WEBVTT - SYSK Selects: How Porta-Potties Work 0:00:00.840 --> 0:00:06.039 Happy weekend, folks. In old podcast time, it is December 0:00:06.600 --> 0:00:11.559 two thousand sixteen. In modern podcast time, it's two thousand twenty. One. 0:00:11.600 --> 0:00:14.760 Thing that has not changed between two thousand sixteen and 0:00:14.760 --> 0:00:18.480 two thousand twenty is how porta potties work. It's an 0:00:18.480 --> 0:00:22.000 interesting topic, believe it or not. I remember really enjoying 0:00:22.000 --> 0:00:25.919 this episode. Uh, don't really enjoy porta potties, but it's 0:00:26.160 --> 0:00:27.760 it's kind of a neat thing to research, believe it 0:00:27.840 --> 0:00:29.479 or not, So give it a listen. Why don't you 0:00:29.560 --> 0:00:36.320 how porta potties work? Welcome to Stuff you Should Know, 0:00:36.520 --> 0:00:45.280 a production of My Heart Radios How Stuff Works. Hey, 0:00:45.320 --> 0:00:48.280 and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark. There's Charles 0:00:48.360 --> 0:00:56.400 w Chuck Bryant, Jerry Master, Ace Roland. Uh, and this 0:00:56.480 --> 0:01:00.480 is stuff you should not Yeah, poopy edition. This one's 0:01:00.520 --> 0:01:05.000 gonna get disgusting. Yeah, I mean, I don't think you 0:01:05.040 --> 0:01:08.000 need trigger warnings when the title of the episode is 0:01:08.440 --> 0:01:11.080 got porta potti in it, But um, we'll just throw 0:01:11.120 --> 0:01:14.319 it out there. We're gonna be talking about poop and yeah, 0:01:14.400 --> 0:01:19.520 and so if you're having lunch, maybe just put that 0:01:20.480 --> 0:01:28.640 chili dog down the gag easily. Yeah, you know, sure, Yeah, okay, 0:01:28.680 --> 0:01:31.440 we'll check. I don't think we can put it off 0:01:31.480 --> 0:01:35.600 any longer, you know that kind of beat it out. Um. 0:01:35.640 --> 0:01:39.080 I kind of like how this article actually starts though 0:01:40.080 --> 0:01:42.959 by Dave Ruse. He talks about the Taste of Chicago. 0:01:43.200 --> 0:01:45.959 Oh is this a Ruse jam? Yes, it is good. 0:01:46.520 --> 0:01:48.400 So he talks about how if you go to the 0:01:48.400 --> 0:01:51.680 Taste of Chicago, right every every July, they hold it 0:01:51.720 --> 0:01:55.400 at the Grant Park alongside the Lake. When was our 0:01:55.400 --> 0:01:58.720 show there, by the way, was that July? No, it 0:01:58.880 --> 0:02:01.800 was chillier than that. I think it was October. Okay, 0:02:01.840 --> 0:02:04.160 they had something had happened in Grant part because I 0:02:04.240 --> 0:02:08.720 remember seeing hundreds and hundreds of Porter potties on the 0:02:08.800 --> 0:02:12.040 drive in. Oh really yeah, so somebo they just always 0:02:12.080 --> 0:02:15.360 have them there. No, I don't think so. Okay, Well, 0:02:16.480 --> 0:02:19.960 for the Taste of Chicago, they definitely have Porter potties. 0:02:19.960 --> 0:02:22.840 In fact, for two thousand and fourteen, and we should 0:02:22.840 --> 0:02:24.880 say there's like a million people that come through this 0:02:24.960 --> 0:02:26.960 thing over the course of the week. It's a lot 0:02:26.960 --> 0:02:29.280 of folks, it really is. Have you ever been to 0:02:29.320 --> 0:02:34.000 Atlanta's Taste of Anything? Uh? No, I haven't either. I 0:02:34.040 --> 0:02:36.639 don't think it's I don't think a million people show 0:02:36.720 --> 0:02:38.919 up for it. It makes me want to go try 0:02:39.000 --> 0:02:43.679 Chicago's um But so you've got a million people. UM 0:02:43.960 --> 0:02:47.320 and Service Sanitation, Inc. Which is the company that landed 0:02:47.360 --> 0:02:50.640 the Porter Potty contract crunch the numbers. Looked at the 0:02:50.680 --> 0:02:55.239 food that was going to be there, uh said, you're 0:02:55.240 --> 0:02:59.080 gonna have some beer. Yeah, okay. They carried the one 0:02:59.280 --> 0:03:02.600 and they came up with three eighty regular port of potties, 0:03:03.400 --> 0:03:08.520 twenty eight wheelchair accessible porta potties, and eighty hand washing stations. 