THE REAL HISTORY OF PLUMBING
   
Testaments to the ancient plumber echo in the ruins of rudimentary drains, grandiose palaces and bath houses, and in vast aqueducts and lesser water systems of empires long buried. Close to 4,000 years ago, about 1700 B.C., the Minoan Palace of Knossos on the isle of Crete featured four separate drainage systems that emptied into great sewers constructed of stone.
   
Terra cotta pipe was laid beneath the palace floor, hidden from view. Each section was about 2 1/2 ft. long, slightly tapered at one end, and nearly 1 inch in diameter. It provided water for fountains and faucets of marble, gold and silver that jetted hot and cold running water.
   
Harbored in the palace latrine was the world's first flushing "water closet" or toilet, with a wooden seat and a small reservoir of water. The device, however, was lost for thousands of years amid the rubble of flood and decay. Not until the 16th century would Sir John Harington invent a "washout" closet anew, similar in principle. And it would take still another 200 years before another Englishman, Alexander Cumming, would patent the forerunner of the toilet used today. The luminous names of Doulton, Wedgwood, Shanks and Twyford would follow.
  
But it's to the plumbing engineers of the Old Roman Empire that the Western world owes its allegiance. The glory of the Roman legions lay not only in the roads they built and the system of law and order they provided. It was their engineering genius and the skill of their craftsmen that enabled them to erect great baths and recreation centers, the water supplied by aqueducts from sources miles away.

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ANOTHER HISTORY OF PLUMBING

Thomas Crapper - Myth and Reality. The debate over who Thomas Crapper was - or even if there was a Thomas Crapper at all - continues. His contributions to the plumbing industry are even more suspect. But with this article we intend to replace myth with fact, for we have found a cadre of Thomas Crapper scholars who have made it their life's work to prove that Crapper is more than just a slang term brought home by the World War I doughboys. For this article we interviewed Dr. Andy Gibbons, historian of the International Thomas Crapper Society, and Ken Grabowski, a researcher and author who is writing a book on Crapper's life.
Myth: Thomas Crapper as a person never existed. Fact: Though we do not know his actual date of birth, we can now say the man Thomas Crapper probably was born in September 1836, since he was baptized the 28th of that month. Crapper did have a successful career in the plumbing industry in England from 1861 to 1904.
The date of Crapper's death has also been a source of confusion for many years. For example, "Chase's Annual Events," the authoritative book for listing special days and dates, has listed Jan. 17 as Thomas Crapper Day and Jan. 17, 1910 as the date of his death.
After all his research, Gibbons was certain that Chase's was 10 days off. The actual date of Thomas Crapper's death was Jan. 27, 1910. The error probably resulted from an honest typo in "Flushed With Pride," by Wallace Reyburn, says Gibbons, "but I waged a 10-year battle with Chase's to get them to change the date." He finally won his battle this year after supplying them with a photo of Thomas Crapper's tombstone, notes from a living descendent and a copy of the man's official death certificate.
Myth: Thomas Crapper invented the toilet. Fact: No one in the know about Thomas Crapper would ever make this statement. In his research, Grabowski has created a detailed history of Crapper's business life. The man holds nine patents: Four for improvements to drains, three for water closets, one for manhole covers and the last for pipe joints. Every patent application for plumbing related products filed by Crapper made it through the process, and actual patents were granted.
The most famous product attributed to Thomas Crapper wasn't invented by him at all. The "Silent Valveless Water Waste Preventer" (No. 814) was a syphonic discharge system that allowed a toilet to flush effectively when the cistern was only half full. British Patent 4990 for 1819 was issued to a Mr. Albert Giblin for this product.
There are a couple of theories on how Thomas Crapper came to be associated with this device. First, is that Giblin worked for Crapper as an employee and authorized his use of the product. The second, and more likely scenario, says Grabowski, is that Crapper bought the patent rights from Giblin and marketed the device himself.
Myth: Thomas Crapper never was a plumber. Fact: Oh yes he was. He operated two of the three Crapper plumbing shops in his lifetime, but left the business three years before the final and most famous facility on Kings Road in London. When Crapper retired from active business in 1904, he sold his shop to two partners who, with help from others, operated the company under the Crapper name until its closing in 1966.
Several of London's current plumbing companies trace their trade roots to Thomas Crapper. One, Mr. Geoffrey Pidgeon of Original Bathrooms (Richmond upon Thames, Surrey, Great Britain), continues the trade of his great uncle and grandfather, both of whom apprenticed under Thomas Crapper.
Thomas Crapper did serve as the royal sanitary engineer for many members of England's royalty, but contrary to popular myth, he was never knighted, and thus isn't entitled to use the term "Sir" before his name.
Myth: The word "crap" is derived from Thomas Crapper's name.
Fact: The origin of crap is still being debated. Possible sources include the Dutch Krappe; Low German krape, meaning a vile and inedible fish; Middle English crappe, and Thomas Crapper. Where crap is derived from Crapper, it is by a process know as, pardon the pun, a back formation.
The World War I doughboys passing through England brought together Crapper's name and the toilet. They saw the words T. Crapper - Chelsea printed on the tanks and coined the slang "crapper" meaning toilet.
The legend of Thomas Crapper takes its flavor from the real man's life. While Crapper may not be the inventor of the product he is most often associated with, his contribution to England's plumbing history is significant. And the man's legend, well, it lives on despite all proof to contrary.

