The latest addition to my toilet collection.

VacuumLand – Vintage & Modern Vacuum Enthusiasts

Help Support VacuumLand:

I will post pictures of my secondary toilet collection tomorrow afternoon. My primary collection (which I started when I was four) is in a storage unit some 30 miles away. I mostly collect old/rare/unique toilets now. Years ago, I collected everything.
 
John

Mine are stored in the basement with the exception of the "Standard" Cadet as it's the treasure of my collection, that one is stored in an unused bedroom.
They've all been sanitized to the point where you could serve dinner from them.
 
Most all low flows are easily rigged to flush a full tank which is 2-2.5 gallons or more per flush. I have all low flows in our house right now, and I like the lower water usage due to that. (having the Cadet or other high flow in my bathroom alone raised the consumption by an extra 1,200 gallons or so per month) With the models we have double flushes are never necessary.

I will not compromise on my shower though and MUST get as much flow as possible! So I have an italian Siroflex showerhead which doesn't even come with a flow restrictor installed, and it has the best spray pattern of any showerhead I've tried.
 
I'm the opposite

I don't care how much my showerheads use, but my toilets must use as much water as possible. I plan to eventually install my 1951 Crane Drexel for its direct feed siphon jet and using about 5 gallons per flush. You couldn't clog it if you tried! I will get pictures of my toilets up tomorrow.
 
I would drop everything low flow for a 1962-1976 Cadet if I could get my hands on one that was close or not overpriced!

Although my '59 Cadet WILL NOT CLOG it does tend to leave "particles" behind and result in needing a second flush which in the end uses up 8 gallons of water. The later models had a far more thorough clearing of the bowl which is what I want/need. I would've installed the '57 Wellworth in my bathroom if it had gotten along with my messed up flange, I later found out it suffers from "splatter bowl" too easily anyway.

Something interesting: MUCH of these old toilets water consumption was simply through refill tube waste. Adjust the refill tubes flow rate to match what the bowl actually NEEDS and you can save up to a gallon or more of water per every flush. I got my Cadet down to 4 GPF, from 5, and the Wellworth down to 5 from 6 by doing this, and it doesn't effect performance whatsoever.
 
I've managed to flush my Eljer Emblem seen here on less than half a gallon. I have the flapper adjusted (I ONLY use Korky parts(Fluidmaster disgusts me)) to flush 1.5 gallons, and you get more than enough bowl rinse and plenty of siphonic action.
 
I could also care less how much water my toilets use, as long as everything is gone with one flush. Our house has (I think) an American Standard in tan upstairs, and a Mansfield (or something like that) downstairs. I think both are 2 gallon flush, and both do the job adequately. I *do* care how much showers use, that needs to be as much as possible, our showers both have the flow restrictors removed and I would guess they can pump out 3-5 gallons a minute. They are both handhelds, and the downstairs one can't be used with the faucets wide open or it blows itself out of the holder, and the spray is almost painful. We are on city water with EXCELLENT pressure.
 
Toilets I have collected since my other collection has been in storage. I would have uploaded more photos, but my antique iPhone kept on crashing......
1936 Standard Modernus
1951 Crane Drexel
1955 Standard Compton
1971 Gerber Mt.Vernon
1978 Eljer Emblem
1987 Gerber Mt. Vernon
2001 Kohler Revival

sonnyndad++7-7-2014-19-21-2.jpg
 
That's a neat and unique collection! I wonder if you've ever considered including matching wall-mounted lavatories with each toilet? In my former house I had a white Rheem-Richmond toilet and a matching wall-mounted Rheem-Richmond "shelf-back" lavatory (the kind that many hospitals have with the faucets mounted in the basin rather than on the top of the lavatory,, which allows for a "shelf" on top where toiletries and such can be set without getting wet) that were both in really good shape. Actually, the faucets were in disrepair from the previous owner (after being allowed to leak for many years which led to corrosion and heavy lime deposits), but I searched high and low for replacements and finally found some online (eBay for the actual faucet assembly and an online store for the rare stems). Both fixtures were from the early- to mid- 1960s.