0:03:08.560 --> 0:03:12.359 They have soap and fresh running water. Not bad, right, 0:03:13.040 --> 0:03:16.200 So here's the thing, Like, that's great. They delivered all 0:03:16.200 --> 0:03:19.840 those things. But had they just walked away and said, 0:03:19.919 --> 0:03:23.160 see at the end of Taste of Chicago, it would 0:03:23.160 --> 0:03:27.120 have been a living nightmare for everyone involved. Yeah, that 0:03:27.200 --> 0:03:32.079 would be it would be more than the taste of Chicago. 0:03:32.200 --> 0:03:37.200 Be the sickening smell of Chicago. Yeah, that would have 0:03:37.200 --> 0:03:41.080 been bad. Because well, we'll get into it. But Porter 0:03:41.160 --> 0:03:44.320 Potty sometimes you can leave them come back a week 0:03:44.400 --> 0:03:46.720 later and just take them away if it's like a 0:03:46.720 --> 0:03:50.440 temporary work site or something. But sometimes when you're selling 0:03:50.440 --> 0:03:52.720 beer and chili, you need to come at the end 0:03:52.720 --> 0:03:57.840 of every day and clean those suckers out. Yes, and 0:03:57.880 --> 0:04:00.680 that's what they did. They came at nine when everyone 0:04:00.800 --> 0:04:03.600 was sleeping from well, I guess if you went to 0:04:03.680 --> 0:04:07.600 bed at nine pm, that's what I'm sleeping. But they 0:04:07.640 --> 0:04:09.800 would come every night from nine and I pm to 0:04:09.880 --> 0:04:12.320 three am, and they would work. And here's the thing, 0:04:12.440 --> 0:04:17.080 like porta potties, it turns out I was overthinking them. 0:04:17.120 --> 0:04:19.760 I thought there was maybe a little more going on. No, 0:04:20.560 --> 0:04:25.000 they are they are self. I don't. I really don't 0:04:25.000 --> 0:04:27.160 know what I thought. It escaped me as as the 0:04:27.200 --> 0:04:31.400 reality of porter potties sunk in my my delusions about 0:04:31.440 --> 0:04:34.400 my illusions about them kind of um escaped me and 0:04:34.560 --> 0:04:36.400 trickle away. And now I can't remember what they were 0:04:36.839 --> 0:04:40.360 up port potty, right, Sure I have, But I was 0:04:40.560 --> 0:04:44.200 like holding my breath and like like just barely had 0:04:44.240 --> 0:04:46.359 my eyes open because I didn't want any germs to 0:04:46.400 --> 0:04:49.400 get on my eyeballs. Um, So I wasn't paying that 0:04:49.480 --> 0:04:53.200 much attention. It's an in and out kind of thing. Um. 0:04:53.240 --> 0:04:56.400 It turns out that like when you serve as supporter potty, 0:04:56.440 --> 0:04:58.760 what you're doing is you're showing up with a trunk 0:04:59.440 --> 0:05:02.640 truck as a tank with a vacuum on at a 0:05:02.680 --> 0:05:06.640 pressurized tank. Um, and you are sucking the contents out 0:05:06.680 --> 0:05:10.000 of that porter potty and then you put it in 0:05:10.040 --> 0:05:14.400 the truck, you drive off, and you dump it off 0:05:14.440 --> 0:05:17.960 at the waste treatment plant of your local city or town. 0:05:18.400 --> 0:05:21.919 It's like a gigantic wet back. Yes, it is for 0:05:22.279 --> 0:05:25.600 poo poo and pep Yes, and a very dangerous one. 0:05:25.640 --> 0:05:28.560 I saw at least one story um in a porter 0:05:28.640 --> 0:05:32.600 potty trade magazine that of somebody who I've read a 0:05:32.640 --> 0:05:36.080 bunch of those, in a magazine called it's called Portable 0:05:36.160 --> 0:05:39.880 Restroom Operator TRO. It's a it's a good mag man. 0:05:39.960 --> 0:05:45.640 They actually found um uh this one issue online going 0:05:45.680 --> 0:05:47.280 all the way back to two thousand nine that I 0:05:47.320 --> 0:05:49.839 was looking for. So they they're legit, but they could 0:05:49.839 --> 0:05:51.760 have been a little more fun with the name and 0:05:51.880 --> 0:05:54.440 pro well. I think they're they're saying like, hey man, 0:05:55.320 --> 0:05:58.480 all the fun you want, but we're saving your behind. 