Flush toilet.

Early 20th Century outhouse, preserved at a ghost town in the Arizona Desert.

The ancient cities of 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 Sir 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]

Nearly 40 percent of the world's population lacks access to toilets.^[7]

Types of toilets

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

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. Traditionally, the left hand is used for this, for which reason that hand is considered impolite or polluted in many eastern countries.

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 first-world countries is the sitting toilet. Some other countries use the squat toilet.

Public toilets

A portable urinal in the Netherlands.

Portable toilets for a pop concert

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. 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.

An automated Sanisette outdoor toilet

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.

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. Space shuttles empty waste out into outer space. 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 to the extent that pictograms of a man or a woman are used to indicate where their respective toilets are. These pictograms are sometimes enclosed within standard geometric forms to reinforce this information, with a circle representing a women's toilet and a triangle representing a men's facility. Pictograms depicting men and women in traditional dress (men in pants, women in skirts) have been criticized for perpetuating gender stereotypes. Standard gender symbols are rarely used. 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 patrons 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 or androgynous 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 bathrooms 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. 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 people; but this remains very rare and often controversial. http://www.mcgill.ca/reporter/36/12/transgender/ Various courts have ruled on whether transgendered people have the right to use the washroom of their gender of identification. http://www.herizons.ca/magazine/issues/fal01/

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.

Amnesty International includes segregated toilets among the measures to ensure the safety of girls in schools^[10]

Family restrooms

Another recent development in public toilets is the "family restroom". Family restrooms are unisex bathrooms that 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 bring the child into the restroom with them 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

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.

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

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,
  

  Automatic toilet designed to deter drug users, Picton, New Zealand
  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 in the bathroom
• Automatic lid operation, to open and close the lid
• Heated seats (Some of these toilets have been known to catch on fire)
• 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
• New to the United States, but used in Europe and Israel for over a decade are dual flush toilets. 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 save a large amount of water.^[11]

"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.

Grey water

In some areas with water shortage issues, 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

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^[12]

According to Teresi et al. (2002):^[13]

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."

Nearly all of the hundreds of houses excavated had their own bathing rooms. Generally located on the ground floor, the bath was made of brick, sometimes with a surrounding curb to sit on. The water drained away through a hole in the floor, down chutes or pottery pipes in the walls, into the municipal drainage system. Even the fastidious Egyptians rarely had special bathrooms.

Toilets appeared as early as 2500 BC. 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 here, 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.^[14] Squat toilets are still used by the majority of the world's population.

Etymology

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.^[15] The English poet Alexander Pope in The Rape of the Lock (1717) described the intricacies of a lady's preparation: 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.^[16]

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,^[17] 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'.

Lavatory

The term lavatory, abbreviated in slang to lav, derives from the Latin lav?t?rium, which in turn comes from Latin lav?re, 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

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") and Hungary (pronounced "vey-tsay"). The term is also used in the Netherlands (pronounced "waysay"), Germany (pronounced "vey-tsay") and Poland (pronounced "vu-tse"). In Mexico, WC is very common to indicate a public toilet, although the majority of the people there do not know the meaning of the 'mysterious' letters on the door. The same can be said for Finland. Quite why the English expression should have become international is not clear.

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 similar sound to khaki. Khazi is now most commonly used in the city of Liverpool in the UK, away from its cockney slang roots.^[18]

Stringy-bark dunny, Walcha, NSW

Dunny

The Dunny is an Australian expression for an outside toilet. See 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.^[19] 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.

Derivations of "house"

Standalone toilets has been variously known as backhouse, house of ease, house of office, little house, or outhouse.^[20]

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.^[21]

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. http://www.news.com.au/travel/story/0,23483,22756557-27977,00.html

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 +/- 5mm is normal.

Manufacturers

List of manufacturers of toilets and fixtures:

• American Standard Companies
• Arabia
• Armitage Shanks
• Claytan
• Clivus Multrum
• Crane
• Dongfeng
• Duravit
• Eljer
• Evac
• Gerber Plumbing Fixtures
• IDO
• Karat
• Kohler Company
• TOTO
• Twyfords
• Victory
• Villeroy & Boch

Further reading

• Flushed with success: new waste-reducing design in modern toiletry by Jim Motavalli. E: The Environmental Magazine, March-April, 1998
• Garden Houses and Privies, Authentic Details for Design and Restoration by Peter Joel Harrison. John Wiley & Sons, 2002. ISBN 0471203327 Member of the Outhouse Wall of Fame http://www.outhousemuseum.com/wall_harrison.html
• Slanguage - a Dictionary of Irish slang by Bernard Share. (Dublin,1997) ISBN 0-7171-2683-8
• Temples of Convenience - And Chambers of Delight by Lucinda Lambton (NPI Media Group, 2006) ISBN 075243893X
• Thunder, Flush and Thomas Crapper by Adam Hart-Davis (Michael O'Mara Books, 1997), ISBN 1570760810.

References

See also

• Bidet
• Blackwater (waste)
• Cleaning bathrooms
• Clivus (toilet)
• Composting toilet
• Defecation
• Domestic water system
• Ecological sanitation
• Excretion
• Feces
• Flying toilet
• Human feces
• Human toilet
• Humanure
• Hygiene
• Islamic toilet etiquette
• Jonathan Routh, for his publications The Good Loo Guide (to London), Guide Porcelaine to the Loos of Paris, and The Better John Guide (to New York).
• Outhouse
• Pay toilet
• Plumbing
• Plumbing fixture
• Plumbing drainage venting
• Sanitation
• Space toilet (zero gravity toilet)
• Squat toilet
• Toilet brush
• Toilet granny
• Japanese toilets
• Toilet paper
• Toilet roll holder
• Toilet-related injury
• Urinal
• Urination
• Washroom
• Washroom architecture
• World Toilet Organization (organizers of the annual "World Toilet Summit")

External links

• A Guide To WC's and Toilets.
• Ancient Indian code for Toilets

• British Toilet Association (BTA)
• Find a toilet The UK's largest database of public toilets
• Flushed with success: new waste-reducing design in modern toiletry by Jim Motavalli. E: The Environmental Magazine, March-April, 1998
• German webpage with toilets from all over the world
• History of Public Toilets
• Medieval Castle Toilet
• Pub Toilets - The Pub Review guide focusing on toilets.
• Tippler Toilet description
• Toiletology 101/Free Toilet Repair Course
• ToiletZone (FR) - French website with toilet picture gallery
• Toilet, its history and reality.
• Wells and Toilets - A short history of wells and toilets, free book in pdf format (2005)
• Who Invented The Water Closet? - A short history of the toilet.
• World Toilet Rated Guide(CAT)

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