Who Invented the Flush Toilet?
That’s right, a city called Mohenjo-daro located in Pakistan had flush toilets in every house. Waste-water drained into covered sewers under the streets. That was 26 centuries ago. So the question becomes, who is responsible for the modern version of this invention? The first flush toilet invented in modern history was built by Sir John Harington, godson of Queen Elizabeth I, who installed two of them in 1596. Up until that time, it was customary for servants to collect chamber pots filled during the night, and to fling the contents from second story windows into the streets, where the waste would hopefully flow away in the gutters. It was important to watch your step in those days. Sir John put a toilet in his own home and in the Queen’s palace. One might think this would be considered an advance during a period when a fancy dance in a fine house resulted in the odor of urine in rugs around the house. But Sir John’s reputation took a hit. It seems inventing a flush toilet was beneath
If by flush toilet we mean any toilet hi which water is used to clean the bowl after its use, then the flush toilet is close to 4,000 years old! The palace at Knossos, Crete, which was built around 2000 B.C., contained latrines that were cleaned by water stored in a reservoir and delivered to the bowl through pipes. Houses built