0:05:59.200 --> 0:06:02.600 Hey see that that sounds like a slogan. I think 0:06:02.720 --> 0:06:04.919 I'm sure it is. Well, they do point out a 0:06:04.920 --> 0:06:09.040 couple of the slogans because porta Potty Companies or porta John's, 0:06:09.080 --> 0:06:14.120 Jiffy John's Portloo if you're in England, Toy toy if 0:06:14.120 --> 0:06:17.800 you're in Malaysia. Yeah. Uh. They're very famous for having 0:06:17.839 --> 0:06:22.720 pretty fun penny um slogans like we're number one in 0:06:22.760 --> 0:06:26.800 the number two business. Not bad, No, it's not bad. 0:06:27.120 --> 0:06:29.279 No one, there's no one takes care of our business, 0:06:29.279 --> 0:06:33.160 like Mr John. Sure I saw that too. Yeah. Um, 0:06:33.200 --> 0:06:36.400 there's also one called got to Go, but it's spelled 0:06:36.520 --> 0:06:41.880 really impressively. Um it's g It's all one word and 0:06:41.920 --> 0:06:45.800 it's lower case, so it's super mod g O T 0:06:46.600 --> 0:06:51.680 you with an oom l out g O. I love it. M. 0:06:52.839 --> 0:06:55.000 Do you like that one? Yeah? I just I thought 0:06:55.000 --> 0:06:56.440 you were going in a different direction. I thought it 0:06:56.480 --> 0:06:58.039 was going to be a little more like g E 0:06:58.200 --> 0:07:01.160 A U X. No, that's like if they were in 0:07:01.200 --> 0:07:04.080 Louisiana maybe, Yeah, that's what I thought. Sure, No, this 0:07:04.160 --> 0:07:07.080 is this had an oomlout. That's what got me. And 0:07:08.080 --> 0:07:10.240 that's why you love Motley Crue so much. Sure it 0:07:10.400 --> 0:07:15.320 is all right? So, um, should we talk a little 0:07:15.320 --> 0:07:19.400 bit about the history. I think so, all right, Well 0:07:19.640 --> 0:07:21.240 we need to go back to World War two in 0:07:21.280 --> 0:07:27.160 this case, and um, because World War two was going on, 0:07:27.240 --> 0:07:30.400 there was there was there was a need for more 0:07:30.560 --> 0:07:37.280 poopers essentially right because they had like manufacturing plants popping up, 0:07:37.320 --> 0:07:41.000 they had temporary manufacturing plants going up. They had places 0:07:41.000 --> 0:07:45.120 where they didn't want to build full service, permanent bathrooms 0:07:46.440 --> 0:07:48.400 all over the place. All of a sudden, these people 0:07:48.440 --> 0:07:52.600 needed to go potty. Um what I saw. I saw 0:07:52.760 --> 0:07:54.680 a few different origin stories, but the one I saw 0:07:54.720 --> 0:07:59.280 the most frequently was that the um shipbuilding docks at 0:07:59.320 --> 0:08:03.160 Long Beach are in World War Two. They're building warships 0:08:03.160 --> 0:08:07.400 for the US. The guys working the docks would have 0:08:07.520 --> 0:08:10.920 to working building the ships would have to get on 0:08:10.960 --> 0:08:13.280 a rowboat and go back to the dock to use 0:08:13.360 --> 0:08:15.720 the bathroom. And this is no good. And they were like, 0:08:15.800 --> 0:08:18.240 this is a terrible waste of time. Can we just 0:08:18.280 --> 0:08:21.600 get something down the ship? So they started building temporary 0:08:21.880 --> 0:08:24.800 what amounted to the first porta potties there on the 0:08:24.840 --> 0:08:28.520 ships for them to use. Yeah, and these first ones, UM, 0:08:28.560 --> 0:08:31.040 you can look up a picture of the Andy Gump. 0:08:31.280 --> 0:08:34.560 Is that what it's called. I didn't see. I gotta 0:08:34.600 --> 0:08:36.400 look that up. I think it's the Andy Gump, like 0:08:36.440 --> 0:08:39.800 one of the just type in like nineteen forties porta 0:08:39.840 --> 0:08:42.520 potty and there will be a picture, and it's basically 0:08:42.520 --> 0:08:47.560 this big heavy metal square. Sometimes they were would but 0:08:47.640 --> 0:08:52.720 they were super heavy and they weren't easily transported. Um 0:08:52.800 --> 0:08:57.319 they you know, this is pre uh using like chemicals 0:08:57.360 --> 0:09:00.480 which we'll get into to help break these the poop 0:09:00.480 --> 0:09:03.640 poo down and stuff. So it was just a disgusting affair. 