100 year old toilet...

STEAM DOCTOR

Got to love this toilet. Breakers,Newport Rhode Island 

MikeL_2

STEAM DOCTOR said:

Got to love this toilet. Breakers,Newport Rhode Island 

    I wish I saved the dozens of those style that I came across in the late 60's & early 70's. Wooden tank copper lining was often made on site.
    I was just a dumb helper then & was reminded of it almost daily.

Steamhead

STEAM DOCTOR said:

Got to love this toilet. Breakers,Newport Rhode Island 

Not to mention the tub spout below the rim- a classic cross-connection.

STEAM DOCTOR

Can't really see in the picture, but there are two hot water handles and two cold water handles. One set for fresh water and one set for salt water

ChrisJ

And here, I offered @Mad Dog_2 A beautiful example of American engineering in a toilet and he told me he wasn't interested.

I took on too much and simply don't have the time or space to work on a beautiful, complete 1968 Vent-Away.

mattmia2

Steamhead said:

STEAM DOCTOR said:

Got to love this toilet. Breakers,Newport Rhode Island 

Not to mention the tub spout below the rim- a classic cross-connection.

They had to go out of their way to get that below the dripline. It isn't like the ones that just mount through the side and have the spout on the bottom.

Mad Dog_2

Thanks...But no thanks, Chris. I don't DO Sanford & Sons no mo'.   When Christ Plumbing Supply (1810) finally got rid of their remaining old, fancy radiator collection, I foolishly took the whole lot.  It took up 1/2 the left bay in my old horse barn, about 15 x 15 foot sqaure for 5 yrs.  I even put in my F.A.C. ad..Had many calls and a few lookers..sold one!  You know where they went....

I had the pleasure of repairing a giant, wall  mounted  wooden Flush tank that served 3 super old urinals in a Reknowned archirects' office in Glen Cove City (Long Island Gold Coast town). I have pictures in my archives.  I believe it was 1870-1880s...Handmade tank...Still working  💪   mad dog 🐕 

JUGHNE

This has been on here before and only one person recognized it....anyone else?

Mad Dog_2

Looks like an Old Ball cock and Douglas valve for a Toilet.  Mad Dog 🐕 

ChrisJ

Mad Dog_2 said:

Looks like an Old Ball cock and Douglas valve for a Toilet.  Mad Dog 🐕 

Mad Dog_2

"Oh Mr Douglas...." Mad Dog 🐕 🤣 

JUGHNE

The only moving part is the water.

JUGHNE

It is older than either of you youngsters.

mattmia2

i think i guessed what it was last time so i won't guess again. I think someone alluded to a system that could have used it above.

ChrisJ

JUGHNE said:

It is older than either of you youngsters.

I've got a few things twice mad dogs age keeping food cold.

And my house is what, double @Jamie Hall 's age.

JUGHNE

BTW, Mad Dog, it was NOT connected with a braided SS supply line.

Mad Dog_2

When we stayed at Russo Acres overlooking Saratoga Lake in the 1960s and 1970s, every August for the Horseracing meet at The Spa, they had an ANCIENT first generation Refrigerator, I believe it was made in the 1920s...Built like a Patton Tank, Cold like an Adirondack winter in there. I was last there in the mid 1990s...it was still chugging away...Mad Dog 🐕 

Mad Dog_2

Mad Dog_2

You mean like this leaker? Less than ten years old.  If you look closely where the SS  braiding joins the fitting, there is fraying.  I like my hard tubing or pipe.  Mad Dog 🐕 

MarjPinard

AMAZING the number of comments toilet talk has generated! I want to add...I had our 100 y.o. toilet 'redone' around the tank. AND it is economical, flushes beautifully. I had it redone at a cost equivalent to a new crapper at Menard's-- but it had no beauty, not streamlined design that was commensurate with our lovely 100 y.o. beautifully economically steam heated house. So many things were better and remain so even after 100 years.

ChrisJ

MarjPinard said:

AMAZING the number of comments toilet talk has generated! I want to add...I had our 100 y.o. toilet 'redone' around the tank. AND it is economical, flushes beautifully. I had it redone at a cost equivalent to a new crapper at Menard's-- but it had no beauty, not streamlined design that was commensurate with our lovely 100 y.o. beautifully economically steam heated house. So many things were better and remain so even after 100 years.

How exactly do you decide if a toilet is economical?

