- Flail
The flail is one of the oldest agricultural tools known to man, having been in Use for more than 5,000 years. It has served as a symbol of power and even as a weapon. Despite the introduction of motor-driven harvesting machines in the nineteenth century, it is still used to this day in some parts of the world. It's primary function s tor threshing-the forced separation of grain from the parent plant.
It is not clear where the flail originated, but it was certainly used in ancient Egypt. The flail is essentially a handle-called the staff--coupled at one end by a length of leather to the end of a second shorter rod. The staff is held at the free end and the rod is swung downward and from side to side. As it strikes a pile, usually spread on the ground, of harvested wheat or other grain crop, it knocks out the husks, after which the grain can be sifted out for use.
In Egypt, the flail was Used as a symbol for the royal dynasties, and therefore became a mark of power. Often seen alongside a shepherd's crook, the two implements together symbolized the pharaoh's ability to provide food and look after his people, in the way that a shepherd would care for his flock. The crook and flail were also the sign of the god Osiris, lord of the Underworld, and on the coffinette of Tutankhamun, which originally contained the viscera of the dead pharaoh, he holds them crossed over his chest.
The use of flails for threshing is highly labor Intensive. Today the tool has been all but replaced by modern machinery. The combine harvester canvas the name suggests-both harvest the crop and separate out the grain in a single process.
SEE ALSO: GRANARY, SCRATCH PLOW, SCYTHE, THRESHER, REAPER, COMBINE HARVESTER
- Flush Toilet
Sanitation arrives in the Indus Valley.
The Internet? Television? The internal combustion engine? All of these things are important, but they pale in significance next to arguably the most important invention of all time-the toilet.
Archeological research indicates that toilets flushed by water have existed since about 2500 B.C.E. Inhabitants of the Indus Valley developed a sophisticated system of toilets and accompanying plumbing; each house had a toilet with a seat, the waste being borne away by water in a sewer system covered with dry-clay bricks. This system was used in India for most of the existence of the Indus Valley Civilization, which ran from about 3000 to 1700 B.C.E.
Ancient Egypt also developed a similar system that removed waste through the use of running water. The ancient Romans were so fastidious that they constructed a toilet for use when they were traveling. Their sewerage systems were sophisticated, and public toilets were common.
After some lamentably unsanitary times from 500 to 1500 C.E., the toilet saw Some major innovations during the second half of the last millennium. John Harrington, godson of England's Queen Elizabeth had invented the water closet in 1596, but his invention was not widely adopted. The late 1700s saw development in toilet technology, with several inventors taking up Harrington's ideas and producing further refinements. One of these, developed in 1778 by Joseph Bramah, was installed in many ships.
The first all-ceramic toilet appeared in 1885, designed by china manufacturer Thomas Twyford. It incorporated in one piece the earlier innovation of the water trap, consisting of water held within a U-shaped bend in the outflow pipe that insulated the user from malodorous air in the sewage system below.
SEE ALSO: SEWAGE SYSTEM, TOILET PAPER, S-TRAP FOR TOILET, BALLCOCK