0:09:04.040 --> 0:09:08.840 I'm having trouble right now. I see the indycomer. You 0:09:08.880 --> 0:09:12.280 see it. Wow, it looks like, um, it looks safe 0:09:12.320 --> 0:09:14.040 to be in. You know what it looks like. It 0:09:14.080 --> 0:09:18.600 looks like what they used on mash Yeah, like the latrine. Yeah, 0:09:19.480 --> 0:09:22.640 same idea. Basically, Yeah, it's just a latrine. You could 0:09:22.720 --> 0:09:27.320 take places. But I came across this really cool little 0:09:27.360 --> 0:09:31.040 thing on a website about World War two fighter pilots, 0:09:31.640 --> 0:09:36.280 and um, with World War Two came along planes that 0:09:36.400 --> 0:09:38.360 could stay in these bombers, I could stay in the 0:09:38.440 --> 0:09:42.720 air for a lot longer. And they started to think like, Hey, 0:09:42.760 --> 0:09:45.320 these these dudes are up there for like you know, 0:09:45.440 --> 0:09:48.360 ten to fourteen hours, we have to come up with 0:09:48.600 --> 0:09:52.120 ways for them to go to the bathroom. Right, yeah, 0:09:52.320 --> 0:09:54.880 I mean like you don't think about that, Like when 0:09:54.880 --> 0:09:57.320 we the frost Bite episode, I certainly didn't think that 0:09:57.360 --> 0:09:59.319 they were up there getting frostbite because it was so 0:09:59.720 --> 0:10:02.720 you know, cold. Also didn't think that they were up 0:10:02.720 --> 0:10:05.960 there so long that they couldn't use the bathroom. They 0:10:05.960 --> 0:10:09.200 had to hold it right, So yeah, And the earliest 0:10:09.240 --> 0:10:12.839 ones were, well, here's a funnel and it's attached to 0:10:12.880 --> 0:10:15.360 a tube and it leads out of the plane, so 0:10:15.440 --> 0:10:17.760 go ahead and p Yeah, and that's basically just for 0:10:17.880 --> 0:10:22.959 like the pilot and co pilot right this relief tube. Um. 0:10:23.000 --> 0:10:25.520 After that they're like, well, what if we have to poop? Yeah, 0:10:25.840 --> 0:10:28.920 they said, can you get your hands on a produced crate? 0:10:30.320 --> 0:10:33.680 And the crew would say like, well, yeah, sure, we 0:10:33.760 --> 0:10:37.160 have produced creative course, what are we commies and the 0:10:37.200 --> 0:10:39.080 people in charge to say, We'll poop in that? Take 0:10:39.080 --> 0:10:41.360 that up in the plane and just pooping that, buddy, 0:10:41.480 --> 0:10:43.800 and maybe wash it out when you get down here 0:10:43.920 --> 0:10:47.079 and put it back in for later use, or maybe 0:10:47.080 --> 0:10:51.280 just get a new crate. I guess if you're not thrifty. 0:10:53.320 --> 0:10:56.120 Eventually they came up with something called the Elson E 0:10:55.840 --> 0:10:59.040 E L S A N. It's a chemical toilet and 0:10:59.080 --> 0:11:01.600 it was really kind of one of the first little 0:11:01.640 --> 0:11:05.120 porta potties. But if you look up Elson and on 0:11:05.200 --> 0:11:08.560 the images on Google you will find that it's it 0:11:08.679 --> 0:11:14.400 looks like nothing more than a metal oil can that 0:11:14.520 --> 0:11:19.040 you sit on. It's basically what it was pretty much. Um, 0:11:19.080 --> 0:11:21.160 and you're all they're exposed. I mean, there's no room 0:11:21.200 --> 0:11:22.920 that this is in. You're just doing this in front 0:11:22.920 --> 0:11:24.880 of you know, your all your buddies on the plane, 0:11:25.440 --> 0:11:28.679 right like prison. Sure, and that I mean that that 0:11:28.760 --> 0:11:31.320 Elson toilet was still I mean as primitive as it was. 0:11:31.360 --> 0:11:35.520 It was an advancement, but it had certain problems, right 0:11:35.600 --> 0:11:39.240 like if you were flying through turbulence, yea, that Elson 0:11:39.360 --> 0:11:46.080 would spill its contents out into the plane. Yeah, there's 0:11:46.080 --> 0:11:47.760 a few quotes here. I'd like to read a couple 0:11:47.800 --> 0:11:53.400 of these from some of these fighter pilots. Um, here's 0:11:53.480 --> 0:11:56.400 one and this is from a British pilot. While we 0:11:56.400 --> 0:11:59.640 were flying in rough air. This Devil's convenience often shared 0:11:59.640 --> 0:12:01.360 its con tense with the floor of the aircraft, the 0:12:01.400 --> 0:12:04.800 walls and ceiling, and sometimes a bit remained in the 0:12:04.840 --> 0:12:08.560 container itself. It doesn't take