes separated by small partitions or other obstructions for privacy, i.e., to keep the user's genitals hidden from public view.[citation needed]

An automated Sanisette outdoor toilet

Outdoor public toilets (in the street, around parks, etc.) are a form of street furniture. For mixed sex arrangements, there are cubicles varying from simple devices with little or no plumbing to more luxurious versions that automatically clean themselves after every use (for the latter, see Sanisette). Facilities without walls all around are typically for urination only, and for men only; although passers-by can see the urinating men from the back, they cannot see the genitals.[citation needed] These street urinals are known as Pissoirs after the French term [1] (see Urinal).

Some facilities are mobile, and can thus be put in place where and when needed, e.g., for a weekend at an entertainment venue. Additionally, some can be sunk into the ground (and thereby made inoperable), for the periods that they are not needed. The idea behind this is that some people do not like the sight of a public toilet in the street, and they are more easily hidden than repeatedly moved. This type is typically installed in entertainment areas and made operational during weekend evenings and nights.

Some public toilets use blue lighting, to prevent intravenous drug abuse by apparently making it harder to locate the veins.[citation needed]

A portable toilet is an outdoor public toilet with walls which can either be connected to the local sewage system or store the waste and be emptied from time to time. Many toilets can be cleaned on the spot, or at a central location in the case of a mobile toilet or urinal. In Europe, public toilets are also set up for cities as a compensation for advertising permits. They are part of a street furniture contract between the out-of-home advertising company and the city council. The reason for this combination is the shortage in city budgets.

Terms used to identify a public toilet will vary from region to region. The Gents and The Ladies are commonly used British terms meaning the male and female toilet respectively. Some European public toilets may be marked "WC" (Water Closet); while in the Philippines the label "CR" (comfort room) is common.

Some public toilets have begun to be provided with flushable paper toilet seat covers which allow the user the comfort of knowing that they are not in contact with a surface previously used by a stranger. There is however no medical evidence that these prevent the spread of disease.[8]

Toilets for people with disabilities

Some toilet areas (otherwise known as "stalls"), are specially adapted for people with disabilities. These are wide enough to allow the entry and use by a person in a wheelchair, and often feature hand-holds or grab bars bolted to the wall, enabling the person to maneuver onto the toilet, if necessary. Some countries have legal requirements for the accessibility of toilets.

Gender and public toilets

Separation by sex is characteristic of public toilets, with writings or pictograms of a man or a woman are used to indicate where their respective toilets are. Standard gender symbols are rarely used.[citation needed] Pictograms depicting men and women in traditional dress (men in trousers, women in skirts) have been criticized for perpetuating gender stereotypes.[citation needed]

In restaurants, bars and night clubs, the identifications can be designed to match the decoration of the premises, using male and female figures or parts of the body, text, or even puns, making it difficult for some customers to identify them.[9]

Sex-separated public toilets are a source of difficulty for some people. For example, people with children of the opposite sex must choose between bringing the child into a toilet not designated for the child's gender, or entering a toilet not designated for one's own. Men caring for babies often find that only the women's washroom has been fitted with a change table. People with disabilities who need assistance to use the restroom have an additional problem if their helper is the opposite sex.

Sex-separated public toilets are often difficult to negotiate for transgendered people, who are often subject to embarrassment, harassment, or even assault or arrest by others offended by the presence of a person they interpret as being of the other gender (whether due to their outward presentation or their genital status). Transgendered people have been arrested for using not only toilets that correspond to their gender of identification, but also ones that correspond to the sex they were born with.

men's public restroom symbol
women's public restroom symbol
See also: SVG symbols of restroom symbols

Many existing public toilets are gender-neutral.[citation needed] Additionally, some public places (such as facilities targeted to the transgendered or LGBT communities, and a few universities and offices) provide individual washrooms that are not gender-specified, specifically in order to respond to the concerns of gender-variant[clarification needed] people; but this remains very rare and often controversial.[10] Various courts have ruled on whether transgendered people have the right to use the washroom of their gender of identification.[citation needed]

A significant number of facilities have additional gender-neutral public toilets for a different reason — they are marked not for being for females or males, but as being accessible to persons with disabilities, and are adequately equipped to allow a person using a wheelchair and/or with mobility concerns to use them.[original research?]

