“First Class” Plumbing Trivia: Second Edition

You loved our first edition so much, we just had to give you more. As always, we love sharing our knowledge and experience with you! Welcome to our “First Class” Plumbing Trivia: Second Edition. From all of us at First Class Plumbing & HVAC, enjoy!

1. Ancient Crete's King Minos (18th century B.C.) had the world's first flush toilet. He is the source of the popular nickname for the toilet, “the throne”, as he “ruled from his porcelain throne.”

• TRUE
• FALSE

2. Toilet paper, sold as individual sheets, didn't appear until 1857. How did people clean themselves before that?

3. The Kohler Co., founded by John Michael Kohler and Charles Silberzahn in 1873, began life as an iron and steel foundry, producing such items as cast iron and steel farm implements, castings for furniture factories, and ornamental iron pieces including cemetery crosses and settees. A breakthrough came in 1883 when John Michael applied enamel to a cast iron horse trough to create the company's first bathtub. The company has been primarily in the plumbing business ever since, known for plumbing fixtures.

4. This well known German physicist was made an honorary member of the Plumbers and Steamfitters Union after he announced that he would be a plumber if he had to live his life all over again. Who is he?

5. The floating mechanism in your toilet’s water tank that controls the flow of water is called a__________.

1. Float Anchor
2. Basin Buttercup
3. Ballcock

6. In the technology capitol of the world, Japan, some urinals have voice activated flushing mechanisms.  The urinals respond to several commands, including “fire”.

• TRUE
• FALSE

7. President Richard Nixon had set up a White House Special Investigations Unit to plug intelligence leaks in the governmental processes associated with the Vietnam War.  The members of this convert group were popularly called what?

8. Over $100,000 were spent on a study to determine whether most people put their toilet paper on the holder with the flap in front or behind.  

1. Front
2. Behind
3. Tied

9. If you have a leaky faucet that drips twice per minute, you’ll waste how much water in a

week?

10. The “Bathroom” has been named many different things in many different places.  Here are a few of our favorites. Which one is fictitious?

A. The Egyptians: the House of Horror

B. The Romans: the Necessarium

C. The English Tudors: the privy or house of privacy

D.  The French: “La Chambre Sent”, or the smelly house

E. The Israelis: the house of honor

ANSWERS:

1. false. The people of Skara Brae, Britain's oldest known Neolithic village, had their own primitive flush system some 1,200 years before Minos.
2. With whatever was available.
3. True. They are also well known for the invention of the first drinking fountain in 1888 under the original trademarked name, the “Bubbler”. The colloquial word "bubbler" is still widely used in Wisconsin and several regions of the United States.
4. Albert Einstein
5. The correct answer is C, Ballcock.
6. True
7. The “plumbers.”
8. The answer: three out of four people have the flap in the front.
9. One gallon.
10. This is actually a trick question. Interestingly, all of the names listed have all been used by each of the cultures cited.

Call First Class Plumbing & HVAC today at (615) 504-8313

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“First Class” Plumbing Trivia: First Edition

At First Class Plumbing & HVAC, our knowledgeable staff is one of the things that makes so popular among our clients. We thought it might be fun to share some of our favorite bits of knowledge with you. And remember, for all of your plumbing and HVAC needs, go First Class. 

Enjoy!

1. Standardized plumbing can be traced back to around 3,000 B.C. when the Indus River Valley civilization used plumbing pipes made of what material to provide transportable water and drain wastes?

1. Woven grass coated with tar
2. Hardened earth
3. Hollowed out tree logs cured with sap

2. 50% of pharmaceuticals taken by people are excreted through urination. Therefore our sewer systems contain heavy dose of drugs.  

• TRUE
• FALSE

3. The flush-and-fill mechanism used in virtually all modern toilets was created for a hand-washing device by Turkish inventor al-Jazari in 1206 A.D.

• TRUE
• FALSE

4. King George II of Great Britain died falling off a toilet on the 25th of October 1760.

• TRUE
• FALSE

5. The modern flush toilet was invented by Thomas Crapper (1836-1910). It earned it’s colorful nickname, “The Crapper”, when English doughboys leaving for the trenches of WWI passing through London saw signs for Crapper’s successful plumbing company, and adopted his name as a slang term for it.

• TRUE
• FALSE

 6. Who are the most famous plumbers ever, popularized by a well-known video game created in 1985?

7. Until the 18th century, European city dwellers used "chamber pots" to catch bodily wastes, then casually threw the contents into the public streets where they mixed with horse droppings. If you think today's cities smell bad, imagine London, Paris or Prague circa 1600.

• TRUE
• FALSE

8. When you flush a toilet in the Southern Hemisphere, the water flows the opposite direction.

9. In 1937, just a few years after graduating high school, Al Moen was inspired to invented a single-handled mixing faucet that can control hot and cold water in just one turn after burning his hands on a two-handled faucet. He succeeded in that effort in 1939.

• TRUE
• FALSE

10. It's been estimated that the average person visits the toilet six to eight times per day, spending a total of one whole year on the commode during their lifetime.

THE ANSWERS

1. The earliest plumbing pipes on record were made of earthen material.
2. The number, 50%, is false, but the rest is true. The correct answer is that 90% of pharmaceuticals are excreted through urination. A recent study by the EPA has found fish containing trace amounts of estrogen, cholesterol-lowering drugs, pain relievers, antibiotics, caffeine and even anti-depressants.
3. True
4. True
5. False. It is untrue that Crapper invented the modern toilet. He was, however, awarded numerous patents for improvements to the flush toilet and did much to popularize the device. The flushing toilet was invented by John Harrington in 1596, which is where we get the nickname “the John.”
6. Mario and Luigi, of the video game Super Mario Brothers. Since the game’s inception they have appeared in over 200 games.
7. True. The first public toilets appeared at London's Crystal Palace in 1851. They were also the first-known "pay toilets," as patrons were charged a penny for their use. ("To spend a penny" thus became English slang for using the toilet.) It wasn't until the late 19th century when the germ theory of disease finally took hold that urban planners rushed to install sewer and clean water systems in their communities. The modern closed tank and bowl didn't start to replace the older elevated tank design until around 1910.
8. False. It’s possible for the water to flow either direction in either hemisphere.
9. True
10. False. Incredibly, if you do the math, you’ll discover that the average person actually spends THREE whole years on the toilet over the span of their life!

Call First Class Plumbing & HVAC today at (615) 504-8313

or click here for access to special discounts!