much imagination to picture what 0:12:08.559 --> 0:12:11.040 it was like trying to combat fear and airsickness while 0:12:11.080 --> 0:12:14.199 struggling to remove enough gear in cramped quarters and at 0:12:14.200 --> 0:12:17.000 the same time trying to use the bloody Elson. If 0:12:17.000 --> 0:12:19.600 it wasn't an invention of the devil, it certainly might 0:12:19.640 --> 0:12:22.400 have been one foisted on us by the enemy. When 0:12:22.440 --> 0:12:25.040 seated in frigid cold, amid the cacophony of roaring engines 0:12:25.080 --> 0:12:27.440 and whistling air, away from what should have been one 0:12:27.480 --> 0:12:30.560 of life's peaceful moments, the occupant had a chance to 0:12:30.600 --> 0:12:34.320 fully ponder the miserable condition of his life. This lowsome creation, 0:12:34.400 --> 0:12:37.880 invariably overflowed on long trips and in turbulence, was always 0:12:37.920 --> 0:12:42.080 prone to bathe the nether regions of the user. It 0:12:42.160 --> 0:12:44.240 was one of the true reminders to me that war 0:12:44.280 --> 0:12:47.800 as hell. You don't think about this stuff. You hear 0:12:47.800 --> 0:12:49.840 about all the glory of being like a bomber pilot. 0:12:49.920 --> 0:12:52.880 You don't think about sitting on a can and having 0:12:53.480 --> 0:12:56.640 your your friends poop and pe slash up on your fannie. 0:12:57.800 --> 0:13:00.760 Sorry to those in the UK, weies doesn't even make 0:13:00.800 --> 0:13:02.920 sense in that context. That means something different here in 0:13:02.920 --> 0:13:09.040 the US, right, but right so, uh yeah, that's the 0:13:09.040 --> 0:13:12.720 the first I guess. Chemical toilet, which is a designation 0:13:13.280 --> 0:13:16.199 of a porta potty, right, like a porter potty is 0:13:16.240 --> 0:13:19.200 a chemical toilet, but not all chemical toilets or porta potties, 0:13:20.160 --> 0:13:22.480 But a chemical toilet is any kind of toilet where 0:13:22.920 --> 0:13:27.280 you have um something in there that's intended to break 0:13:27.320 --> 0:13:31.280 down waste. And actually I don't know that an els 0:13:31.280 --> 0:13:33.600 In toilet, I guess it was a chemical toilet. I 0:13:33.640 --> 0:13:36.720 see now, But that's gross because in addition to getting 0:13:37.240 --> 0:13:39.600 the rest of the cruise poop and pa slopped up 0:13:39.640 --> 0:13:43.640 against your rear end, um, so too, were you getting 0:13:44.240 --> 0:13:49.880 very very hazardous chemicals as well. Yeah, so that's a 0:13:50.960 --> 0:13:54.360 good man. That guy may have had his buttocks removed 0:13:54.440 --> 0:13:58.080 after the war. Uh. One of the uses of the toilet, 0:13:58.120 --> 0:14:00.400 they said that this is supposedly very true. It was 0:14:00.440 --> 0:14:03.920 that some members of the Royal Air Force UM actually 0:14:04.480 --> 0:14:09.360 jettisoned the Elson toilets with their bomb payload onto German targets, 0:14:09.960 --> 0:14:12.439 so they would drop these toilets full of pooh on 0:14:12.480 --> 0:14:17.600 the Germans. And Uh. There was an American too, had 0:14:17.640 --> 0:14:21.240 a great quote about peeing through the little hose. He said, 0:14:21.240 --> 0:14:23.360 as the urine ran through the tube, it turned to 0:14:23.440 --> 0:14:26.320 ice and dropped like topaz colored hail to the ground. 0:14:26.640 --> 0:14:29.359 I like to imagine every time I urinated over Germany. 0:14:29.840 --> 0:14:36.080 My my acidulous projectile would plank on some Nazi Burger's 0:14:36.320 --> 0:14:42.280 aryan nose poetry. Yeah, there's some more good stories in here. 0:14:42.360 --> 0:14:47.120 You should, uh man, I don't remember which website it was. Yeah, 0:14:47.200 --> 0:14:48.840 I have to. I have to post that later on 0:14:48.840 --> 0:14:54.080 Facebook and I'll tweet it, all right. So that's the 0:14:54.080 --> 0:14:58.720 the war effort that eventually ultimately led to the creation 0:14:58.800 --> 0:15:02.280 of the porta potty, right, and again, like there were 0:15:02.320 --> 0:15:05.680 already latrines that had already been out