Washed Out

In 1852, sanitary engineer J G Jennings patented a washout closet. It had a shallow basin with a dished tray and water seal. The flush water drove the contents into the pan and then through the S-trap. Jennings installed early versions in public toilets at the 1851 Great Exhibition and patented his design. Records show that 827,280 visitors paid to use Jennings’s public toilets.

There was a penny charge for using the exhibition toilets, hence the term ‘spending a penny ’. When the Exhibition moved to Sydenham in South London, Jennings began to earn £1000 a year from the visitors’ toilets he installed. He offered to equip other public conveniences or ‘halting stations’ as he called them, free of charge, provided he received a small fee for their use. The wash-out closet remained the standard-type WC throughout continental Europe until the 1980s, and is still popular in South America.

 

Right for the Job

The word plumber dates from the Roman times when some roofs were made of lead, or plumbum in Latin (hence the symbol of Pb for lead). Lead roofs were waterproof, and the workers on such roofs were what are now called plumbers. Roman baths later used lead for piping and for the main baths. Thus, a person with expertise in working with lead was known as a Plumbarius, which was eventually shortened to plumber.

A pipefitter should not to be mistaken for a plumber, for he is a tradesman who lays out, assembles, fabricates, maintains and repairs mechanical piping systems. Pipefitters usually go through a mix of apprentice and trade school training. Although plumbing and pipefitting are 96 Sourcing Hardware n July-August 2010 different trades, sometimes plumbers may do pipefitting work, whereas pipefitters may not do plumbing work.

Assembling Speed

Primitive assembly line production was first used in 1901 by Ransome Eli Olds (1864-1950), an early car maker (he manufactured the Oldsmobile, the first commercially successful American car). Henry Ford (1863-1947) used the first conveyor belt-based assembly line in his car factory in 1913-14 at Ford’s Highland Park, Michigan plant. This type of production greatly reduced the time taken to put each car together (93 minutes for a Model T), thus greatly reducing production costs. Assembly lines are now used in many manufacturing processes.

Sticking it Out

The first adhesives were natural gums and other plant resins or saps, and even animal glues made by rendering animal products such as horse teeth. During the times of Babylonia, a tar-like glue was used for gluing statues. The Egyptians made much use of animal glues to stick furniture, ivory and papyrus. The Mongols also used adhesives to make their bows, and Native Americans used a mixture of spruce gum and fat as adhesive to make waterproof seams in their canoes.

In medieval Eurasia, egg whites were used as glue to decorate parchments with gold leaf. The first actual glue factory was founded in Holland in the early 1700s. In the 1750s, the English introduced fish glue. As modern world evolved, several other patented materials such as bones, starch, fish and casein were introduced as alternative materials for glue manufacture. Modern glues have improved flexibility, toughness, curing rate and chemical resistance.

Waterproof Packaging

Cellophane is a thin, transparent, waterproof, protective film that is used in many types of packaging. It was invented in 1908 by Jacques Edwin Brandenberger, a Swiss chemist. He had originally intended cellophane to be bonded onto fabric to make a waterproof textile, but the new cloth was brittle and not useful. Cellophane proved very useful all alone as a packaging material. Chemists at the Dupont company (who later bought the rights to cellophane) made cellophane waterproof in 1927.

Space Saver

Sarah E Goode was an African-American businesswoman and inventor. She invented the folding cabinet bed that folded up against the wall into a cabinet. When folded up, it could be used as a desk, complete with compartments for stationery and writing supplies. Goode owned a furniture store in Chicago, Illinois, and invented the bed for people living in small apartments.

 

Locked In

Linus Yale Jr (1821-68) was an American mechanical engineer and manufacturer who developed the cylinder pin-tumbler lock (and other key and combination locks). Yale’s father, Linus Yale had invented an earlier pin-tumbler lock in 1848; the son’s lock used a smaller, flat key with serrated edges (like the ones we still use today). There is no connection between Linus Yale and Yale University.