Squeezed in between Australia Day and Auckland Anniversary
is Thomas Crapper Day on January 27th. Thomas Crapper Day is a
holiday devoted to the man who purportedly invented the flush
toilet, although he actually did not.
As with many inventions, the flush toilet did not suddenly
spring into existence, but was the result of a long chain of
minor improvements. Thomas Crapper's plumbing company built
flush toilets of Giblin's design.
He was not the
original inventor, but popularized the siphon system for
emptying the tank, replacing the earlier floating valve system
which was prone to leaks. The similarity between Crapper's
name and the much older word 'crap' is merely a coincidence.