houses. And the 0:15:05.680 --> 0:15:08.800 difference between an outhouse and a porta potty is that 0:15:09.040 --> 0:15:12.880 an out house is basically some sort of rigid structure 0:15:13.280 --> 0:15:18.040 that's intended to be permanent or semipermanent, permanent that's dug 0:15:18.120 --> 0:15:21.400 over a hole in the ground. That's it. A porta 0:15:21.440 --> 0:15:27.080 potty is a self contained unit that has a place 0:15:27.160 --> 0:15:32.760 where the waste goes, and it's held inside that unit 0:15:32.920 --> 0:15:35.960 rather than like put into the ground, which is extremely 0:15:36.080 --> 0:15:39.800 dangerous that we learned a very long time ago. Pooping 0:15:39.840 --> 0:15:41.600 in holes in the ground is not a good way 0:15:41.600 --> 0:15:44.280 to go as far as public health is concerned. It's not. 0:15:44.440 --> 0:15:47.240 And that's one of the legitimate um marks in the 0:15:47.280 --> 0:15:50.520 favor of porta potties. Is gross, as as most people 0:15:50.600 --> 0:15:53.480 who have ever used one thinks they are. They're actually 0:15:54.000 --> 0:15:58.160 um quite beneficial to public health. Yeah, and they're green too. 0:15:58.160 --> 0:16:01.320 Saves a lot of water. Yeah. I saw um a 0:16:01.440 --> 0:16:06.040 hundred and seventy billion leaders a year, about a hundred 0:16:06.040 --> 0:16:08.360 and twenty five million gallons a day in the U 0:16:08.520 --> 0:16:12.440 s alone. Crazy. Yeah, So, um, you want to take 0:16:12.440 --> 0:16:14.720 a break for a second. Yeah, we'll break in. We'll 0:16:14.720 --> 0:16:16.800 talk a little bit more about the evolution of the 0:16:16.880 --> 0:16:33.880 port of John right after this y s game that 0:16:34.000 --> 0:16:44.200 you should know, that you should know, but Josh Clark, 0:16:45.480 --> 0:16:48.600 all right, chuckers. So we're talking about the evolution of 0:16:48.640 --> 0:16:52.160 the port porta john. You've got the Andy Gump, you've 0:16:52.160 --> 0:16:56.760 got the Elson toilet, and then finally, in actually the sixties, 0:16:57.440 --> 0:17:02.480 you have what is the what we think of as 0:17:02.520 --> 0:17:05.560 a porta potty. Um. A patent was developed by a 0:17:05.560 --> 0:17:08.840 guy named George Harding Um and he called it for 0:17:08.880 --> 0:17:12.440 a portable toilet Cabana and it was made from plastic 0:17:13.320 --> 0:17:15.960 and um. Although he had the patent for it, the 0:17:15.960 --> 0:17:19.399 guy who actually gets credit for actually creating the first 0:17:19.680 --> 0:17:23.000 real modern port to john reporta potty was a guy 0:17:23.040 --> 0:17:26.560 named Um Harvey Heather, and he created what's called the 0:17:26.560 --> 0:17:30.160 strong Box. Great name. Did you see Have you seen 0:17:30.160 --> 0:17:33.680 the strong Box? Oh? You did? That's what I went 0:17:33.720 --> 0:17:37.760 and found the December two thousand nine UM issue of 0:17:37.920 --> 0:17:41.840 Pro magazine. Um to find because I saw a reference 0:17:41.920 --> 0:17:44.720 that they had published a picture of it, and I 0:17:44.720 --> 0:17:49.360 couldn't find it anywhere else. Those things are ugly. Yeah, 0:17:49.520 --> 0:17:52.040 it wasn't. It wasn't a great looking Uh. It's not 0:17:52.119 --> 0:17:55.760 like the fantastic porter John say have today, just so 0:17:55.840 --> 0:17:58.600 gorgeous to look at right now. This thing was ugly, 0:17:59.840 --> 0:18:02.280 had had no alibi. Uh. Yeah. And these were made 0:18:02.320 --> 0:18:07.080 of fiberglass, which um, it was good. It was lightweight 0:18:07.280 --> 0:18:10.320 but um, and it was sturdy. It was as sturdy 0:18:10.359 --> 0:18:12.440 as metal or wood, and it was a lot easier 0:18:12.480 --> 0:18:15.439 to clean. But the problem with the strong Box and 0:18:15.520 --> 0:18:21.000 the fiberglasses it was a big kind of one piece mold. Um. 0:18:21.080 --> 0:18:25.440 It was dark inside, which was not good. They weren't 0:18:25.480 --> 0:18:29.359 stackable as far as transporting them, and so that just 0:18:29.440 --> 0:18:33.359 made it really expensive to get them where they needed 0:18:33.400 --> 0:18:35.920 to go and back again. It did. And the fact 0:18:36.000 --> 0:18:39.359 that like it was completely opaque um and there was 0:18:39.400 --> 0:18:42.280 no light that could get in. That's that's an issue. 