"HOME TECH": The Inner Workings

Part I of Essay
The Toilet Yes...those tales you've heard are true. The toilet was first patented in England in 1775, invented by one Thomas Crapper, but the extraordinary automatic device called the flush toilet has been around for a long time. Leonardo Da Vinci in the 1400's designed o ....

Part II of Essay
.... pipe, the float closes the inlet valve, completing the cycle. From the oldest of gadgets in the bathroom, let's turn to one of the newest, the toothpaste pump. Sick and tired of toothpaste squeezed all over your sink and faucets? Does your spouse never ever roll down the tube and continually squeezes it in the middle? Then the toothpaste pump is for you! When you press the button it pushes an internal, grooved rod down the tube. Near the bottom of the rod is a piston, supported by little metal flanges called "dogs", which seat themselves ....