Toilets appeared early in history. In the year 2500 BCE, the people of Harappa in India had water borne toilets in each house that were linked with drains covered with burnt clay bricks. There were also toilets in ancient Egypt and China. In Roman civilization, toilets were sometimes part of public bath houses where men and women were together in mixed company.

• The flush toilet was invented in 1596 by John Harrington
• First valve-type flush toilet was introduced in 1738 by a man named J.F. Brondel (J.F. Bronde)
• Alexander Cummings invented the Strap, a sliding valve between the bowl and the trap in 1775.
• Samuel Prosser applied for and received a patent for a plunger toilet in 1777.
• Joseph Bramah altered the design in  1778 so that it had a valve at the bottom of the bowl that worked on a hinge, a predecessor to the modern ballcock.
• Thomas Twyford revolutionized the toilet business in 1885 when he built the first trapless toilet in a one-piece, all china design.
• J. G. Jennings patented a washout closet in 1852. This unit had a shallow basin with a dished tray and water seal. The flush water drove the contents into the pan and then through the S-trap.
• The U.S.Patent Office received applications for 350 new toilet designs between 1900 and 1932.
• Engineers at the Emerson Motor Company in St. Louis have developed a 3.3 inch motor and a .2 horsepower pump that fits in a toilet tank to add speed and power to each flush.
• Emerson partnered with pump manufacturers Zoeller Company and Hydromatic Pump Company to develop a plumbing system that liquefies waste.
• Thomas Crapper didn't invent the toilet, but was an English plumber from the late 1800s who held nine patents for plumbing products.