It’s important to examine the history of our home equipment to consider how far we’ve come in making our properties more convenient to use.
To help provide insight into your home plumbing systems, our team at Plumb Level in Brenham, TX offers a quick guide to the history of indoor plumbing in this latest post.
The Indus Valley Civilization
From 2350 BCE, the Indus Valley Civilization had their own primitive version of the toilet. Civilians had their own toilet in their home, and the toilet would connect to an early version of a sewer system, which would transport waste to local cesspits and waterways. This was one of the very first indications of humans using private toilets in their own home.
Roman Inventions
The Romans were renowned for their engineering skill. And their aqueducts stand out as an engineering marvel. These giant structures were used to channel water to various areas of the Roman Empire.
Romans had private access to toilets in their homes, and also operated public bathhouses, where locals could keep clean regularly. They also had public latrines that connected to nearby sewage areas. The Romans were also one of the first civilizations to separate drinking water, cooking water and bathing water.
The Palace of Versailles
We now go to 18th century France where conditions are difficult as waste piles up on the streets of Versailles. The Royals were distinctly unimpressed with the odor and poor conditions on the streets of the city, and this led the Queens of France, Marie Antoinette to have her own flush toilet installed in the palace.
Marie Antoinette’s flush toilet was an example of the first iterations of the modern flush system and is now still on display in France.
Sensor Toilet Systems
To mitigate the need to continually use the handle of the toilet to flush,
inventors came up with the idea of using sensors linked to an internal
flushing device. Invented in Japan in 1986, the sensor toilet would determine
when the person has stepped away and then flush directly without input
from the user.
The process helps minimize the need for the person to use the flush handle and helps protect against bacteria. It’s a style of toilet now in public use around the world.
We hope this brief history of indoor plumbing has given you more information on the equipment available to past civilizations. Stay tuned as we’ll bring you more information from inside the plumbing marketplace in upcoming posts.