Chronography of Hygiene
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modified 27 September 2023
See also Science, Innovation, Technology for other
inventions
2020, The UK
now had 2,556 public toilets, down from 3,154 in 2015.
1982, 21.5% of French homes
possessed no indoor fluhing toilet, down from 45% in 1968 and 73% in 1954. In
1954 90% of French homes had no bath or shower, a figure down to 12.2% by 1984.
By 1984 just 10.7% of French homes had no indoor flushing toilet; many of these
being old rural farmsteads.
1960, Hitchin
Council in the UK became the first to use black plastic polythene bin bags for
refuse collection. Previously, rubbish was put loose straight into bins,
causing smells and being scattered in the road when the bin was emptied.
21 March 1950,
A survey showed that only 46% of British homes had a bathroom.
1949, Air freshener was now a household
accessory, to mask �foul odours�.
1948, The first
disposable nappies were sold by Saks, Fifth Avenue, New York. Proctor and
Gamble test marketed them in the 1950s, and launched the first mass-produced
disposable nappies in 1961 under the brand name Pampers.
1944, A
survey by the Women�s Institute across Britain of 3,500 villages showed that
1,000 of them ;lacked piped water.
1942, Soft toilet paper first
appeared in Britain. It was made at the St Andrews paper mill, Walthamstow,
London.
1937, The first tampons were
marketed under the name Tampax.
1924, Kleenex, the first face tissues sold in Western countries, was
introduced, as Celluwipes (the Japanese had been using them for centuries).
1921, The first commercially
produced sanitary towels were marketed under the brand name Kotex.
1914, The first modern sewage
plant, designed to treat sewage with bacteria, opened in Manchester.
27 January 1910, Thomas Crapper, toilet inventor, died.
1907, Floor Polish, an early example of a mass-produce dmaterial for
housework, went on sale.
1906, Jeyes Fluid, the commercial name of a disinfectant fluid, went on
sale in the UK. It was notable for its distinctive strong smell.
30 August 1901, Scotsman Hubert Cecil Booth patented the vacuum cleaner. Houses often had no
electricity then, and� the motor and pump
were so large they were mounted on a horse-drawn cart whilst a tube that might
be over 200 metres long was used for suction. Booth later introduced a clear
tube so clients could see the dirt being sucked out of their house.
1900, Only 1 in 7 US homes
possessed a bath-tub.
31 May 1898, Sir Richard Rawlinson, British sanitation
engineer, died in London (born 28 February 1810 in Bristol).
22 May 1892, Dr Washington Sheffield invented the
toothpaste tube.
15 March 1891, Sir Joseph William Bazalgette, engineer, died.
1889, The first underground
public convenience for women opened in London, at Piccadilly Circus.(see 1885).
It was luxuriously appointed, designed to appeal to the wealthy female shoppers
patronising London;s West End department stores. However resistance to the
provision of female public toilets (men�s public urinals were acceptable)
lingered on after 1900, based on notions that it was �unfemale�, �degrading� to
use one forf a woman, or that the poor would simply use them for ordinary
washing.
1885, The first underground
public convenience (for men only) opened at the Royal Exchange, London. See
1852 and 1889.
17 February 1883, The vacant
/ engaged toilet sign was patented by Mr Ashwell of Herne Hill, London.
1882, Just 2% of New York homes have piped water.
Almost every house has a backyard privy.
19 September 1876, Melville R
Bissell of Grand Rapids, Michigan patented the Bissell carpet
sweeper, the first practical way to sweep carpets of dust. He suffered from
headaches caused by his allergy to straw dust which came from the straw packing
he used in his china shop. He invented a sweeper with a sprung brush roller
that responded to pressure on the handle.
1871, In the USA, toilet paper
was first put on a roll.
1864, In Britain, the first of
the Baths and Wash Houses Acts were
passed (1864-1896). Then provison of bathing facilities in UK towns was now
deemed necessary.
1859, Glasgow opened its new
water supply from Loch Katrine; this was a significant developemtn in the
hygiene of the city.
1857, The first mass production
of toilet paper began, in the USA, pioneered by Joseph Cayetty. Toilet paper had
been in use at the Imperial Court of 14th century China, but most
people in 19th century Europe and America simply used torn up
newspaper. Cayett�s paper, at 50 cents for 500 sheets, was not cheap; it was
impregnated with aloe as a supposed cure for piles. Gradually the cost fell and
it became universally used. The term �toilet paper� was first used by the New York Times in 1888.
11 February 1852, The first flushing public toilet for
women opened in Fleet Street, London. The cost was 2d. See 2 February 1852.
2 February 1852, The first
public convenience for men opened in Fleet Street, London. See 11 February 1852.
19 September 1851, William
Lever, soap maker and philanthropist, later Lord Leverhulme,
was born in Bolton.� He was the son of a
grocer.
1844, In the UK, the Commission
for Enquiring into the State of Large Towns established a link between dirt and
epidemic disease.
28 March 1819, Engineer Sir Joseph William Bazalgette was born.
12 May 1792, A toilet that regularly flushed itself was
patented.
1789, Pear�s Soap was first
produced.
1778, In England, Joseph Bramah
improved on Cumming�s design for a flushing toilet and begn commercial
manufacture of them.
1775, In England, the first
patent for a flushing toilet was granted to Alexander Cumming.
1589, English writer Sir John Harrington had an early
non gravity fed flushing toilet at his house in Kelston, Somerset.
1524, Soap was first
manufactured in Britain.
24 December 1508, London houses received piped water for the first time.
1503, The pocket handkerchief came
into use in polite society in Europe. In Mediaeval times, people just wiped
their faces on their robe sleeves.
589, Earliest reference to
toilet paper, in China.
50 AD, Romans learnt the use of soap, from
the Gauls.
1550 BCE, Date of the Egyptian Elbers
Papyrus, which describes in detail how to make soap from animal fats and
vegetable oils, and the uses of this soap for washing.
2000 BCE, The Minoans possessed
flushing toilets, using cisterns fed by streams, flushed by a lever.
2800 BCE, Soap was in use in ancient
Babylon.
Soap is also mentioned in the Bible Book of Jeremiah, and by 1550 BCE it was in
use in Egypt.