As with many inventions, the flush toilet did not suddenly spring into existence, but was the result of a long chain of minor improvements. Therefore, instead of a single name and date, there follows a list of significant contributors to the history of the device.
* circa 26th century BC: Flush toilets were first used in the Indus Valley Civilization. The cities of Harappa and Mohenjo-daro had a flush toilet in almost every house, attached to a sophisticated sewage system. [1]
* circa 18th century BC: Flush toilet constructed at Knossos on Minoan Crete[2]
* circa 15th century BC: Flush toilets used in the Minoan city of Akrotiri.
* 9th century BC: Flush toilets in Bahrain Island.[3]
* 1st to 5th centuries AD: Flush toilets were used throughout the Roman Empire. Some examples include those at Vindolanda on Hadrian's Wall in Britain. With the fall of the Roman Empire, the technology was lost in the West.
* 1596: Sir John Harington is said to have invented 'The Ajax', a forerunner to the modern flush toilet, for Elizabeth I of England, who wouldn't use the contraption because it made too much noise. His design was ridiculed in England, but was adopted in France under the name Angrez. The design had a flush valve to let water out of the tank, and a wash-down design to empty the bowl.
* 1738: A valve-type flush toilet was invented by J. F. Brondel.
* 1775: Alexander Cummings invented the S-trap (British patent no. 814?), still in use today, which uses standing water to seal the outlet of the bowl, preventing the escape of foul air from the sewer. His design had a sliding valve in the bowl outlet above the trap.
* 1777: Samuel Prosser invented and patented the 'plunger closet'.
* 1778: Joseph Bramah invented a hinged valve or 'crank valve' that sealed the bottom of the bowl, and a float valve system for the flush tank. His design was used mainly on boats.
* 1819: Albert Giblin received British patent 4990 for the "Silent Valveless Water Waste Preventer", a siphon discharge system.
* 1852: J. G. Jennings invented a wash-out design with a shallow pan emptying into an S-trap.
* 1857: The first American patent for a toilet, the 'plunger closet', was granted.
* 1860: The first watercloset installed on the European continent was imported from England. It was installed in the rooms of Queen Victoria in castle Ehrenburg (Coburg, Germany); she was the only one who was allowed to use it.
* The first popularized water closets were exhibited at The Crystal Palace and these became the first public toilets. They had attendants dressed in white and customers were charged a penny for use. This is the origin of the phrase "To spend a penny".
* 1880s: Thomas Crapper's plumbing company built flush toilets of Giblin's design. After the company received a royal warrant, Crapper's name became synonymous with flush toilets. Although he was not the original inventor, Crapper popularized the siphon system for emptying the tank, replacing the earlier floating valve system which was prone to leaks. Some of Crapper's designs were made by Thomas Twyford. The similarity between Crapper's name and the much older word crap is merely a coincidence.
* 1885: Thomas Twyford built the first one-piece china toilet using the flush-out siphon design by J. G. Jennings.
* 1886: An early jet flush toilet was manufactured by the Beaufort Works in Chelsea, England.
* 1906: William Elvis Sloan invents the Flushometer which uses pressurized water directly from the supply line for faster recycle time between flushes. The original Royal Flushometer is still in use today in public restrooms worldwide.
* 1907: Thomas MacAvity Stewart of Saint John, New Brunswick patents the vortex-flushing toilet bowl which creates a self cleansing effect.[4]
* 1980: Bruce Thompson, working for Caroma in Australia, developed the Duoset cistern with two buttons and two flush volumes as a water-saving measure. Modern versions of the Duoset are now available in more than 30 countries worldwide, and save the average household 67% of their normal water usage.[5]
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