Wikijunior:How Things Work/Flush Toilet Who invented it?  Flush
toilets were first used in parts of India and Pakistan about
2,700 years ago. The cities of Harappa and Mohenjo-daro had a
flush toilet in almost every house, attached to a sophisticated
sewage system. Remains of sewage systems have been found in the
houses of the Minoan cities of Crete and Santorini in Greece.
There were also toilets in ancient Egypt, Persia and China. In
Roman civilization, toilets were sometimes part of public bath
houses where men and women were together in mixed company.
Toilets are usually connected to a septic tank, or to a sewer.
In 1775 Alexander Cummings invented the S-trap, which is still
used today, that used standing water to seal the outlet of the
bowl, preventing the escape of foul air from the sewer. His
design had a sliding valve in the bowl outlet above the trap.
The flush toilet is sometimes called a water closet. How does it
get power?  A toilet works because of gravity. When a flush
lever is pulled, a plug wi