With the cost of city water even a 5 gallon per flush doesn't use enough water to really matter as far as cost. If you're on a well, then it matters even less.

This ranks similar to the cost to running refrigerators. Even the worst pig of a refrigerator costs about $5 a month to run. It's irrelevant.

Steamhead

ChrisJ said:

........... If you're on a well, then it matters even less.

But it makes a lot of difference if you're on a septic tank.

ChrisJ

Steamhead said:

ChrisJ said:

........... If you're on a well, then it matters even less.

But it makes a lot of difference if you're on a septic tank.

Why's that?
If the system perks properly no one should know the difference with extra water no?

EDIT : Overloading the septic tank with water may also reduce or dilute the bacteria in the tank.

As usual, you're 100% correct Frank.

KarlA

WMno57 said:

The Steam Whisperer said:

laziness and lack of imagination in the U.S. Just another repeat of the U. S. auto industry it seems.

Europe and Japan had a 20 year head start on US auto manufacturers because of their oppressive fuel taxes and narrow medieval streets. Just another repeat of our government destroying domestic jobs and manufacturing.
Would you rather a drive a 1970 Oldsmobile or a 1970 Datson or VW bug?

ChrisJ

KarlA said:

WMno57 said:

The Steam Whisperer said:

laziness and lack of imagination in the U.S. Just another repeat of the U. S. auto industry it seems.

Europe and Japan had a 20 year head start on US auto manufacturers because of their oppressive fuel taxes and narrow medieval streets. Just another repeat of our government destroying domestic jobs and manufacturing.
Would you rather a drive a 1970 Oldsmobile or a 1970 Datson or VW bug?

With the mileage I drive, current fuel prices and the trend in fuel prices, I'd pick the VW Beetle.

Stuart Rogers

My 4-storey co-op in Toronto was built in 1925 as a high-end rental, but got run-down over the years until the tenants bought out the landlord and made it an equity co-op in the 80s. A lot has changed for the better since then. At some point in its rental past, the landlord took out what must have been high tanks and replaced them with flush-o-meters, on the same ancient locally made bowls (sorry, I forget the name). When I moved in, I adjusted the flush down from "fire hydrant pressure" to something a little gentler, and it worked fine for another decade. We reno'd in 2014 and replaced it with a wall-mount Toto with a Geberit tank between the studs. It looks great, but even though we paid extra for Toto's special "Sani-gloss" coating that's supposed to stay super clean, the bowl needs way more frequent scrubbing than the 1925 porcelain. A disappointment to say the least.

There was also a large wall-mounted steam rad in that tiny bathroom, with a broken thermostat. And the super of the day was running the boiler at 7-9 psi. SAUNAAAAAAA!! I got the boiler under control in the second year we were here, and in the bathroom reno we took down the wall-mount rad and replaced it with one half the size inset between the studs. Very comfy now, and the towels get nice and warm in the winter

Steamhead

No, they were flushometers from the get-go. We see this in 1920s buildings here in Baltimore. A conversion like you describe would involve replacing all the cold water supply pipes with larger ones.

ttekushan_3

Holy crap! I thought someone broke into my bathroom to snap a picture. I have a 1928-29 Standard Devoro like that. I believe mine’s a “Master Devoro” according to the catalog. 

I clocked the water meter and converted cubic feet to gallons and it is 3.7 gallons per flush. It has all the original internals. The flush mechanism is all cast brass with ground cam surfaces at the lever so it’s 1/8th turn to the left or 1/4 turn to the right for full flush. Fully porcelain handle. I can get useful partial flushes rotating the handle to the right. Anyway, the whole thing is enameled inside and out throughout including the trapway and the inside of the tank. The rim is rounded with all those enameled small holes evenly distributed around the entire bowl perimeter so it stays very clean. It’s a far more powerful (and louder) flush than a Standard Cadet. The Cadet had the slow swirling flush that didn’t always clear despite their 5 gallon flush.  

Think of Hitchcock’s “Psycho” where Janet Leigh’s character flushes the torn up note with the embezzled monies totals written on it. That was a Cadet. Her sister finds a piece that didn’t go down the toilet with incriminating evidence on it. With a Devoro that wouldn’t have happened! 

I love how it looks and works. 

Incidentally it was about 1929 or 1930 that Standard and American Radiator Corporation merged giving us American Standard. 

Mad Dog_2

Love the History boys...Mad Dog 🐕