Fun Facts about Plumbers and the Plumbing Trade

Rich and distinguished Ancient Egyptians were honoured with plumbed-in lavatories in their tombs.

The appropriately named Thomas Crapper was an important figure in the development of the modern toilet, holding several patents for improvements to the late 19th -century model. He was the proprietor of one of England's leading plumbing companies at this time. It is widely believed that the slang term "crap" actually derives from Crapper's contribution to toilet history.

Most cultures have developed euphemisms for the lavatory. The Romans referred to this room as the "necessarium", while for the ancient Egyptians it was "the house of the morning". In Tudor England the lavatory was called "the privy" or "the house of privacy", an idea similar to the Israeli "house of honour". The medieval French, on the other hand, were more direct, with "la chamber sent" ("the smelly room") being a more accurate, if indelicate, nickname for the room most of us now know as "the loo".

The palace of the Babylonian King Sargon the Great (760 BC) reputedly contained a plumbed-in bathroom with six toilets.

In the 1930s, the American Addis Brush Company manufactured the world's first artificial Christmas trees using the machinery that made their toilet brushes!

The British Perforated Paper Company marketed the first specially-designed "toilet paper" in 1880.

Before the invention of toilet paper, a variety of other implements had been used for this purpose, including mussel shells, sand and corncobs! The Romans were slightly more conventional, developing a special cleaning instrument that was essentially a stick with a sponge on the end.

The first instant water heater was invented by an Englishman named Maughan in the 1870s. The idea was further developed by the Norwegian engineer Edwin Ruud, who patented the first automatic storage water heater in 1889. Ruud's later work pioneered the early development of residential and commercial water heaters in the US.

The world's most famous plumbers are probably Mario and Luigi - the stars of Nintendo's Super Mario Bros video game series.

Copper - the principal material used in modern plumbing work - is the same thing Egyptians used 3000 years ago to lay their own pipe.

Low flush toilets can save up to 18,000 gallons of water per year.

Each year, the average home wastes 9000 gallons of water running the tap for hot water.

Over 5 million miles of copper plumbing tube has been installed in American buildings over the last 40 years.

The earliest known water closet was discovered in the tomb of a king of the Western Han dynasty in China (206BC to 24AD). It boasted running water, a stone seat and even a comfortable armrest!

Evidence of indoor plumbing in palaces dates back to 2500BC.

Only around 0.036% of the earth's total water supply is contained in the lakes and rivers that are our main sources of drinking water.