Why did it take so long to invent the toiler flapper valve?

[Graham.]

I use the Fluidmaster syphon. No GBFO ball to accommodate, and much more reliable than a simple "flapper".

[Commander Kinsey]

Why did it take so long to invent the toiler flapper valve? The old siphon systems were far more complicated.

[Davey]

The flapper, as used in the US, tends to rot or otherwise wear out, leaving the water running. Expensive when it happens as you leave for a holiday, and only discover it when you return. Give me the British system any time.

[Dean Hoffman]

I don't know. There was a show some years ago showing how things had to tie together to make a modern invention work. It would show the host sitting in a car, for example. Then it would go through the odd parts that had to come together to make a complete car. A carburetor would be useless on a horse drawn buggy. Link here if you're interested:

[micky]

They had to wait for Flappers, in the 20's.

[Commander Kinsey]

But they're bigger, so require a larger cistern. And there's that annoyance when you don't push the lever quite hard enough and it doesn't get going very well.

[Commander Kinsey]

Expensive? You don't have free water? Are you in a 3rd world country or something?

[Commander Kinsey]

That is not a short skirt.

[Commander Kinsey]

Bloody annoying when you don't push the handle quite hard enough and it thinks about flushing for 10 minutes.

[micky]

Where is there free water?

[The Natural Philosopher]

In the middle of the sea

[tim...]

they were in use in ROW for ages, but in the UK legislation made them illegal to use (god knows why)

but joining the SM meant that law had to be rescinded

so they were legal here too

tim

[John]

Dean Hoffman [e-mail] wrote in news:qvdbl3$nj2$1 @gioia.aioe.org:

I always used to daydream about taking an item of technology back about

100years to help them kickstart some real progress.

I used to think that taking a car back about 100years would really help. /But then cars changed - items like electronic fuel injection and engine management would be impossible to understand or reproduce.

I did have a Vauxhall Viva when I used to daydream about this though.

[Cindy Hamilton]

The American way is for people to pay for what they use.

Cindy Hamilton

[Dean Hoffman]

Water meters for individual households are common things in my little world. Water isn't truly free even on farms where people have their own wells. The farmers have to pay people to put the wells in, repair them, and buy the electricity to run them. Central Nebraska, U.S.A.

[TMH]

The question should be "why did they invent the flapper valve". Siphons are incredibly reliable & easy to fix when the eventually fail.

[Commander Kinsey]

Me too, but to make cash.

If you're just in it for the money, that doesn't matter.

My friend had one of those a long time ago. It actually never broke down. Not particularly fast though.

[Commander Kinsey]

Think yourself lucky you don't live in the UK. We have free healthcare for everyone. Virtually nobody has health insurance. The average taxpayer pays about £300 a month (!) towards this shambles, which never cures much anyway. In my entire life all they've done for me is fix two broken bones. What's that privately? £1000 a time? So 6 months of taxes. Where's the rest going?

[Commander Kinsey]

Water is a renewable resource, it's provided for free by the sky/god/whatever you believe in.

[Commander Kinsey]

You ought to pick where you buy your house more carefully. There should be nearby water, but not so close as you get flooded. Water is after all the most important thing to keep us alive. After air, but that's everywhere.