Thomas Crapper | A Brief History of Plumbing
“Moon over the waters, and the bright bursts on the billows of the flushing light over the cursed waves. See how the vessel goes gallantly on.”
Edited Quote from “Australia”, by Thomas Kibble Hervey
In lieu of the story from history we commonly tell at the beginning of each podcast, I wanted to have a conversation with you, our audience, about this episode before we drop right in.
The tantalizing title of this episode notwithstanding, I ask that you bear with me. It is, admittedly, as easy to go down the crude pathway as it is to go down the boring one. Plumbing is the unseen luxury we take for granted every day. Speaking personally, I rarely think twice about the amazing privilege of walking to any functioning restroom and use it without regret – baring gas station bathrooms of course. In this absent-minded action it’s easy to forget the history that made such a practice possible. As it is with reading and studying history, perspective is granted and the world suddenly takes on the shade of what it could be, both for the good and the bad.
In sharing the brief history of plumbing and discussing the contributions of Thomas Crapper, it’s my hope that you gain the same appreciation for that which may be taken for granted every day. That in a single turn of a faucet handle, the filling of glass with clean water, or the ability to flush away foul expulsions, you remember the history behind each action, and as a result, appreciate those that made it possible.
The Brief History of Plumbing
The concept of moving water from one place to the other automatically has been on the minds of humans since their creation. Conversely, the desire to move soiled water away automatically has – at times – been considered equally important. The means by which this could be done has evolved as civilizations have come and gone. In all of them, a basic pattern emerged in plumbing conception and construction: the path, the pipe, and the seal.
The first recorded instance of plumbing dates back to 2600 BC with civilizations in the Indus Valley. In the ruins of buildings can be found wells, bathing areas, and drains in floors. In addition, private bathrooms and septic tanks were also found. Babylonian ruins have shown similar designs specific to the creation of piping systems that would move water to a place, and draining systems that would move it to another. Different civilizations would borrow from others to perfect this process and make it more usable for future generations.
Ancient Greece piled onto the contributions of ancient China and Middle-eastern civilizations by creating the showerhead that could drop water onto users through a system of intricately laid pipes. The shower technology was specifically for athletes to use after public games – including the Olympics – and with the addition of differentiated cold and hot water temperatures, the innovations created a bathing experience that was envied and copied throughout the known world.
Ancient Rome built on these achievements and created the most comprehensive system of plumbing the world had ever seen. In fact, the word “plumbing” comes from the Latin word, “Plumus”, used to define the practice in Ancient Rome. Aqueducts were constructed to move water over great distances and into the cities where they were diverted through a complex system of underground lead pipes. These pipes would carry running water into the Roman baths where the water could be heated for showers or steam rooms. Wastewater would flow into drains and through another set of interact pipes to the Tiber River where it would be carried out to sea. Despite the pipes being made of lead, it was rare for lead poising to occur. Historians have concluded that because the calcium levels in the water were so high, it created a coating over the pipes that protected against contamination. Unfortunately, lead was used in many other facets of life during these times, from glassware and eating utensils to pots and kettles, all of which caused much greater exposure and the insanity of several Roman emperors.
The Fall of Rome and the collapse of civilization that resulted in the Dark Ages halted the advancement of plumbing, and subsequent sanitary practices regressed to a dangerous level. In medieval England, the process of moving water to-and-fro became considerably more laborious. Castles had hatches that were connected to lavatories which emptied into moats and streams. Serfs were charged with their clean-up and upgrades. Water was brought into homes where it was used and then discarded out the window after a warning of “gradyloo” to people in the street below. As disease and pestilence followed such practices, so did the desire to revisit old ideas of sanitation. With the Renaissance came a renewed desire and interest in hygiene and, to a larger extent, plumbing overall.
John Harrington invented the first toilet in 1596, and though it did not take hold, it drew the attention of one of his close friends, Queen Elizabeth 1 who was so fascinated by the contraption that Mr. Harrington made one for her. She never used it, saying that it was scary and that the noise of the water was that of a “thunderous storm”. Across the Atlantic, the first water system was pioneered in the late 1600s in Boston. The designs for the system were adopted in other cities in the United States and across the world, with different versions in each location to fit the needs of the given city.
Over the course of the next 300 years, sanitation and waste removal would go through a series of iterations that contributed to different advancements in modern plumbing. With each advancement in the path, the pipe, and the seal, came the need for further upgrades in design and layout. The invention of the first toilet in 1596 required the need to unload the contents to a better location. With the creation of piping systems for firefighters in New York in 1795, the need to fix leakage increased exponentially. With the advent of toilet paper came the need to widen existing pipes to accommodate the increased mass of each excretion. As advancements continued, so did the need for more.
Thomas Crapper
Thomas Crapper started his plumbing and sanitation business, Thomas Crapper Inc., in 1861 with the goal to provide products that were so high in quality, that they wouldn’t need to be replaced. Using the past as prologue, Crapper reviewed existing toilet and drain designs with the intention to improve upon them. Of these many achievements, three stand out.
