When attending an event where portable toilets are lined up
and ready to serve their purpose, one does not think of how they came to be.
Who would sit and ponder as to how they evolved? No one.
So I figured I’d give
you all a crash course on, wait for it, the “History of Portable Toilets.”
Did
you hear the trumpets? Good.
Portable toilets are first seen 3500 years ago in
Ancient Egypt. Imagine a stool with a hole in the middle and on the receiving
end, a clay pot.
Next we have, the Middle Ages. They were a bit classier than
the Egyptians with a chamber pot, or portable toilet, which contained a small
round vessel made out of metal and sometimes, if a family of money, even glass.
Where’d the contents go? Out the window along with the baby.
During World War I,
U.S. infantrymen would use toilets with “T. Crapper” printed on them. The
plumber and company that manufactured those toilets was Thomas Crapper. Lucky
name, right? This is where we, the Americans, gave birth to the idea of a toilet.
Thomas Crapper
The last stop on our journey through history is in Long Beach, California.
Here, shipbuilders created a wooden cabana with a drainable waste bin. This
cabana was placed close to a job site so workers wouldn’t have to wander far
from their job.
Today, we see the shiny plastic portable toilets and do not
realize how good we have it. So, the next time you use one, think of having to
use one in Ancient Egypt, and I promise, you will enjoy the experience a lot
more.
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