HeadMistress
New member
Re: I really am very surprised........
The use of cisterns to supply flush water goes back several millenia...the first known example in the UK was in the Abbey of St. Albins, built in 1115.
Btw...I'm NOT a walking encylopedia of toilet lore!
Several years ago a friend in Canada sent me a marvelous little book--published in the UK, btw--titled "Thunder, Flush and Thomas Crapper - An EncycLOOpiea" ...by Adam Hart-Davis. It's in paperback, filled with facts and anecdotes about everything "urinal." One of my favorites is this one: Queen Victoria was once being shown round Cambridge University, where the town sewers discharged straight into the river Cam. She turned to her guide and asked what were all the pieces of paper floating in the river. As cool as cucumber, he replied, "Those, ma'am, are notices that bathing is forbidden."
A Google search for "Thunder Flush Thomas Crapper" (omit quotation marks) turned up quite a few sources for both new and used copies. It's a fun read!
As for your second question, Planty... Valve cisterns have been in use here in the US all my life and work quite well...our toilets also have 2" discharge pipes (that do connect to 4" sewer pipes), which--based on my own experience with both UK and European toilets--make them considerably more efficient at emptying the bowl than yours....that is, until new water conservation laws required toilets to cut back flush water to only 1.5 gallons about 9 years ago. Newer toilets sometimes require a second flush. Toilet technology is now changing all over the world as environmentalists have become even more determined that toilets must use ever less flush water or we're all gonna dry up and blow away. If toilets go the way that most things environmentalists have meddled in, it doesn't bode well for the future of toilets anywhere...it will only mean higher and higher prices for equipment that's less and less efficient or pleasant to use.
<hr width=100% size=1>Peggie Hall
Specializing in marine sanitation since 1987
The use of cisterns to supply flush water goes back several millenia...the first known example in the UK was in the Abbey of St. Albins, built in 1115.
Btw...I'm NOT a walking encylopedia of toilet lore!
Several years ago a friend in Canada sent me a marvelous little book--published in the UK, btw--titled "Thunder, Flush and Thomas Crapper - An EncycLOOpiea" ...by Adam Hart-Davis. It's in paperback, filled with facts and anecdotes about everything "urinal." One of my favorites is this one: Queen Victoria was once being shown round Cambridge University, where the town sewers discharged straight into the river Cam. She turned to her guide and asked what were all the pieces of paper floating in the river. As cool as cucumber, he replied, "Those, ma'am, are notices that bathing is forbidden." A Google search for "Thunder Flush Thomas Crapper" (omit quotation marks) turned up quite a few sources for both new and used copies. It's a fun read!
As for your second question, Planty... Valve cisterns have been in use here in the US all my life and work quite well...our toilets also have 2" discharge pipes (that do connect to 4" sewer pipes), which--based on my own experience with both UK and European toilets--make them considerably more efficient at emptying the bowl than yours....that is, until new water conservation laws required toilets to cut back flush water to only 1.5 gallons about 9 years ago. Newer toilets sometimes require a second flush. Toilet technology is now changing all over the world as environmentalists have become even more determined that toilets must use ever less flush water or we're all gonna dry up and blow away. If toilets go the way that most things environmentalists have meddled in, it doesn't bode well for the future of toilets anywhere...it will only mean higher and higher prices for equipment that's less and less efficient or pleasant to use.
<hr width=100% size=1>Peggie Hall
Specializing in marine sanitation since 1987