Did thomas crapper really invent the toilet?
Thomas Crapper (1836-1910) did exist and is credited with improving the functionality of the early flush toilet (or “water closet,” as it was then called), but he did not, contrary to popular belief, invent the pseudo-eponymous bathroom appliance from scratch. Credit for that goes to 16th-century author Sir John Harrington, who not only came up with the idea but installed an early working prototype in the palace of Queen Elizabeth I, his godmother. The first patent for a flushing water closet was issued to Alexander Cummings in 1775, sixty years before Thomas Crapper was born. But this makes me out to be so Anal…..I wish he had…. Answer originally posted in response to Did thomas crapper really invent the toilet?