Amnesty International includes segregated toilets among the measures to ensure the safety of girls in schools.[11]

Family restrooms

Another recent development in public toilets is the gender-neutral toilet or "family restroom". These areas contain multiple stalls designed for maximum privacy and a communal washing area for use by both genders. The family restroom is designed so that a parent with a young child of the opposite gender can take the child into the restroom without the concerns associated with single-gender restrooms. Family restrooms have started appearing in newly-built sports stadiums, amusement parks, shopping malls, and major museums.

Toilets in public transport

An aircraft lavatory in the economy class

There are usually toilets in airliners, regional rail trains, and often in long-distance buses and ferries, but not in metros, school buses, trams, and other buses. Many newer trains have a waste reservoir, but, in older trains and still in some newer ones, the contents simply fall on the tracks, hence the notice which appears in many train toilets: "Please do not flush while the train is standing at a station".

Lavatories on aircraft consist of a sink, a waste bin, and a toilet. On many newer aircraft the toilet does not flush with water; rather, suction removes the waste into a collection bin below cabin level. This type is generically known as a vacuum lavatory. Older aircraft use a lavatory tank below the toilet (normally hidden by a hinged "flapper valve" at the bottom of the toilet bowl) and a pump to filter and recirculate lavatory fluid to facilitate flushing.[citations needed]

See also: Passenger train toilets

Private toilets

Toilets in private homes are almost never separated by sex. However, the size of a home or facility bears on the availability of options. Small facilities are limited by their space to the toilet options they can offer; it is more common to find a higher number of choices in a large facility. The same is true for homes; in more affluent households in the USA, where the homes are usually larger, bathrooms are also often more spacious than average, and more numerous. In such homes, bathrooms (especially master bathrooms) are increasingly being designed with a small adjoining room exclusively for the toilet, as well as separate washing basins. This makes it easier for couples who share a bathroom to maintain their desired level of privacy and personal space. In Australia, it has long been the case that the toilet is in a separate room from the bathroom.

"High-tech" toilets

Automatic toilet designed to deter drug users, Picton, New Zealand

Advanced technology is being integrated into toilets with more functions, especially in Japan (see Toilets in Japan). The biggest maker of these toilets is TOTO. Such toilets can cost anywhere from US$200 to $5,000. The features are operated by control pads (sometimes with bilingual labels), and even hand-held remote control devices. Some of these features are

  • Automatic-flushing mechanisms, operated by a photocell or other sensor. Typically these flush a toilet when the user stands up, or flush a urinal when the user steps away.
  • Water jets, or "bottom washers" like a bidet, as an alternative to toilet paper
  • The "Portable Washlet", Toto's portable hand-held bottom washer
  • Blow dryers, to dry the body after use of water jets
  • Artificial flush sounds, to mask noises such as body functions
  • Urine and stool analysis, for medical monitoring. Matsushita's "Smart Toilet" checks blood pressure, temperature, and blood sugar.
  • Digital clock, to monitor time spent at the toilet
  • Automatic lid operation, to open and close the lid
  • Heated seats (some of which may overheat)
  • Deodorizing fans
  • Automated paper toilet-seat-cover replacers, which automatically replace a paper toilet-seat cover with the push of a button.
  • Electric Toilet Brushes
  • Invented in Australia in 1980, and available in more than thirty countries, are dual flush toilets, also known as duosets.[12] Two buttons allow for the user to select between a flush for urine or feces. Because the density of urine is nearly equal to that of the water around it, it requires far less water to flush into a home's sewage system. Because most of a households' flushes are for urine, dual flush toilets can save a significant amount of water.[13]

"Lo-tech" toilets

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 to design toilets that are easy to build and maintain with simple materials, that are also hygienic. The World Toilet Organization has created some designs.

