We have all been in the situation where we have had to call out a plumber. More recently I had an issue with my bathroom sink and the water just not flowing away properly and nothing I did seemed to help so a quick call to Plumbers Dublin company https://www.plumberservicesdublin.ie/ and in no time at all everything was running smoothly. The whole experience got me thinking about plumbing and so after a quick internet search I found some interesting facts about the world of pipes and water and I thought I would share just a few of them with you.
The word “plumber” is derived from the Latin word “plumbum” which means lead. This is because originally lead was the main material used in plumbing systems that carried the water into towns and cities across the world. This was of course until they found out that lead was in fact poisonous and since then alternative materials have been used.
It is thought that it was Sir John Harington who created the first designing of flushing toilet back on 1596 but it is Thomas Crapper, who was a plumber himself, who is credited with the mass production and making popular the toilet in the 1880s. He brought about many new elements including the ballcock and Thomas Crapper & Co in London produced and developed toilets for many years.
The Ancient Greeks in around 300 BC have been credited with using the first piped water supplied shower system. Other systems had been used in earlier times by the Egyptian’s, but this was the first time that water was piped into shower heads to give the athletes in the stadiums somewhere to refresh themselves. The shower heads usually had boars and lions depicted on them.
In terms of the products we use in the bathroom we are incredibly lucky to have the use of toilet paper. Now it might not be something that you think about to often, if ever. But before we started using paper the alternatives were shells, sand and ever corncobs. A much less comfortable experience. The Romans expanded on the shell idea and would place a sponge on the end of a stick and use this instead.
Whatever you thought about the plumbing in your home it is worth thinking about how lucky were are now not only have indoor plumbing but also to have some of the other elements that go alongside this and I for one will always be thankful for the humble plumber.
