CHAPTER 1 THE HISTORY OF TOILETS Before Before the invention of toilets people used benches with seat holes above open pits Some benches had only one hole Other benches had up to 20 People also used chamber pots In some ancient cities people had sewer systems to deal with waste But in other places they simply dug holes in the ground The ancient Romans built this public bathroom in Ostia Antica Italy 5
Many castles in Europe had garderobes These tiny rooms were on the castles outside walls They contained a bench with a hole above a narrow shaft Waste dropped down the shaft to a sewer or a vault Sometimes it went right into the castle’s moat or onto the bare ground Sir John Harington designed the first flush toilet in 1596 It had a pan with a seat to sit on A tank held water above the pan When the handle was pushed water CRITICAL THINKING CRITICAL THINKING CRITICAL THINKING What are some improvements that a toilet offers What are some improvements that a toilet offers What are some improvements that a toilet offers compared to a chamber pot compared to a chamber pot compared to a chamber pot 6
This toilet was built into the walls of Gravensteen Castle in Ghent Belgium flowed down a pipe and into the pan The water flushed out the pan into an underground sewage tank 7