As long as we're on the subject of toilets, I'd like to put in a word for cleaning the inside of the tank on a regular basis to remove the mold, rust, and lime deposits that otherwise accumulate. That was the only thing that was "wrong" with the toilet mentioned above--the inside of the tank was pitch black. Even a pressure washer, scrub sponge, bleach, ammonia, vinegar, and Coca-Cola (used individually) could not completely remove the buildup after many years of neglect.
 
I forgot to ask where you find the date stamps on your toilets. I've been told that sometimes they are on the bottom of the base, and I've seen others debossed or stamped on the inside of the tank.

I am thinking that some toilets do not have the year of manufacture stamped in them unless they have a date code. I tried to find one on my former Gerber Aqua Saver toilet but didn't see any.

I'm pretty sure other bathroom or shower room fixtures are dated--for the most part--as well.
 
Most often, the date is stamped under the base and in the tank in plain as day letters. SEP 28 1978
 
Antique iPhone?

Try taking pictures with my phone!
smiley-tongue-out.gif


super-sweeper++7-8-2014-02-28-49.jpg
 
While I don't collect toilets, I do have a couple vintage toilets installed in my house. The two toilets are American Standard from the 50's, both in pink. When I bought the house, there were toilets from 2006 installed. I quickly removed them and installed the 50's pink toilets.
My dad, quite a few years ago, picked up a yellow toilet from te 60's. He got it for free. He never installed it and still has it. I'm thinking of bringing it down to Arizona from Minnesota. He also has a mobile home trailer on the property. The trailer is from the 50's. It is in really bad shape. Would need lots of work to bring it back, anyways it has the original blue toilet still installed in the bathroom of it. Another thing I want to remove, before the trailer completely collapses.
The house I grew up in, was built in 1916. The two main bathroom toilets were newer. The toilet in the basement, was probably original to the house. It had the pipe coming from the back side of the base and then up to the tank. I don't know if it is still there or not, since we moved away in 2001.
When I was a kid, we would go to visit my grandparents in California. The house was built in the 30's. The toilet in the bathroom was the one with the tank, up high with the long pipe going down to the base. The tank was wood(with the metal inside). My grandfather passed away in the 90's and my grandmother passed away in 2002. A couple years back the house was resold. The picture of the bathroom showed that the toilet had been changed. :(
 
All those toilets will need parts, too!

I got this NOS Mansfield model 09 ballcock yesterday for $3. What a bargain!

sonnyndad++7-9-2014-11-35-3.jpg
 
As long as we're on the subject I found some interesting (selected) information about toilets from wikipedia:

1) Ancient civilizations used toilets attached to simple flowing water sewage systems included those of the Indus Valley Civilization, e.g., Harappa[1] and Mohenjo-daro[2] which are located in present day India and Pakistan[3] and also the Romans and Egyptians.[4] Although a precursor to the modern flush toilet system was designed in 1596 by John Harington,[5] such systems did not come into widespread use until the late nineteenth century.

2) The third millennium BC was the "Age of Cleanliness." Toilets and sewers were invented in several parts of the world, and Mohenjo-Daro circa 2800 BC had some of the most advanced, with lavatories built into the outer walls of houses. These were primitive "Western-style" toilets made from bricks with wooden seats on top. They had vertical chutes, through which waste fell into street drains or cesspits.

3) In 1596, Sir John Harington (1561–1612) published A New Discourse of a Stale Subject, called the Metamorphosis of Ajax, describing a forerunner to the modern flush toilet installed at his house at Kelston.[18] The design had a flush valve to let water out of the tank, and a wash-down design to empty the bowl. He installed one for his godmother Queen Elizabeth I at Richmond Palace, although she refused to use it because it made too much noise.