0:18:42.840 --> 0:18:45.640 Plus I also get the impression that the floors could 0:18:45.640 --> 0:18:49.320 get pretty slick and you could fall and die of 0:18:50.240 --> 0:18:55.440 positional asphyxiation and important you. Yeah, and they were also 0:18:55.560 --> 0:18:58.840 fiberglasses pretty fragile, so they would break a lot uh, 0:18:58.960 --> 0:19:03.440 fiberglass absorb odors, which was not good. Uh. And so 0:19:03.520 --> 0:19:06.520 shortly after the fiberglass came along, someone said, you know what, 0:19:06.600 --> 0:19:10.360 how about poly ethylene um. This is what we will use. 0:19:11.000 --> 0:19:14.280 And George Harding, who you mentioned, co founded the Polly 0:19:14.359 --> 0:19:18.680 John Corporation, and he started building the polyethylene portable toilets 0:19:19.200 --> 0:19:22.359 that were much better because they lasted longer. They would 0:19:22.400 --> 0:19:25.159 last like a decade. Although I would not want to 0:19:25.240 --> 0:19:28.520 use a nine year old port of John. Well, so 0:19:28.720 --> 0:19:31.440 the that picture of the strong box that was published 0:19:31.440 --> 0:19:35.439 in Pro magazine apparently had been out in service. It 0:19:35.520 --> 0:19:37.359 was still in service, and it had been built like 0:19:37.400 --> 0:19:41.000 thirty years before. Well, yeah, you would know that your 0:19:41.359 --> 0:19:44.359 company could not have cared less about you if you 0:19:44.359 --> 0:19:46.359 show up to your job site and there's a strong 0:19:46.440 --> 0:19:49.480 box there. Yeah, and that's what you're expected to use, 0:19:50.160 --> 0:19:52.919 with all of the with all of the possible choices 0:19:52.960 --> 0:19:56.199 that your company could choose from, and they went with 0:19:56.240 --> 0:19:59.720 the strong box. They don't care about you or your happiness. 0:20:01.480 --> 0:20:04.040 The polyethylene. The other good thing about them where they 0:20:04.080 --> 0:20:06.959 were assembled into different parts and pieces, so it made 0:20:07.040 --> 0:20:10.240 them a lot easier to transport, a lot cheaper. Uh 0:20:10.280 --> 0:20:12.800 and if apart broke, you might be able to replace it. 0:20:13.400 --> 0:20:17.200 Oh yeah, that that is kind of good. Yeah, makes sense. 0:20:17.320 --> 0:20:20.119 So hooray for poly ethylene toilets. But one of the 0:20:20.160 --> 0:20:23.720 things that George harding Um created in his patent that 0:20:23.760 --> 0:20:27.320 I noticed was a ventilation system. This is a big improvement, 0:20:27.440 --> 0:20:30.240 right for sure, because when you're just piling human waste 0:20:30.280 --> 0:20:34.200 upon human waste into a hole, um that it's going 0:20:34.240 --> 0:20:37.679 to create gases, noxious gases, because bacteria is going to 0:20:37.760 --> 0:20:41.560 start decomposing that waste, and as a byproduct of the decomposition, 0:20:41.560 --> 0:20:45.360 they're going to produce what we see what we experience 0:20:45.440 --> 0:20:49.680 as rotting fecal material. Right. Yes, not just that it's stinky, 0:20:49.720 --> 0:20:53.160 it's dangerous. It is dangerous and as that gas tries 0:20:53.200 --> 0:20:56.000 to find a way to escape upward, if the only 0:20:56.119 --> 0:20:59.520 hole available to it is the toilet that you're pooping 0:20:59.600 --> 0:21:02.520 or peeing into, those gases are going to come out 0:21:02.520 --> 0:21:05.000 of it, and you're going to vomit while you pooper 0:21:05.040 --> 0:21:08.560 p as well. So what George Harding had I told 0:21:08.560 --> 0:21:11.359 you this phone is going to be cruts. What George 0:21:11.359 --> 0:21:14.600 Harding figured out was that if you could just basically 0:21:14.880 --> 0:21:19.720 create a pipe venting off that gas upward and out 0:21:19.760 --> 0:21:23.159 of the porter potty, people