We may take the invention of the toilet for granted, but it is something many of us would have a hard time learning to live without. Public sanitation systems were invented long ago, but when was the toilet invented? The story of the toilet takes us back to 1596. The toilet was created by Sir John Harrington for his godmother, Queen Elizabeth I. Harrington called his design a “water closet”, and his water closet was installed in Queen Elizabeth’s castle in 1596. The original toilet, or water closet, had a knob on a chain that had to be pulled in order for the water to be released from a bowl. Underneath the bowl, there was a basin or collection bowl that had to be emptied and cleaned often. It is not the sanitary and pleasant way for removing waste that we know of, but it paves the way for later improvements. Over time, many inventors improved Harrington’s original water closet by improving the pipes that were attached to the bottom and the flush system that built upon the original toilet. By 1896, Thomas Crapper began to sell toilet. Crapper saw the importance and necessity of the toilet, and he used his admiration for the product to help promote and sell the toilet. Harrington’s invention is, without a doubt, one invention that would be hard to live without. Inventors will continue to develop up Harrington’s original water closet.