- Toilets have existed in some form or another for thousands of years, according to Madehow.com. The familiar shape of the modern toilet bowl conforms to particular height and shape standards. Regardless of whether a bowl follows the washdown, reverse trap or siphon jet design, all toilet bowls use the same materials and go through the same fabrication process. The slow, painstaking fabrication process includes molding the toilet bowl, firing it slowly in a kiln, installing the mechanisms, and checking for quality.
- The Toiletology website list the two internationally recognized standard shapes for toilet bowl rims as round and elongated. Toilet bowls generally stand 14 to 16 inches off the floor. The ADA requires that toilets designated for handicapped people stand from 16 1/2 to 18 inches high. Caroma Industries, a producer of toilets and related products, states that toilet parts and mechanisms must conform to the International Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Officials' Uniform Plumbing Code, or UPC, standards.
- Toiletology lists common toilet bowl designs as the washdown toilet, the reverse trap toilet and the siphon jet toilet. The washdown toilet, an older design, relies solely on the flushing water's power to push waste down through the trapway in the bottom of the bowl, according to Caroma Industries. A reverse trap design bears similarities to the washdown toilet except for the position of the trap. The siphon jet design uses vacuum pressure to suck the waste down into the trap. Its lower water pressure requires a relatively narrow trapway in the bottom of the bowl, and this narrower design can clog more easily than that of the washdown toilet.
- Madehow.com states that toilet manufacturers use a clay product known as vitreous china for toilet bowls. This product includes a glaze that can be fired at the same time as the clay itself, turning the entire bowl into a glassy substance that resists both water and stains throughout its structure. Workers at a pottery, or toilet manufacturing plant, filter any impurities from liquid vitreous china, known as curry slip, before conveying it to storage tanks for the next stage of the manufacturing process.
To mold the toilet bowl, the workers pump the vitreous china into plaster casts of the toilet's final shape, molding the tank separately from the same material. The clay hardens inside the mold for several hours until it reaches a semisolid state known as greenware. The workers can then remove the material from its cast, hand-smooth any rough edges, and create drain and fitting holes. - After several days of natural drying, the greenware enters a dryer unit that draws out the remaining moisture. The greenware then receives a coating of glaze, and the glazed unit then travels along an extremely slow conveyer belt inside a kiln. The fired toilet can now have its seat and flushing mechanism added, while the vitreous china undergoes rigorous inspection to check for cracks or other imperfections.
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