The plumbing industry has a fascinating history. Most of the plumbing fixtures and appliances that we use today were invented many centuries ago and they have only been modified or improve upon over time. The plumbing industry predates most of the other modern-day industries by several millennia. The main reason why plumbing was invented so many years back is due to the critical role that the plumbing system plays in our livelihoods. Ancient civilizations discovered many centuries ago that they had to create a viable plumbing system that could supply water to various homesteads and drain waste from their habitats. This led to the creation of the first underground water supply and waste drainage canals. Needless to say drain cleaning was an absolute chore when it came to cleaning these out. There were even ancient septic tanks in Rome many centuries ago where all the waste product from the city was drained into. These are some of the fascinating facts about the history of the plumbing industry. There are other fun facts about the history of plumbing, the invention of the toilet paper, and the evolution of the toilet. Read on to learn some amazing facts about the history of the plumbing industry and some of the most popular plumbing fixtures that we use today.
Some history scholars trace the first plumbing systems to the ancient Indus River Valley civilization as early as 3,000 B.C. Other scholars claim that the first plumbing system were installed in Egypt in 2,500 B.C. Whichever version you chose to believe, the years are still fascinating because this is more than four millennia ago. The word plumbing comes from the Latin word plumbum, which means lead hence the chemical symbol Pb for lead. Most of these early civilizations constructed earthen water pipes for supplying water and draining waste from their habitats. Later on in 1,760 B.C. standard –plumbing systems were introduced in ancient Babylonia. The Babylonian plumbing systems consisted of canals for water supply and drainage channels for water disposal. Rome created the first fully fledged sewers in 800 B.C. Underground canals were installed all around the city for water disposal. Nowadays we have more sophisticated plumbing systems. You can now hire the best DC plumber to inspect your sewer lines and sewer system using hi-tech underground camera technology. Underground sewer lines are now replaced using trenchless technology which is amazing.
The toilet paper is one of the most purchased consumer products. Amazingly, more than 4 billion people or over 70% of the world' population do not use toilet paper today. Nevertheless these modest usages, over 83 million rolls of toilet paper are produced every day. Looking back to its history, the first recorded use of toilet paper was in medieval China in 6th century A.D. Joseph Gayetty introduced the modern commercial toilet paper back in 1857 but his venture failed. A decade later, the first successful toilet paper venture was launched featuring perforated paper. The 2-ply toilet paper was introduced in 1942 in England.
The Evolution Of The Toilet
The first toilet was constructed in China more than 2 millennia ago. The flushing toilet was discovered far much later in 1596 by John Harrington, which earned the toilet the name "the John." Thomas Crapper is renowned for popularizing the flushing toilet hence the name the "crapper." In 1775, Alexander Cummings obtained the first patent for the flushing toilet.