On this day in 1814

Edinburgh-born Alexander Cumming didn’t invent the flushing toilet, but did improve it when he devised the s-bend. A simple kinked piece of pipe, the s-bend traps water in the bottom of the bowl and, in doing so, blocks the passage of foul smells from the sewer into the home.

This might seem a strange direction for a man who trained as a watch and clock maker, and pioneered several technologies, including ways to measure barometric pressure changes throughout the day. But, it’s for his work in sanitation that we must thank him.

S-bends and flushes

As well as the s-bend, he devised a way to link the pulling of a chain with both flushing a tank of water through the toilet bowl and the automatic refilling of the tank. It seems like common sense – and is commonplace – today but, in the 1770s, it was an innovation.

His death was announced in the Public Ledger and Daily Advertiser of 11 March 1814: “March 8, in his 82d year, Alex. Cumming, Esq. F.R.S. Ed of Pentonville; eminent for his genius and knowledge in the mechanical sciences.”

 

...and on this day in 1936

Oor Wullie, with his spiky hair and dungarees, has been a staple of the Sunday Post since appearing in his first comic strip in 1936. He was drawn by cartoonist Dudley D Watkins until Watkins’ death in 1969 and has been kept alive since by a series of other illustrators, who have taken the reins in turn.

Watkins honed his skills at Glasgow School of Art and worked on several DC Thomson comics before sketching Oor Wullie. He died while sitting at his drawing desk in August 1969.