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Humankind has always been faced with certain fundamental questions: Who or what created the earth? What happens after we die? Why is P Diddy famous? How do toilets work? I can only answer the latter question.That porcelain contraption that makes stuff go bye-bye is actually quite the engineering marvel. Before explaining how it works, a little explanation of its inner workings is in order. It might be helpful to remove your toilet tank's lid to get a better grasp of the situation. (Feel free to invite your friends and neighbors). Of course the two main parts of the toilet are the bowl and the tank. When you push down on the toilet's handle, it pulls a chain that is connected to the flush valve -- that little round cap located at the bottom of the tank. The chain lifts the flush valve, revealing a 2-to-3-inch hole. Uncovering this hole allows all the water in the tank -- about two gallons -- to be dumped into the bowl in about three seconds, fast enough to activate what is known as the siphon effect, which sucks everything in the bowl down the drain. Once the tank has emptied, the flush valve resituates itself in the bottom of the tank, covering the drain hole so the tank can be refilled. It's the job of the refill mechanism -- that little piece of tubing that empties water into the larger vertical overflow tube -- to fill the tank back up with enough water to start the whole process again. The refilling process is controlled by the float (usually a little round, plastic ball). As the level of the water in the tank falls, so does the float. The falling float turns on the refill valve. Water flowing through the refill valve refills the tank as well as the bowl. As the tank refills, the float rises, and when it reaches a certain level the refill valve shuts off. Who would have thought flushing a toilet was so complicated? And contrary to popular myth, some guy named Crapper did not invent the toilet. A man named J.F. Brondel is credited for introducing the first valve-type flush toilet in 1738. However, a plumber named Thomas Crapper held nine patents for plumbing products in the late 1800s.
Have a question for Who Knew? Email it to sam.boykin@cln.com
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