Coming In Out of the Cold: The Evolution of Bathroom Fixtures and Plumbing in the 19th Century
Erika Marks Brauner
Monday, April 07, 2008
Introduction
It will come as no shock that bathrooms as we know them today are a relatively recent invention. Most of us raised in a rural environment have had childhood encounters with outhouses and dusty-lidded privy holes in an ancient barn. For most of man’s life on this planet, elimination was done as far away from the home as was physically possible. Bathing, however, was regarded with less distaste, and so it was allowed its place within the home. But with the advancement of a few grand inventions and the development of indoor plumbing, bathroom fixtures began to appear in more and more homes, and soon the “bathroom” was being installed in homes across the country, finally unifying the once-disparate tasks of elimination and bathing.
This discussion will explore some of the factors and inventions that helped to move man from outhouse to in-house, and finally, to the some of the conveniences that we now use without thought, each and every day.
The Evolution of Plumbing
According to Plumbing, written by Harold E. Babbitt in the early 20th century, plumbing may be defined as such:
“Plumbing includes the practice, materials, and fixtures used in the installation, maintenance, extension, and alteration of all piping, fixtures, appliances, and all appurtenances in connection with any of the following: sanitary-drainage or storm drainage facilities, the venting systems and the private water-supply systems, within or adjacent to any building, structure, or conveyance; and the practice and materials used in the installation, maintenance, extension, or alteration of the storm-water, liquid waste, or sewerage and the water-supply system of any premises to their connection with any point of public disposal or other acceptable terminal (Babbitt 497).”
It goes without saying that this definition was a long way off from the technology offered to the builders and home-owners of the 19th century. Therefore, it is nearly impossible to discuss the advancements of indoor bathrooms during that time without first examining the development of indoor plumbing. Historically, water closets have existed for thousands of years (Ierley 65), and many even incorporated some idea of disposing of their waste after each use, whether by aqueduct-fed chutes or hand-dipped jugs. This “flushing” technology did not change in theory but it did advance in practice.
The earliest documented water closet in America is attributed to the home of Governor Horatio Sharpe in Annapolis, Maryland, in 1765 (Ierley 70). A rendering done by the architect Joseph Horatio Anderson reveals the system worked from the principal of a “plugg hole” and plunger device to flush out the basin’s contents once used, using water from a cistern that was fed in by pipes. The basins were marble troughs covered by some sort of seat.
Since plumbing was not yet a viable technology, it should not be surprising that many of the developers of modernizing bathroom fixtures were cabinetmakers. One in particular out of London was a man named Joseph Bramah, whom Merritt Ierley claims in his book, The Comforts of Home, “considerably improved the water closet by getting rid of the sliding valve and substituting a hinged valve operated by a crank, a much more dependable mechanism (Ierely 72).” Ierley goes on to credit Bramah with more advancements:
“His other improvements included a flap over the inlet to spread water around the bowl as it was flushed (a forerunner of the modern flushing rim that encircles the bowl) and a second valve located in the overhead cistern, actuated by the same mechanism that emptied the bowl, to refill the bowl after flushing (Ierley 72).”
Bathing -- From Tub to Shower
The concept of tubs was hardly revolutionary. For thousands of years, bathers had employed basins and filled them with water, or simply sponged themselves clean with filled pots. It was instead a combination of two factors that made the advancements of bathing so exciting in the mid 18th century. One factor was the ability to fill the basin with water fed from pipes, and, of course, empty it in a similarly easy fashion. The second concept, which was addressed at the beginning of this discussion, was the notion of housing the toilet and the bath within the same room, since the two tasks were always considered separate and requiring of separate spaces.
It was clearly the advancement of plumbing technologies that encouraged both of these transitions. Once a system for indoor plumbing was devised within the substructure of a home, it only made sense to gather all the needy fixtures in one area so that all of the water pipes could converge in one place.