would be willing to use 0:21:23.200 --> 0:21:26.480 porter potties a lot more. And that was a huge improvement. Yeah. 0:21:26.520 --> 0:21:30.840 He also said, how about we make this rooftop translucent 0:21:30.920 --> 0:21:34.080 white so we can let in some natural light at least, 0:21:34.520 --> 0:21:37.520 why don't we improve the flooring so that it's not 0:21:37.560 --> 0:21:41.720 as slippy and um, maybe even further down the line, 0:21:42.000 --> 0:21:45.000 we'll have porter potties that have a little urnal that's separate, 0:21:45.080 --> 0:21:47.080 so you don't even have to sit your butt down 0:21:47.720 --> 0:21:54.240 on that most horrid of places. Right yep, what about 0:21:54.240 --> 0:21:57.280 the roll around toilet? Did you see these? Yeah? Those? 0:21:57.560 --> 0:21:59.760 I mean that it makes sense. So basically, if you 0:21:59.800 --> 0:22:03.879 are on like a job site right um, where there 0:22:03.960 --> 0:22:09.800 are like different multiple stories being built and you're up 0:22:09.880 --> 0:22:12.280 on one of the higher stories, it's the same thing 0:22:12.320 --> 0:22:15.080 as when you're working in the shipyards building a ship. 0:22:15.119 --> 0:22:16.400 You don't want to have to come all the way 0:22:16.440 --> 0:22:19.960 down to use the bathroom. So they created porter potties 0:22:20.240 --> 0:22:23.000 that were a lot more mobile that could be um 0:22:23.040 --> 0:22:28.120 hoisted by cranes. UM just two different different levels. Yeah, 0:22:28.160 --> 0:22:30.880 if you look up roll around toilet, it basically looks 0:22:30.960 --> 0:22:34.640 like one of those UM coolers that has the two 0:22:34.640 --> 0:22:37.479 wheels and the handle and you can pull the cooler around, 0:22:37.920 --> 0:22:42.359 except it's larger and UM sitting above the wheels is 0:22:42.400 --> 0:22:45.840 a is a urinal. Right. I don't see how you 0:22:45.840 --> 0:22:48.560 go poopy in those, so maybe maybe that's when you 0:22:48.600 --> 0:22:53.600 go downstairs. Uh yeah, I don't know either, because it's 0:22:53.600 --> 0:22:55.480 not enclosed or anything. I mean, it's just wide open, 0:22:55.760 --> 0:22:59.879 just like prison. And there's actually a great um a 0:23:00.160 --> 0:23:03.520 great scene from I think the First Police Academy starring 0:23:03.520 --> 0:23:09.760 our friend and Twitter followers Steve Guttenberg goots and UM. 0:23:09.800 --> 0:23:13.280 I think it's Mauser who uses a porter potty and 0:23:13.440 --> 0:23:17.800 Steve Guttenberg goes over and gets some crane operator to 0:23:18.160 --> 0:23:22.080 lend him the crane and now it's Mauser's um, his 0:23:22.600 --> 0:23:24.600 right hand man. I don't remember that guy's name, but 0:23:24.640 --> 0:23:27.480 they lift the porter potty up while he's inside using it. 0:23:27.480 --> 0:23:32.520 It's hilarious, wacky, wacky stuff and sus uh. And then 0:23:32.680 --> 0:23:36.040 if you really are living the good life, or you 0:23:36.080 --> 0:23:40.119 have a maybe a really nice upscale wedding that's out 0:23:40.240 --> 0:23:43.000 in a remote area, you don't want to bring in 0:23:43.080 --> 0:23:47.479 just even the nicest polly ethylene porta John won't do. 0:23:48.480 --> 0:23:50.199 You will bring in what we call in in the 0:23:50.240 --> 0:23:54.840 movie business a honey wagon. Um. It is a restroom trailer. 0:23:55.400 --> 0:23:59.040 And these are actually nice. They are have running water, 0:23:59.280 --> 0:24:04.920 they have dolls, they have porcelain uh, toilets, it's all partition. 0:24:05.000 --> 0:24:08.280 They have sinks and running water and mirrors, hand towels. 0:24:08.359 --> 0:24:13.919 It's like a rolling trailer full of toilets. Yeah. Like 0:24:14.000 --> 0:24:15.960 you can breathe through your nose in these things. You 0:24:15.960 --> 0:24:17.960 can lay down on the floor if you wanted. Yeah. 0:24:18.000 --> 0:24:22.159 And apparently these first started in nineteen eight four Polly 0:24:22.240 --> 0:24:26.199 John in Columbus, Ohio, go by guys. Yeah, And the 0:24:26.240 --> 0:24:28.960