Thomas Crapper build on John Harrington’s invention of the toilet by improving the overall flow of its harsh contents. In his day, toilets used a S-bend trap that had a tendency to dry out (causing a horrid stench) or get clogged, which produced nightmarish overflows. To correct this, Crapper invented a U-bend plumbing trap that would not clog or dry out. This invention resulted in a subsequent patent which the BBC nominated as one of 50 Things That (have) Made the Modern Economy.
Another notable invention of Thomas Crapper is hidden inside the inner workings of every toilet holding tank. It is a floating valve that depending on the age of your toilet, either looks like a ring or a balloon. Called a ballcock, the floating valve is the mechanism by which the water tank doesn’t overflow. Without it, water would continuously fill the tank to the point of spilling out.
Finally, he set up public showrooms to display his bathroom innovations. At the time, the terrible happenings that transpired in bathrooms were never to be mentioned or discussed. In showing the interworking’s of the bathroom, he was able to tear down the walls of discord and push discussions on sanitation into the public realm. This also promulgated the idea of having bathrooms in individual homes.
In recognition of his achievements, Crappers plumbing company was hired to do projects for the Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle, and many more. With each project, he implemented his many innovations and championed the need for improved sanitation.
In all, he is responsible for nine patents that range from drain improvements to manhole covers – some of which can still be found in London today. His company has been in business for over 150 years and still produces his original patents for bathrooms around the world.
The Legacy of Crapper
In this history of plumbing, Thomas Crapper had a relatively small contribution. There are three reasons for his notoriety.
Number one, he born into an age where he could patent the technology he created and then exclusively show said tech to the public. This allowed him to put “home bathroom” onto a public display which as aforementioned, changed the public narrative and encouraged conversation about sanitation reform. Number two, all of his patents were extremely effective, widely adopted, and promoted by royalty. Being an actual plumber, Crapper was able to create quality products that changed the way plumbing worked for the better. Finally, and this one should be obvious, the name “crapper” is a slang term for a toilet. It is widely believed that the use of the word originated when a soldier in WW1 used an English lavatory that employed Crapper’s technology. All of Crapper equipment brandished his name and because of that, when the soldier left the bathroom, he spread the word about his experience, and the name spread. “I’m going to the crapper” became synonymous with using the restroom. In actuality, the word originates from both Dutch and Old French, the former meaning to “pluck off, cut off or separate” while the latter means to “waste or reject, or sift”. The debate behind the origin of the word notwithstanding, the use is cemented in modern language to the point that such originations are seen as, well…you know what.
On a more serious note, the contribution of Thomas Crapper to sanitation was very important. As technology began to improve the experience of expelling waste, so did the need to expel said waste and move it to another location. As Thomas publicly showcased his idea for a home bathroom, waste would move along the street. As noted on another podcast, “The Plague of the Known World”, the lack of sanitation contributed to the spread of disease and pestilence. By bringing the conversation to the public arena, awareness for sanitation improvement gained momentum.
During this time, London had no sewer system. Waste would float freely down the street and at best, move its way into the Thames. This problem reached its pinnacle during the hot summer of 1858 when the smell overpowered the inhabitants of the city. Dubbed, “The Great Stink of London”, it was the result of heat – both day and night – baking the excrement onto the roads and sidewalks while heating the surrounding, polluted waterways. This caused massive outbreaks of cholera throughout the city, with over 10,000 Londoners killed within a single year. To combat this, Joseph Bazalgette conceived of a sewer system that would carry foul water from old sews and underground rivers to new, low-level sewers that were built behind embankments near the waterfront and then taken to a new treatment works. The process of building and implementation took some time, but by 1866, most of the city was connected and the problems with the sewage began to abate.
The instance of the London sewers if but one from around the world. As more cities began to enact new policies for sanitation, they improved designs from those that came before them and worked to utilize the path, the pipe, and the seal in new and innovative ways.
Lessons from History
I’ll admit to you, our audience, that the topic of “plumbing” presented an interesting challenge for me both from a research and writing perspective. First, how interesting can plumbing be, and second, how should one focus on an engineering marvel which had many, many, many small contributions over the whole of known history, all within 15 minutes? The answer to both questions came in the form of realization and reminder.
Many of the most unnoticeable processes in our daily life would be very much noticed if they were suddenly absent. We like to forget that which we deem inappropriately necessary. Certainly, in Thomas Crapper’s day, there was a heightened sense of voluntary ignorance about going to the bathroom, and everything that happened there. Events we try to forget are often casualties to entitlement we feel when we know the unspoken option is there, for us, at any time. And in the end, the luxury of “the home bathroom” falls into the category of what we take for granted, rather than what we should be thankful for.
In talking about Thomas Crapper and the brief history of plumbing, we need to 1) Remember that such an invention hasn’t always existed, 2) Realize that there are still places in the world where it doesn’t exist, 3) Think about what the world would be like without it. When taken in this light, the convenience we have every day may be moved from that place of entitled luxury to a thankful blessing. In history, we can see how plumbing evolved, be amazed at what ancient civilizations were able to accomplish without the tools of today and be thankful for the countless men and women who strained against the technological limitations of their day to create a path forward, for us all.
