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The Toilet Yes...those tales youve heard are true.The toilet was first patented in England in 1775,invented by hotshot Thomas Crapper, but theextraordinary automatic device called the flushtoilet has been around for a long time. LeonardoDa Vinci in the 1400s designed ace that worked,at least on paper, and Queen Elizabeth I reputablyhad one in her palace in Richmond in 1556,complete with flushing and overflow pipes, a bowlvalve and a drain trap. In all versions, ancient andmodern, the working principle is the same.Tripping a single lever (the handle) sets in motion aseries of actions. The trip handle lifts the seal, usually a rubber flapper, allowing water to flowinto the bowl. When the tank car is nearly empty, theflap falls back in model over the water emergelet. Afloating ball falls with the water level, opening thewater supply inlet valve just as the outlet is organismclosed. Water flows through the bowl refill tubeinto the overflow pipe to replenish the trap sealingwater. A s the water level in the tank nears the topof the overflow pipe, the float closes the inletvalve, completing the cycle. From the oldest ofgadgets in the bathroom, lets turn to one of thenewest, the toothpaste pump. Sick and tired oftoothpaste squeezed all over your sink andfaucets? Does your spouse neer ever roll downthe tube and continually squeezes it in the middle?Then the toothpaste pump is for you When youpress the button it pushes an internal, valleculad roddown the tube. around the bottom of the rod is apiston, supported by little metal flanges called"dogs", which seat themselves in the grooves onthe rod. As the rod moves down, the dogs slideout of the groove theyre in and click into the oneabove it. When you release the button, the springbrings the rod back up carrying the piston with it,now seated one notch higher. This pushesone-notchs-worth of toothpaste out of the nozzle.A measured amount of toothpaste every time andno more goo on the sink. Refrigerators Over 90percent of all North American homes withelectricity have refrigerators. It seems to be theone appliance that North Americans can just notdo without. The machines popularity as a foodpreserver is a relatively recent phenomenon,considering that the principles were known asearly as 1748. A liquid absorbs heat from itssurroundings when it evaporates into a gas a gasrelease... ... simply are sold every day in North America. Inkfeeds by gravity through five veins in a nose cone,usually made of brass, to a tungsten carbide ball.During the composition process, the ball rotates, pickingup a continuous ink supply through the nose coneand transferring it to the writing paper. The ball isa perfect sphere, which must fit precisely into theextremely smooth nose cone socket so that it willrotate freely stock-still be held tightly in place so thatthere is an even ink flow. Although it soundsdeceptively simple, perhaps the most amazingthing about ball-point pens is the ink. wherefore doesntit just run out the end? Why doesnt it dry up in theplastic cartridge? Bic describes the ink as"exclusive, fast-drying, yet free menstruum". Theformula is, of course, secret. In the 19th century,writer and thinker Ralph Waldo Emersonexpressed a fear that perhaps we all feel to someextent, that "things are in the institutionalize and rideMankind". But with the help of good householdreference books, friendly reference librarians, andhelpful manufacturers only too willing to helpconsumers apprehend their products, we can atleast get a rein on the technology in our homes.