Toilets play a life-saving role in a 1981 patent that proposed that a water trap in a toilet bowl could provide fresh air to a person trapped in a burning room. The patent proposes that when a room is filled with toxic gases, the occupants can survive until help arrives by inserting a tube through the water and expelling it from the other side, as you can see above.
This unusual idea comes from William O Holmes, who was inspired by the multi-story hotel fires that caused death due to inhaling toxic fumes. The most common cause of death in fires is from breathing toxic fumes rather than burning, Michigan State University said.
A fire needs oxygen to keep spreading. Therefore, it does not take long for the oxygen in the fire environment to be absorbed and burned. People trapped in these environments, without oxygen to breathe, will likely pass out before they can make it to the exits or before help has time to arrive.
But that may change when there is a built-in way to reach the open air. And this is where toilets come into play.
While a toilet pipe won’t do much to stop a fire, Holmes argues, it can provide life-saving access to cleaner air and give people trapped inside a burning building valuable extra minutes to get out alive. Toilet bowls that are constantly filled with some liquid are equipped with a water trap that effectively prevents the hole from becoming an open passage to the sewer. This water and air system plays an important role in preventing the passage of unpleasant odors.
Stopping odors means it can also stop smoke, so Holmes’ idea was to get a snorkel through the water trap to access the air on the other side. This way, the person trapped in the room can live long enough for rescuers to arrive with an oxygen cylinder and safely get them out of the building, as long as they don’t burn.
As you can imagine, this air, whose main task is to prevent the passage of sewage odors, is not an attractive option for breathing. But Holmes thought of that too. The snorkel user must first flush the sewer gas remaining in the pipe, and then a design in hotels can help neutralize the air.
“It is common practice to install a pipe or chimney vent in the sewer line to ensure optimum functioning of the toilet,” the patent reads. leaves. Also, the air vent will vent sewer gases to the environment and release any back pressure on the toilet so it doesn’t hum when drained and waste products don’t build up in the downstairs toilets, especially when the upstairs toilets are flushed.”
Meanwhile, the snorkel design also has a filter that can absorb harmful and/or toxic impurities remaining in the sewer pipe air.
It may not sound ideal, but we’re sure it’s a much better option than being without oxygen in a fire…
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