Toilets on fire-resistance rated floors

Toilet flange firestopping versus mechanical pipe firestopping.

Toilets in multi-storey buildings, located on fire-resistance rated floors typically require at least two through-penetrations, which can compromise the rating of the floor if left untreated. One opening is for the fresh water supply to flush and/or fill the water tank. The other through-penetration is for the drain pipe. The fresh water supply line requires routine firestopping. The drain pipe, however, is exempt from firestopping in many building codes, particularly when noncombustible piping is used, because the penetration terminates on the unexposed side in a ceramic bowl filled with water, which can withstand significant fires. Intumescent firestops are often used, in the event plastic pipes are used for toilet drains, so that the melting plastic pipe is choked off in the event of an accidental fire. It is, however, customary to fill the metallic drain pipe annulus with rockwool packing. Even with the best of intentions, it would be difficult for the firestopper to install a sealant, because he is not allowed or inclined to remove the flange, which is what is partially used to support the drain pipe below during the installation process.

Grey water

In some areas with water shortage issues, some people have come up with an alternative approach. In order to conserve levels of potable water, some installations use grey water for toilets. Grey water is waste water produced from processes such as washing dishes, laundry and bathing.

History

Roman public toilets, Ostia Antica

According to Teresi et al. (2002):[14]

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 "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, described above, were only used by the affluent classes. Most people would have squatted over old pots set into the ground.[15]

The earliest toilets so far found are those at Skara Brae in the Orkneys, which was occupied from about 3100 BC until 2500 BC. Some of the houses there have a drain running directly beneath them, and some of these had a cubicle over the drain. The people of the Harappan civilization in Pakistan and north-western India had water-flushing toilets in each house that were linked with drains covered with burnt clay bricks. Around the 18th century BC, toilets started to appear in Minoan Crete; Egypt in the time of the Pharaohs and ancient Persia. In Roman civilization, toilets were sometimes part of public bath houses.

Roman toilets, like the ones pictured above, are commonly thought to be used in the sitting position. But sitting toilets only came into general use in the mid-19th century in the western world.[16] The Roman toilets were probably elevated to raise them above open sewers, rather than for sitting. Squat toilets are still used by the majority of the world's population.[7]

Toilets for prisoners of Auschwitz

Sustainability

The amount of water used in toilets is a significant portion of personal water usage, with an average of 24 gallons used per capita per day in 1990 in the United States[17]. One system used to combat this is the "yellow mellow" system, in which a toilet is only flushed when it contains solid waste, and not only one person's-worth of urine. The custom is often described by the phrase "If it's yellow, let it mellow. If it's brown, flush it down." This system reduces the frequency of toilet flushing significantly.

Since 1990 new regulations and toilet designs have been aimed at reducing the amount of water used in each flush. Furthermore, dual-flush toilets are in increasing use, especially in Europe. A dual-flush toilet has two flush options: one button or handle flushes the entire tank, for solid waste, and an alternate handle or button uses only part of the water in the tank, for smaller loads. Unlike the yellow mellow system, this does not decrease the frequency of flushes, but instead decreases the quantity of water used by flushing for smaller loads.

Etymology

La Toilette from Hogarth's Marriage a la Mode series, 1743. A young countess receives her lover, tradesmen, hangers-on, and an Italian tenor as she finishes her toilette[18]

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 whilst 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.[19] The English poet Alexander Pope in The Rape of the Lock (1717) described the intricacies of a lady's preparation:

And now, unveil'd, the toilet stands display'd

Each silver vase in mystic order laid.

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.[20]

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,[21] 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 toilet 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.")

These modern facilities in the Selfridges department store are branded as 'Toilets'.

The word toilet itself may be considered an impolite word in the United States, whilst 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).

Lavatory

The term lavatory, abbreviated in slang to lav, derives from the Latin lavātōrium, which in turn comes from Latin lavāre, to wash. It used to refer to a vessel for washing, such as a sink/wash basin, and thus came to mean a room with washing vessels. Since these rooms often also contain toilets, 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.

