In his 1596 work A New Discourse of a Stale Subject, Called the Metamorphosis of Ajax, Sir John Harington recommended that the flush toilet be installed in such a place that had access to the chimney to take advantage of the wind's capacity to blow off unpleasant odors. He noted that sometimes the operation of the chimney vent failed because of the lack of suitable wind. His invention required the establishment of a cistern, which could be located behind the toilet seat or elsewhere if necessary. Water would be brought from the cistern in a lead pipe controlled by a tap that would "yield water with some pretty strength."

An oval pot of block, stone, or lead, two feet deep, one foot broad, and sixteen inches long (Harington is normally very precise in his measurements) would be placed close to the seat and dressed with pitch or resin to keep the pot from "tainting with the urine." In the lowest part of this vessel there would be fastened a sluice of brass with solder or cement. On this sluice would be an iron stem with a stopper fastened with a strong screw. Harington's practicality is also reflected in his recommending a lock and key to keep children from playing with this device. No air should be allowed to come up except at the sluice, which has the stopper. The water, which could be pumped into this place, could be used more than once but had to be changed when necessary, which he suggested should be at noon or at night, not through any such venting system as exists today.

If constructed carefully, this device would, he said, keep the privy "as sweet as your best chamber." Clearly, a servant would have been necessary to serve the device and perform a task that in later times would be performed by connection to a seepage pit or a sewer. Queen Elizabeth I installed a flush toilet in at least one of her palaces, and Harington made a toilet for himself. Apparently both used their toilets, but there is no record that any others in his time used one.

For centuries, Harington's device had no traceable impact. Some people presumably did not share Harington's daintiness about smells; others surely doubted that the advantages of a water-driven system of coping with human wastes justified systematic efforts to bring about this change. The great majority of people lived in small communities or on farms, and such wastes were easily enough disposed of. However, a general unfamiliarity with the literary habits of a man like Harington probably also curtailed the spread of information about his invention.

As a result, the impact of Harington's toilet was very limited until later needs and improvements made it a practical device for people who did not employ servants to assist them in fulfilling their personal needs. Not until the eighteenth century were there any patents for toilets. In the 1770's, several men made contributions. Alexander Cummings developed the S-trap between bowl and trap, Samuel Prosser patented a plunger closet, and Joseph Brahmah devised a valve for the flushing system that worked on a hinge. This was a predecessor to the ballcock that is still often used today.

A series of refinements in the design of the flushing closet from the 1850's to the 1890's made the flush toilet a possession for many householders. The growth of large and densely packed cities in the later nineteenth century made safe and efficient plumbing systems necessary, and increasingly the toilet became a practicable addition to well-appointed households. The toilet that Harington devised did not replace the old privy, and for three centuries it did not become a common feature of life in European or American homes.

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