4) The perception that human waste had value as fertilizer, and in ammonia production, delayed the construction of a modern sewer system as a replacement for the city's cesspool system. In the early 19th century, public officials and public hygiene experts studied and debated the matter at length, for several decades. The construction of an underground network of pipes to carry away solid and liquid waste was only begun in the mid 19th-century, gradually replacing the cesspool system, although cesspools were still in use in some parts of Paris into the 20th century.[17] The growth of indoor plumbing, toilets and bathtubs with running water came at the same time.

5) It has often been claimed in popular culture that the slang term for human bodily waste, "crap", originated with Sir Thomas Crapper because of his association with lavatories. The most common version of this story is that American servicemen stationed in England during World War I saw his name on cisterns and used it as army slang, i.e. "I'm going to the crapper".[10] The word crap is actually of Middle English origin; and predates its application to bodily waste. Its most likely etymological origin is a combination of two older words, the Dutch krappen: to pluck off, cut off, or separate; and the Old French crappe: siftings, waste or rejected matter (from the medieval Latin crappa, chaff).[10] In English, it was used to refer to chaff, and also to weeds, or other rubbish. Its first application to bodily waste, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, appeared in 1846 under a reference to a crapping ken, or a privy, where ken means a house.[10]
 
Clayton,

Have you ever thought of starting "Toiletland"? There seems to be a lot of interest in the subject judging by the length of the thread!
 
Yes, I have entertained thoughts of starting a forum just about toilets. There is a whole community on YT of toilet collecting and filming.

Below: my first toilet ever. A 1992 Artesian with a very unusual siphon jet flush. This one has a very big bulge for the siphon jet channel. I got this toilet when I was four or five.

sonnyndad++7-10-2014-20-05-33.jpg
 
<span style="font-family: comic sans ms,sans-serif;">My landlord put on a new Glacier Bay "high-efficiency" toilet; the old one gave out.</span>
 
I got two new toilets!

I got two new toilets at the Restore. I got a 1962 Kohler Wellworth, and a circa 1960 Mystery "Standard." I say "Mystery" because I have no idea what model it is. I knew it wasn't a Cadet since the Cadet has four bolt holes. I think it might be a Compact Cadet, but the tank is different than a Compact Cadet. The original sticker on the tank is in the newer gothic American-Standard font.

sonnyndad-2014080319012804289_1.jpg

sonnyndad-2014080319012804289_2.jpg

sonnyndad-2014080319012804289_3.jpg

sonnyndad-2014080319012804289_4.jpg
 
I love that Compact Cadet! That tank does look like a Compact Cadet tank.

The tank on your Wellworth appears to actually go with a Trylon, an interesting combination!
 
@gusherb, thanks for the info on the Compact Cadet.

I'm pretty certain that the Wellworth has the original tank. I have seen several Wellworths on YT from this era that had this exact tank. Your '57 Wellworth is the style previous to this. In 1961, Kohler changed the style of the Wellworth to make it look more 1960's. In 1965, they changed it to the 70's style with the great big tank. In '63, they changed to the double K logo. This toilet says "WELLWORTH" in big blue letters.

Can you tell me more about your basement test rig? When I get my own house, I want something just like that.

sonnyndad++8-4-2014-10-18-20.jpg
 
That's interesting with the Trylon and Wellworth tank that's what I suspected! Those must not be terribly common as I've never seen that style tank before. I love that catalog page! I'll take one of each in every color!

My basement rig is pretty simple, the house was built with the basement roughed out for a bathroom and so I just simply took advantage and set a toilet on the flange that's been there forever, unused. All the basement plumbing goes Into an ejector pit with a pump, so I can't flush anything crazy.
 
Thanks for the info. Is there any way to date the Cadet Compact? I have scrutinized it, but I can find no year of manufacture. It says the month and day, but no year. It says L59 if that helps.

sonnyndad-2014080423330808647_1.jpg

sonnyndad-2014080423330808647_2.jpg

sonnyndad-2014080423330808647_3.jpg

sonnyndad-2014080423330808647_4.jpg
 

Latest posts

Back
Top