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Toilet seat

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A Bemis Manufacturing Company toilet seat for a flush toilet

A toilet seat is a hinged unit consisting of seat and lid which is bolted onto a toilet bowl for a flush toilet. A toilet seat consists of the seat itself, which is contoured for the user to sit on, and the lid, which covers the toilet when it is not in use.

If the toilet is located in a home bathroom, when the lid is down it can serve as a place to sit while one is cutting toenails, drying ones feet after a bath or shower, etc.

The seat is usually lifted during a male's urination, or when cleaning the toilet.

Varieties of seats

Toilet seats come in several shapes, from the common round residential seat with a cover to the more expensive[citation needed] plastic oval seat to the U-shaped opened-front seat without a cover often seen in public restrooms. They can be made of plastic or wood.

"Up or down" debate

While males are used to raising the seat, females are not. Females do not typically raise the seat for anything other than cleaning, which generates debate among cohabiting members of the opposite sex. Frequently, males are expected by female users to ensure that the seat is always lowered after use. A toilet seat tab can be used to alleviate this problem by reminding males to put it down for females and makes it cleaner and easier to lift/lower the seat.

Another line of reasoning holds that the appearance of the toilet, and by extension the bathroom, is more esthetically pleasing when the lid is left down between uses, conforming to the designed appearance of the toilet.

Styles of seat

Toilet seats come in multiple styles, depending on the style of the toilet itself. They are also built to fit the shape of the toilet bowl; two examples of this being the elongated bowl and the regular bowl. They are manufactured in a range of different styles and colors. Toilet seats are sold at any store that carries plumbing products. The price varies quite considerably.

Some metal toilets, such as those in many jails and prisons, have built-in toilet seats that do not lift, so that the inmate cannot fashion it into a weapon or escape tool.

Open front toilet seats

Uniform Plumbing Code Section 409.2.2 requires an open front seat: "All water closet seats, except those within dwelling units or for private use, shall be of the open front type."

In homes, closed front seats are used exclusively.

The purpose of the open front is a subject of debate. Some say that it is so that a man who does not lift the seat to urinate and "dribbles" at the end will not get urine on the seat, but rather it will fall in the gap. Another thought is that the gap exists so that the genitalia of one user cannot contact the seat and therefore possibly spread disease to a subsequent user if their genitals contact the same area.

In the home

Toilet seats found in homes and homelike settings generally have fully circular seats with no gap (closed front). The majority are white, but they are available in a variety of colors and styles that can be custom purchased to fit the design of the particular bathroom. Some are made of various types of fancy wooden materials, like oak or walnut, and others are made soft for added comfort. At various times, printed seats, with multi-colored designs, such as floral or newsprint, have been fashionable.

In public facilities

A black toilet seat in a public washroom

The toilet seats commonly seen in public washrooms are designed differently in order to ensure better sanitation. They are usually made with a gap in the front-center and no cover, which reduces the amount of spatter and eases the job of cleaning for janitorial staff. Despite these safety features, toilet users should be forewarned that a possibility still exists that the toilet may likely be contaminated with fecal particles, urine, semen, and other related germs.

In the early 20th century, it was fairly commonplace for toilet seats found in public restrooms to be black. However, since the second half of the century, the general preference in the United States has been to construct public restrooms with white toilet seats, thereby giving a brighter appearance. While some black toilet seats in the U.S. remain in some older restrooms, some U.S. jurisdictions, including the states of Maryland and Florida, have banned them from being installed in new restrooms, or from being used as replacements in existing ones, as they have been found to mask unsanitary conditions. Some places have actually considered laws that would require black toilet seats in public restrooms to be retrofitted with white ones. But these laws have been opposed by restroom owners for being costly. Still, black toilet seats remain commonplace in other U.S. states, such as Pennsylvania.

In Canada, however, the preference for toilet seats in public washrooms continues to be black. Even newly built modern washrooms in most of Canada usually feature black toilet seats. [1]

In outhouses and portapotties

The toilet seats in the portapotties tend to be black U-shaped-open-front with a cover. The toilet seats in outhouses however tend to be white U-shaped-open-front with a cover.

Modern design, electronic integration and function

The 21st century has seen a new wave of toilet seats introduced, for both style and technology. High tech toilet seats sometimes include a large number of features, including a bidet, a blow drier, and a heated seat.

That particular technology is most common in Japan, where it is colloquially called the Washlet.

Humor

The toilet seat functions as a comic staple for sight gags relating to toilet humor. The most common is someone staggering out of a bathroom after an explosion with a toilet seat around his neck. In the television show Dead Like Me, George Lass, the main character, is killed when a zero-G toilet seat from space station Mir re-enters the atmosphere. The Half-Life 2 Deathmatch game represents object oriented frags with a flying toilet icon.

Toilet seat manufacturers

Canada

Japan

United States

U.S. Navy's "$600 Toilet Seat"

The P-3C Orion antisubmarine aircraft went into service in 1962. Twenty-five years later it was determined that the toilet shroud, the cover that fits over the toilet needed replacement. Since the airplane was out of production this would require new tooling to produce. These on-board toilets required a uniquely shaped, molded fiberglass shroud that had to satisfy specifications for the vibration resistance, weight, and durability. The molds had to be specially made as it had been decades since their original production. The price reflected the design work and the cost of the equipment to manufacture them. Lockheed Corp. charged $34,560 for 54 toilet covers or $640 each.[1]

President Reagan held a televised news conference in 1987, where he held up one of these shrouds and stated: "We didn't buy any $600 toilet seat. We bought a $600 molded plastic cover for the entire toilet system." A Pentagon spokesman, Glenn Flood stated, "The original price we were charged was $640, not just for a toilet seat, but for the large molded plastic assembly covering the entire seat, tank and full toilet assembly. The seat itself cost $9 and some cents.… The supplier charged too much, and we had the amount corrected."[2] The president of Lockheed at the time, Lawrence Kitchen, adjusted to the price to $100 each and returned $29,165. "This action is intended to put to rest an artificial issue," Kitchen stated.[1]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Adjusting the Bottom Line". Time. 1985-02-18.
  2. ^ "But It Would Be Wrong" By: William Safire The San Francisco Chronicle Sunday, April 20, 1986

Further reading

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Toilet seats.
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