An Encyclopedia of the History of Technology part 95. This one of a kind encyclopedia presents the entire field of technology from rudimentary agricultural tools to communication satellites in this first of its kind reference source. Following an introduction that discusses basic tools, devices, and mechanisms, the chapters are grouped into five parts that provide detailed information on materials, power and engineering, transportation, communication and calculation, and technology and society, revealing how different technologies have together evolved to produce enormous changes in the course of history | PART FIVE TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY least until the 1890s were the cheaper pan closet or long hopper closet both of which were inadequately flushed and so became very soiled. Over the years foul smells and gases permeated the house from such noisome appliances. Even more hazardous to health were the sewage disposal methods before the 1860s and for many years the introduction of the WC made this situation worse. Closets were tucked into the corners of rooms even into cupboards with almost no ventilation. The waste pipe emptied into a cesspool as before but the connecting pipe provided an easy entry into the house for foul gases. Safety measures came only slowly. In 1792 a stink trap was invented to keep out undesirable odours and by the 1840s cesspools were made illegal and the WC had to be emptied into the sewers. There were problems here also as town sewerage systems were less than satisfactory until later in the century. A widely used alternative in the nineteenth century was the mechanical earth closet invented in 1860 by the Revd Henry Moule vicar of Fordington in Dorset. His contrivance was a wooden box with seat below which was a bucket. Above at the back was a hopper full of dried earth or ashes. When a handle was pulled these would be released to cover the contents of the bucket. Such closets were still on sale in 1910 price . Portable versions were used in bedrooms. In the 1870s new designs of WCs were invented which gradually replaced the 100-year old Bramah type. Twyford produced his Washout Closet in which water was always present in the pan but a strong force of water was needed to flush it. There was also a syphonic closet with two flushes on the market but it was the washdown system which finally triumphed and is still in use. CLEANING IN THE HOME Before twentieth-century technology brought labour-saving appliances into the home keeping the surfaces and utensils in a house clean and bright was extremely hard work it was monotonous unremitting .