Loo

The sign for toilets ("loos...") at the National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham, England, United Kingdom

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:

  • That it derives from the term "gardyloo" (a corruption of the French phrase gardez l'eau (or maybe: Garde de l'eau!) loosely translated as "watch out for the water!") which was used in medieval times when chamber pots were emptied from a window onto the street. However the first recorded usage of "loo" comes long after this term became obsolete.
  • That the word comes from nautical terminology, loo being an old-fashioned word for lee. The standard nautical pronunciation (in British English) of leeward is looward. Early ships were not fitted with toilets but the crew would urinate over the side of the vessel. However it was important to use the leeward side. Using the windward side would result in the urine blown back on board: hence the phrases 'pissing into the wind' and 'spitting into the wind'. Even now most yachtsmen refer to the loo rather than the heads.
  • That the word derives from the 17th century preacher Louis Bourdaloue. Bordaloue's sermons at the Saint Paul-Saint Louis Church in Paris lasted at least three hours and myth has it that wealthier ladies took along "travelling" chamber pots that could be hidden under their dresses whenever the need arose to avoid the need to leave. Due to the popularity of the myth the bowls became known as Bordaloues after the preacher and the name became corrupted to portaloos and sometimes just plain loos due to the habit of shortening words in slang.

WC

The WC refers to the initial letters of Water Closet, used commonly in France (pronounced "le vay-say" or "le vater"), Romania (pronounced "veh-cheu" and Hungary (pronounced "vey-tsay"). The term is also used in the Netherlands (pronounced "waysay"), Germany (pronounced "ve-tse") and Poland (pronounced "vu-tse"). In Mexico and Finland, WC is a very common term for indicating a public toilet.[citation needed] Despite being an English language abbreviation widely used internationally, the term is not in common use in English-speaking countries like the United Kingdom or the United States.

CR

The CR refers to the initial letters of Comfort Room, used commonly in the Philippines.

Khazi

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 privvy. 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.[22]

Stringy-bark dunny, Walcha, NSW

Dunny

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.[23]

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.

Privy

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.

Netty

The netty is the most common word used in the 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 graffitti scrawled on Hadrian's wall. It is linked to the Italian word gabbinetti meaning "toilets" (singular gabbinetto). [2]

Derivations of "house"

The standalone toilet has been variously known as backhouse, house of ease, house of office, little house, or outhouse.[24]

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.[25]

Latrine

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. 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.

Urinal toilet of Limbourg (Belgium).

Culture

Toilet training

An important part of early childhood education is toilet training.

Graffiti

Public toilets have been associated with graffiti, often of a transgressive, gossippy, or low-brow humorous nature (cf. toilet humour). The word latrinalia --from latrine 'toilet' and -alia, signifying a worthless collection--was coined to describe this kind of graffiti. A famous example of such artwork, was featured on the album cover of the satirical Tony-award Broadway musical Urinetown, using felt tip pen scribblings.

Popular culture

In November, 2007, the twelfth restaurant in a toilet-themed chain opened in Taipei. [3]

How toilet cisterns work

Prison cell toilet with built-in washbasin

Cisterns are either lever or push button operated. Cisterns operated by a push button are available in single (6L) or dual flush (3L/6L) depending on the range. The majority of cisterns are now internal overflow; this means in the event of a failure, the water will be contained within the unit. A flushing trough is an apparatus which serves several WC pans from one long cistern body. It is designed in this way to allow more frequent flushing. These can be found in schools, colleges and public toilets although are becoming less common.

How they are made

Pottery is made by a blend of clays, fillers and fluxes being fused together during the firing process. A white or coloured glaze is applied and is fused chemically and physically to the clay body during the same firing process. The finished product (vitreous china) has a very hard surface and is resistant to fading, staining, burning, scratching and acid attack. Due to the firing process and natural clays used, it is normal for the product to vary in size and shape, and +/- 5 mm is normal.

