Bill Gates Foundation Looking For New Ideas For Toilet Design

Was surprised to come across this story today: http://consumerist.com/2011/07/bill-gates-foundation-dumping-on-the-old-toilet-design.html Well this has certainly made my morning. It's good to see the Gates Foundation appealing to a broader range of people, and plus this challenge will have great environmental benefits which I'm all for. To all desingers and engineers entering the challenge, Commodo Dragon wishes you the best of luck!

Summer Commodes

My pick of the summer lighter commodes around:



A crazy Japanese commode toilet design:

Differences between commodes and toilets

I often receive this question and many people will equate commodes to the same as toilets - but they are not. Although, you don't often hear people say where can I find the nearest commode (unless they've happened to learn all their English from an 19th century book).

As discussed in earlier posts a commode in Victorian times (and even today) is used to refer to a low-lying set of drawers or a portable washstand with a cupboard hidden beneath the counter top. However, for the purposes of this discussion we shall take the definition of the most commonly referred to definition a piece of portable toilet apparatus to collect stool and/or urine. The commode is basically a boxy structure which hides and supports a seat over a removable chamberpot or bedpan. It's often used for old age people who have perhaps mobility problems and can't get to a toilet or people with disability problems.

Do you think this blog needs a design overhaul? Celebrating Over a Year Blogging

So I've noticed that blogger now has some pretty cool template designs that you can easily switch to, which I've done for some of my other blogs. But, I've kinda grown attached to this template, after more than a years worth of blog posts.

Anyway I'd be interested to know what my readers think, (if they're still visiting my blog, I know I know I've been a bit slack on the updates last few months), so if you have any recommendations for which template designs I should use for my commode blog I'd love to hear from you. Put a comment and a link to your site, showing what design template you're currently using so I can get some ideas of how my blog could look!

Have a nice weekend!

A good article on how to repair a toilet/commode

Actually, i hate it when people use the same word for a commode when in fact they actually mean a toilet. But, this is still a good article for anyone wanting to save a bit of cash, and fix their toilet themself without calling out an expensive plumber:

http://www.wikihow.com/Repair-a-Toilet-/-Commode

Invitation for my readers to write about their commodes

An idea I'd like to test with this blog, is inviting you the loyal reader, to write about commodes you have, purchased, plan to purchase or commodes you have seen out and about that have got your attention. The stories you write can be based on modern commodes or the French meaning of commodes - i.e. chest with drawers. I'd like to engage my readers a bit more, and add some more interesting content to the blog as well. I'm going to keep this invitation open until the 30th March, and there will be an Amazon voucher prize for the best submission. Please send your submissions via email, and keep images under 50K - Thanks: Email me

Designing a Commode

To look at the commode on first glance, its seems a relatively simple design, and too many extents and purposes it is. But when one bears in mind, the extreme functionality of the commode has to have: it has to be hygienic - easy to clean, the components must be strong and durable, ideally materials should be used that don't rust easily, components must be adjustable to suit the user and so on. The problem with many commodes is that many commodes are made up of several parts, with tough to remove joints, and this makes them harder to take apart for dismantling or cleaning.

However, the design council has addressed this problem with some of their latest designs of commodes:

http://www.designcouncil.org.uk/Design-Council/Files/Landing-pages/Design-Bugs-Out/Commode/

The fact that there are fewer touch points between the patient and the commode is a particular attractive feature that reduces cross infection of nasty germs and bacteria. Its good to see that there's always scope for improving existing modern designs of commodes in line with functionality and health and safety aspects as well.