April was a very hectic month for me, and it all started with a nasty virus that was making the rounds and which I contracted at the end of March. It knocked me flat for about 3 weeks and I felt horrible.
When you are feeling like crap, what do you do? Start writing a blog post about toilets.
The toilet was invented by John Harrington in 1596. He was also an author and wrote about his toilet he called Ajax... "The The metamorphosis of Ajax"
When my Dad built our cottage there was no electricity and we had an outhouse. I was 7 when I skipped up the path to the outhouse during the day, but it was scary at night, even with a flashlight. A couple of years later power was brought to the area and we could finally have an indoor bathroom.
When I was a Girl Guide leader we did Wilderness Camping and despite the girls' efforts to adorn the outhouse with pine and cedar boughs and anything else that smelled good, sorry but it still smelled like crap. I can imagine my ancestors having an outhouse and wonder what they used to try to cover the smell.
Check directories and local libraries for lists of master plumbers. You can search "patents water closet" for other improvements patents.
Here below we have links to patents, catalogues and information about indoor plumbing, early bathroom design and lists of plumbers.
Relevant Links
Dianne, like you we had trenches we dug when on Guide camps...oh the fun! I don't remember the smell being that bad...maybe we had fewer girls on camp. My aunt had a backyard dunny on her rural block...I didn't like going out at night...cane toads, spiders and snakes...yuk. ANd yes I can see and tick your like button perhaps because I have a google account.
ReplyDeleteMy worst fear was skunks - I seemed to run into them more than the rest of my family haha.
DeleteGlad the button works. Thanks Pauleen.