“No”, Grandpa said, “The flush toilet was invented by a guy named Thomas Crapper!”

Well, Mr. Crapper did help improve the early flush toilet.  The “water closet” was what our facilitieswere called back then.  The improved on it but he did not invent it.

In reality it depends on your perspective as to when the actual “first” flush toilet was invented.  Doing research, it appears that there were types of flush toilets used back in the 26th century B.C.The Indus Valley Civilization not only had flush toilets but also had a sewage system that was quitesophisticated.  There have also been researches done showing flush toilets being built in the 18th and 15th centuries B.C. on Minoan, Crete.  During the first centuries A.D. flush toilets were, in some shape or form, used in the Roman Empire.  

The first flush toilet similar to our modern one was designed by Sir John Harington around 1596 for his godmother Elizabeth I of England.  It was not used widely in any sense but did contain a flushvalve to let water out and a wash-down to empty the bowl.  In 1738 another valve type was invented byJ. F. Brondel. 

The nearest modern type Flush toilet was patented in Britain by Alexander Cummings in 1775.  Hiswas the first that used a seal of water left inside the bowl as it is today.  (A note of interest is thathe invented this “S-trap” seal to aid in preventing foul air from the sewer coming back into the bowl.  We can all thank him for that!)

Many improvements were made upon all of these designs:  S. Prosser, 1777, came up with  the “plunger closet” which he patented, in 1778  J. Bramah inventing a crank valve and a float valve system, 1819 A. Giblin’s got a patent for the siphon discharge system, 1852 J. Jennings came up with a wash-out design.

It wasn’t until 1857 that an American patent was granted for a toilet, the “plunger closet”.  In 1860 the first water closet was actually installed in Queen Victoria’s castle in Europe. 

The first public toilets were installed at The Crystal Palace.  To use these one usually had to pay apenny to the attendant in charge!

It was in the 1880’s that Thomas Crapper and his company built flush toilets like Giblin’s.  That company received a royal warrant which is most likely why his name comes up right alongsidethe flush toilet most often.  He made many improvements, like the siphon system and had patents for quite a few of them.  In 1885 T. Twyford, build the first china toilet of one-piece design which used a siphon design by J. Jennings.

In 1886 a flush toilet was manufactured by the Beaufort Works in England utilizing the jet flush.   William E. Soan invented the Flushometer in 1906 which is the pressurized water style still in use a great deal today.  In 1907 T. M. Stewart of new Brunswick invented the vortex-flushing style which aided in self cleaning toilets.

The newer inventions of the flush toilet came in around 1980 when Bruce Thompson developed a system with two flush volumes.  This Duoset cistern type saves a lot of water and it, along with even more modern versions of the Duoset, are now being used in many areas worldwide!

So, as to who really first invented the flush toilet depends on if you want to go all the way back in time to the first uses of types of flush toilets or begin with the more modern versions with newer technology.  No matter who gets the credit, we all reap the benefits.  It definitely beats the old alternatives of the out house no matter where it derived its invention!