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THE HISTORY OF THE BOILER

   In 1856, 26-year old Stephen Wilcox of Rhode Island, USA, patented a water tube boiler that increased heating surfaces, allowed better water circulation, and, most noteworthy, was inherently safe. Eleven years later, he and friend George Babcock established a partnership -- Babcock, Wilcox and Company -- to manufacture and market these water tube steam boilers.
   A boiler is a device for heating water and generating steam above atmospheric pressure. The boiler consists of a compartment where the fuel is burned and a compartment where water can be evaporated into steam. The water-tube boiler was patented in 1867 by American inventors George Herman Babcock and Stephen Wilcox. In the water-tube boiler, water flowed through tubes heated externally by combustion gases, and steam was collected above in a drum. The water-tube boiler became the standard for all large boilers as they allowed for higher pressures than earlier boilers.
   In the 1870s, Englishmen, Maughan invented the first instant water heater. Little is known about Maughan's invention, however, his invention influenced the designs of Edwin Ruud. Edwin Ruud, a Norwegian mechanical engineer was the inventor of the automatic storage water heater in 1889. Ruud emigrated to Pittsburgh where he pioneered the early development of both residential and commercial water heaters. He founded the Ruud Manufacturing Company. ©Mary Bellis

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MAINTENANCE FOR YOUR BOILER
   
Does your Boiler need Maintenance? Once a year :
   1.) Turn off electric power or gas before doing anything. Damage will result if element comes on when tank is dry. Turn of water supplying HWT. Note that a time switch is NOT a safe place to turn off the electricity! Do it from the circuit breaker, or pull the fuse.
   2.) Drain the water heater (HWT). After HWT is drained, and hose is still attached, open and close the inlet valve a few times to help flush the sediment out. Do this 'til the water comes out clear. You may have to dismantle the valve, if there are large chunks of scale coming loose.
   3.) Remove the sacrificial anode, which looks like a plug in the top of the HWT. Inspect; it should be almost as long as the water heater. Replace if any portion of it is thinner than about 1/4";.
   4.) With anode out, shine flashlight inside of tank to inspect for rust. If you see a lot of rust, it's probably time to replace it...before it fails. Water heaters are normally glass- or ceramic-lined to prevent corrosion; this is also what the anode's for. The heat of the water hastens corrosion, once it starts.
   5.) Open up the element access panels. Disconnect one wire from each of the elements. With a volt-ohm-meter, check to see that both elements are still functional (the resistance across the terminals should be ??? ohms, but if your meter peaks out with exceptionally high ohms, it's time to replace the element).
   6.) Wrap everything up. Turn on the water. Open a hot water faucet to let the air out. When HWT is full, turn on electricity. Wait a while for the water to all heat up. If you are replacing a water heater, install a special pan underneath designed to catch water should the HWT develop a leak (or pop off the pop-off valve). Have it drain to a safe place (outside; floor drain). © Jon Johnson

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HOW TO FIND A LEAK
   
Leak Somewhere in the Plumbing in my Shower/Bath? We see this all the time and nine times out of ten it's the grout or a bad pan under the shower. Before anything else I try to determine if the leak is constant or if it is periodic. If it is constant there is a good chance the leak is in the pressurized water lines. Usually the leak is periodic so I have a series of tests that I perform to track it down. Sometimes a quick visual inspection of the tile will show that the grout is shot and is the most likely cause of the leak but I will often complete the rest of my tests to be sure.
  
What I do is first fill the tub half way and drain it. This will tell me if it's in the drain pipe. For a shower with a lead or vinyl pan I block the drain and fill the base with water. This will tell me if the pan leaks. Then I remove the shower head and put a 1/2" cap on the shower arm and turn on the pressure. This will tell me if there is a leak in the pipe between the shower valve and the shower arm. If no leak has shown up by then I tend to think the leak is water bleeding through the tile due to bad grouting or that water is escaping the shower and going down through flaws in the bathroom floor. I can check this by taping up a plastic drop cloth inside the shower covering all the tile work and having the customer use the shower normally for a day or two.
   
If the leak has suddenly disappeared then we know it coming through the tile. A few cups of water on the floor will show a leak through bad tile or a cracked floor base. If none of this works, it's time to open the walls. © Noah Lamy  noahlamy@dorsai.org.

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