The Ancestry of the Porta-Potty

The portable toilet has come a long way since the days of the chamber pot.  In the 1940′s, the booming ship building business in Long Beach, California gave rise to the modern portable toilet we use today. Rather than waste time and money having workers trek back and forth to facilities in town, someone came up with the ingenious idea to have portable toilets on site.  They were modeled after the ships toilets, compact with a hole and storage tank for waste that was periodically emptied and cleaned.  Here is a brief history of the portable wonder…

What is a Portable Toilet?

Similar to an outhouse, the port-a-potty is an enclosed structure with a seat and a hole for collecting waste. While outhouses are stationary and have a latrine dug deep into the ground to store the waste, the portable toilet can be moved from place to place.  The waste is dumped somewhere else and then the toilet is cleaned and sanitized for reuse.

Ancient History

The very first portable toilets are found in ancient Egypt and consisted of a sitting stool with a hole in the middle and a clay pot to store the waste.  They were typically used by high-ranking officials who were oftentimes also buried with them in case they needed to use the toilet in the afterlife. As for the workers of the pyramids and other ancient Egyptian architecture, permanent structures, similar to outhouses, were most likely used as it took many years to build these magnificent structures. In a hierarchical society such as that of ancient Egypt, the elite would not want to use the same toilets as the ordinary masses or slaves.

The Modern Beginning

The first portable toilets were built from wood and contained a small holding tank. These toilets were heavy, hard to move, and absorbed odors, making them unsanitary. By the 1970′s, portable toilets evolved into fiberglass.  Fiberglass was lighter and easier to move but also absorbed odors and was harder to maintain because of fragility of the material. Today, the port-a-potty is made from polyethylene plastic, which is light, easy to clean and is far more sanitary than previous ones.

The Crapper

This North American term for the toilet dates from the WWI era when soldiers used portable toilets with the manufacturer’s name on it – Thomas Crapper.  He is the inventor of the modern day toilet and its plumbing.

The Portable Toilet Today  

The portable restroom has certainly evolved over time.  Today, portable toilets aren’t just for work sites. They’re found at various events from concerts to classy outdoor weddings that may even feature a luxury portable restroom as seen. From the basic, to what you might find on Luxury Restroom Rentals, the portable toilet of today is more convenient, sanitary and appealing to the eye than any other time in history.  With everything constantly improving, imagine what portable toilets will be like 50 years from now.  Perhaps even the most basic ones will shoot out air freshening blasts upon exit and automatically clean themselves.  Who knows?