Manufacturers

List of manufacturers of toilets and fixtures:


See also

Further reading

References

  1. ^ Bathing Area, Mohenjo-daro, Sindh
  2. ^ Toilet Museum
  3. ^ Tampereen yliopiston sähköiset julkaisut
  4. ^ Who invented the toilet
  5. ^ A History of the flush toilet
  6. ^ Poop Culture: How America is Shaped by its Grossest National Product, Dave Praeger, ISBN 1-932-59521-X
  7. ^ a b Kira A. The Bathroom. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1976, revised edition, pp.115,116.
  8. ^ MIT medical Ask Lucy archive on paper toilet seat covers. June 28, 2006
  9. ^ Michael, Jane; Michael Stern (1999-09-13). "Operators shouldn't get potty over bathroom symbols". Nation's Restaurant News. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3190/is_37_33/ai_55821064. Retrieved on 2009-02-27. 
  10. ^ "Inclusive toilets". McGill Reporter. 2004-03-11. http://www.mcgill.ca/reporter/36/12/transgender/. Retrieved on 2009-02-27. 
  11. ^ "Six steps to stop violence against schoolgirls, Document ACT 77/008/2007". Amnesty International. November 2007. http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/ACT77/023/2007/en. Retrieved on 2009-02-27. 
  12. ^ 100 Years of Australian Innovation - Dual flush technology, retrieved on 22 February 2009.
  13. ^ "TUCSON LAWMAKER WANTS TAX CREDITS FOR WATER-CONSERVING TOILETS". Cronkite News Service. http://cronkitenews.jmc.asu.edu/?p=315. Retrieved on 2008-03-12. 
  14. ^ Teresi et al. 2002
  15. ^ Mohenjo-Daro Early Latrines and Plumbing
  16. ^ A History of Technology, Vol.IV: The Industrial Revolution, 1750-1850. (C. Singer, E Holmyard, A Hall, T. Williams eds) Oxford Clarendon Press, pps. 507-508, 1958
  17. ^ Van Der Leeden, F., F. L. Troise, and D. K. Todd. The Water Encyclopedia. Lewis Publishers, Inc. Second Edition, 1990, ISBN 0873711203, table 5-25
  18. ^ See Egerton op cit
  19. ^ National Gallery Catalogues (new series): The British School, Judy Egerton, p. 167, 1998, ISBN 1857091701, describing the famous Hogarth painting The Toilette from the Marriage A-la-Mode series.
  20. ^ All OED (1st edn) for "toilet". The sequence of recorded first use may not exactly match the sequence in which they actually came into use
  21. ^ The original OED regards the use for a room including washing, bathing and/or lavatory facilities as "in U.S. esp."(ecially), and does not produce a quotation for the restricted sense as a lavatory, referring to "Funk's Standard Dictionary". OED Ist Edn "Toilet"
  22. ^ "Why Do We Say?" (1987) by Nigel Rees
  23. ^ dunny - Definitions from Dictionary.com
  24. ^ Ward Bucher (1996) "Dictionary of Building Preservation", ISBN 0471144134
  25. ^ "The Diary of Samuel Pepys", Samuel Pepys, Mynors Bright, Richard Griffin (1892) p. 245

External links

Toilets at the Open Directory Project


 
Translations: Toilet
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Dansk (Danish)
n. - toilette, påklædning, toilet, wc, badeværelse
v. tr. - gøre toilette

idioms:

  • toilet paper    toiletpapir
  • toilet roll    toiletpapir
  • toilet soap    toiletsæbe
  • toilet train    pottetræning
  • toilet water    eau-de-toilette

Nederlands (Dutch)
wc, wassen, aankleden en opmaken, toilet-

Français (French)
n. - toilettes, cabinets, toilette
v. tr. - faire une toilette, s'habiller

idioms:

  • toilet paper    papier hygiénique
  • toilet roll    rouleau de papier hygiénique
  • toilet soap    savon de toilette
  • toilet water    eau de toilette

Deutsch (German)
n. - Toilette, Wundversorgung, Sich-Fertigmachen (Toilette)
v. - (einem Kind oder Behinderten) bei der Toilettenbenutzung helfen

idioms:

