Joseph Bramah - Improved Water Closet

Improved Water Closet

In London, Bramah worked for a Mr. Allen, installing water closets (toilets) which were designed to a patent obtained by Alexander Cumming in 1775. He found that the current model being installed in London houses had a tendency to freeze in cold weather. Although it was Allen who improved the design by replacing the usual slide valve with a hinged flap that sealed the bottom of the bowl, Bramah obtained the patent for it in 1778, and began making toilets at a workshop in Denmark Street, St Giles. The design was a success and production continued well into the 19th century.

His original water closets are still working in Osbourne House, Queen Victoria's home on the Isle of Wight.

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