Saturday, November 17, 2007

The Armitage Shanks Family Part 1 Pear-Shaped Squatting

I am doing a series on the Armitage Shanks family of toilets.Armitage Shanks seems to be very popular all over the world.Whichever country you go to,around the world,most of the time,you will see Armitage Shanks toilets.

Armitage Shanks is very significant to me,because it was the very first toilet I started looking into,at the age of 3.The photo that you see below is the exact model that I am refering to.


This model has been around since the mid to late 1970s.If you visit any building built in that era,you might still be able to find this toilet.

There are actually a few batches of this toilet.What you see in the photo above and below are the very first batch.This batch was manufactured between 1974 to 1983.As you can see,the brand logo is the earlier Armitage Shanks brand logo,with only the words.



Although the different batches may look the same,expect for the brand logo,they flushing sound is slightly different.


The later batches have a "sharper" flushing sound while this batch has a "smoother" flushing sound.

I will include 2 videos of the first batch here.Listen to them and compare with them with the later batch.



The video you just saw isn't exactly the "smooth" flushing sound because the cistern has been replaced.The next video will demonstrate the "smooth" flushing sound.



Can you tell the difference here?Next,I will be introducing the newer batch.The photo you see below is the 1985 batch.It is the newer batch.Look at the brand logo...this time,you can see the triangle-shaped logo.


In the old batch,there is no logo,only the words.The photo above was taken at the Kuala Lumpur old railway station.

The other 2 toilets were taken in Singapore,while this one was taken in Malaysia.I can't seem to find this batch,model and flushing system in Singapore.Those in Singapore are either flushed by valve or sensor.

It really affects the flushing sound.I compare cistern with cistern.It wouldn't be fair to compare a cistern flush with a sensor flush.

The pear-shaped squatting Armitage Shanks is extremely common in Singapore.During the early 1980s to the mid 1990s,visit any shopping mall or commercial building,you are highly likely to see this toilet.

However,as we moved towards the late 1990s,these toilets start to get replaced by other brands.

I have seen this type of squatting toilets in Malaysia and Hong Kong,though they are not so commonly found.It does remind me of Singapore when I see them in foreign countries.

Last but not least,I am going to include the video of the toilet in the photo above.I'm sorry to say that the video is very dark as the toilet was not well-lit.You can see the photo clearly because I used flash on my camera.

The aim in this video is not to see the toilet,but to hear the flushing sound.Enjoy.



3 comments:

James said...

Interesting, I never knew there's so many Armitage Shanks.

Marco said...

Yes,actually this model is the longest lasting model in Singapore.

It started appearing in 1974 and the last was manufactured in 1997.

There were different slight variations as the years passed.

James said...

The longest lasting? It must be a good design or something to last the longest.

There's sometimes slight variations in Armitage Shanks here. It's usally the rimless ones that vary.