  • toilet paper    Toilettenpapier
  • toilet roll    Rolle Toilettenpapier
  • toilet soap    Toilettenseife
  • toilet water    Eau de Toilette, Toilettenwasser

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - τουαλέτα, αποχωρητήριο, καλλωπισμός, περιποίηση, τραπέζι τουαλέτας

idioms:

  • toilet paper    χαρτί υγείας, χαρτί τουαλέτας
  • toilet roll    ρόλος χαρτιού υγείας ή τουαλέτας
  • toilet soap    σαπούνι πολυτελείας
  • toilet train    μαθαίνω (σε νήπιο) να χρησιμοποιεί το αποχωρητήριο
  • toilet water    κολόνια

Italiano (Italian)
cesso, da toilette, assistere

idioms:

  • toilet paper    carta igienica
  • toilet roll    rotolo di carta igienica
  • toilet soap    sapone da bagno
  • toilet train    insegnare ad usare il cesso
  • toilet water    acqua di colonia

Português (Portuguese)
n. - privada (f), banheiro (m)

idioms:

  • toilet paper    papel higiênico (m)
  • toilet roll    rolo de papel higiênico (m)
  • toilet soap    sabonete (m)
  • toilet train    educação (f) infantil para uso do banheiro
  • toilet water    água de colônia (f)

Русский (Russian)
(одевание) туалет, костюм (бальный туалет), ванная комната, туалет, уборная

idioms:

  • toilet paper    туалетная бумага
  • toilet roll    рулон туалетной бумаги
  • toilet soap    туалетное мыло
  • toilet train    приучать ребенка пользоваться горшком
  • toilet water    одеколон

Español (Spanish)
n. - arreglo, aseo, traje, tocador, lavabo
v. tr. - arreglar , asear

idioms:

  • toilet paper    papel higiénico
  • toilet roll    rollo de papel higiénico
  • toilet soap    jabón de tocador
  • toilet water    agua de colonia

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - toalett, toalett (aftonklänning)

中文(简体)(Chinese (Simplified))
盥洗室, 梳洗, 给...穿衣

idioms:

  • toilet paper    厕纸, 卫生纸
  • toilet roll    成卷的纸
  • toilet soap    香皂, 洗面皂
  • toilet train    训练小孩控制大小便并使用厕所
  • toilet water    花露水

中文(繁體)(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 盥洗室, 梳洗
v. tr. - 給...穿衣

idioms:

  • toilet paper    廁紙, 衛生紙
  • toilet roll    成卷的紙
  • toilet soap    香皂, 洗面皂
  • toilet train    訓練小孩控制大小便並使用廁所
  • toilet water    花露水

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 화장실, 몸단장, 화장대
v. tr. - ~에게 화장을 시키다, 용변을 보게 하다

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 洗面所, 化粧室, トイレ, 便器, 化粧, 身じたく, 着こなし

idioms:

  • toilet paper    トイレットペーパー
  • toilet roll    トイレットペーパー
  • toilet soap    化粧石鹸
  • toilet train    トイレトレーニングをする
  • toilet water    化粧水

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) مرحاض, حمام, تزين, تبرج‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮שירותים, בית-שימוש, אסלה, רחצה, התלבשות, התייפות, סידור-שיער, הופעה, ניקוי חלק בגוף לאחר ניתוח‬
v. tr. - ‮סייע (לילד, לנכה וכו') להשתמש בבית-השימוש‬


 
Best of the Web: toilet
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Some good "toilet" pages on the web:


American Sign Language
commtechlab.msu.edu
 

How?
home.howstuffworks.com
 
 
 

 

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Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
How Products are Made. How Products are Made. Copyright © 2002 by The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Architecture. McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Architecture and Construction. Copyright © 2003 by McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Veterinary Dictionary. Saunders Comprehensive Veterinary Dictionary 3rd Edition. Copyright © 2007 by D.C. Blood, V.P. Studdert and C.C. Gay, Elsevier. All rights reserved.  Read more
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