Thomas Crapper Urban Legends

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DeathpooltheT1000

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#1  Edited By DeathpooltheT1000

The assumption that Crapper invented the flushing toilet in untrue. The device was created by Sir John Harington, a courtier of Elizabeth I, who had a 'john' built at the palace. It was developed by Alexander Cummins, whose device allowed a modicum of water to remain in the bowl to prevent seepage from the sewers. Crapper did popularize the loo and made it an accepted domestic fixture.

Although Thomas Crapper took out nine plumbing patents between 1881 and 1896, none of these patents was for the "valveless water-waste preventer" he is often credited with having invented.

A related legend has it that U.S. soldiers stationed in England during World War I (some of whom had little or no experience with indoor plumbing) saw toilets marked with the name 'CRAPPER' and brought the word home as a synonym for 'toilet' or 'bathroom.' Although the word cr@p (used in a scatological sense) antedates Thomas Crapper and is therefore not derived from his name, the origins of 'crapper' as a synonym for 'toilet' are unknown, other than that it is a particularly American term whose earliest print citings come from the 1930s.

The word cr@p according to the Oxford English Dictionary, derives from the Middle English 'crappe', meaning chaff or residue from rendered fat.