Showers, however, were indeed a more revolutionary concept. Merritt Ierley refers to the diary of Elizabeth Drinker of Philadelphia, whose family had purchased a shower bath in 1799 (Ierley 63). This shower bath, according to Ierley, would have undoubtedly been used outdoors, and constructed of a simple frame “with a container for water above” that, according to Elizabeth, she pulled at a cord and the water fell upon her through a “cullender”. Therefore, there is evidence that shower technology was in development as early as the late 18th century. However, it would not be until the 19th century that advancements in attitude and technology would bring the shower indoors.
Hyde Hall, a residence in New York state, completed in 1835, revealed several “comforts” of modernizing technology, including several waters closets and a shower stall (though not housed in the same space) with water fed in from a nearby reservoir. Using a system that Ierley claims was similar to our contemporary septic systems, the water closets “drained into a stone cesspool, from which extended three drainpipes that dispersed waste into the ground.” Sketches reveal that the shower stall was made of masonry covered with stucco, and that a curtain was drawn across it when in use.
Technology Grows by the Mid 19th Century
By the 1860’s, the supply of water for in-house needs was well-developed, especially in cities (Ierley 119), and, even more exciting, was the development of heating, which allowed for a dependable mix of warm and cold water for one’s plumbing needs. However, the trend of a “bathroom” was not entirely widespread, even by the mid 19th century. According to statistics, in New York, in 1856, only 9% of households reported indoor toilets and only 1% reported tubs and/or showers (Ierley 10).
Ierley attributes this condition to several factors. One was expense of materials, since the impact of the industrial revolution was still to come. A second factor was that of infrastructure and the difficulty of adequate water supply and sewerage. A third hurdle was the lack of skilled technicians for this growing technology—in other words, not enough plumbers to maintain the new systems. And finally, Ierley acknowledges the residual distrust of this new architectural reform—the interiorization of the toilet.
But where advancements were seen, they were impressive. But not all of the developments in toilet technology were advancements. In January of 1847 a pan-type water closet was introduced. A cheaper and cruder device than the imported systems from England, the pan type water closet consisted of a tilted pan that, when closed, served as a seal to prevent back-up of sewer gas and guaranteed a bit of water would remain in the bowl. However, the simple system accumulated a large amount of residual filth. It was, however, a popular design in many homes, even the most luxurious, though the concern of its unsanitary design remained unfixed, until an updated version of the plunger closet came about in the late 19th century.
Another type of toilet apparatus was known as the earth closet. An invention of an English clergyman named Henry Moule, it garned its fame somewhat from the promotion of the Beecher sisters The American Woman’s Home (Ierley 147). The earth closet had a distinct advantage over its competitor designs: its claim to a “complete suppression of the odors which, despite the comfort and elegance of modern living, still hang about our cess-pools and privy-vaults.” Its design was based around the basic water closet construction, except that it possessed an additional tank filled with earth and ashes, a portion of which would be emptied over the user’s deposit, and in time, the filled box of excrement and ashes would be emptied. Regardless of its “odorless” advantage, the earth closet was not built to accept the advancements of plumbing technology and with the increasing ability to eliminate the messy process of emptying one’s privy by hand; its design was limited in long-term appeal.
It wasn’t until the 1880’s when the advancements in toilet technology took a turn towards the modern (Ierley 222). The company known as the Standard Sanitary Manufacturing Company—better known today as American Standard—produced its first water closet in 1885, and introduced a key element in a new system, that of the siphon (see figure ), which was indeed an improvement on the mechanical system of earlier designs.
The siphon principle is explained in The Comforts of Home:
“The siphon effect (rather than just gravity) caused the water and contents to empty while a trap that was part of the design sealed the opening to prevent sewer gas from backing up. This was also a far more sanitary device since it had no working parts to be fouled, as was notoriously the case with the pan closet (Ierley 223).”
Conclusion: On to the 20th Century
It is clear how the evolution of the bathroom came about in the 19th century, though it would not truly reach its peak in both technology and acceptance until the early part of the 1900’s. Helped along by the developments in heating and water supply, in time most American homes would be enjoying the “comforts” only dreamed of during the days of cold outhouse seats and frigid outdoor showers.
