Urinal

A urinal is a specialized toilet designed to be used only for urination, not defecation, and almost always by a standing male. Advantages over a full-function toilet include: it is smaller, uses much less water, and the regular version is for regular adults at a convenient higher height.

It often contains a urinal cake contained within a plastic mesh guard container or a plastic mesh guard without a urinal cake. The plastic mesh guard is designed to prevent foreign solid objects such as cigarette butts or paper from being flushed and possibly causing a plumbing stoppage.

Urinal with urinal cake.

The term may also apply to a small building or other structure, in which such toilets are contained.

Flushing

Most (though not all) urinals incorporate a flushing system to rinse urine from the bowl of the device to avoid smells. The flush can be triggered by one of several methods:

Manual Handles

This type of flush might be regarded as standard in the United States. Each urinal is equipped with a button or short lever to activate the flush, with users expected to operate it as they leave. Such a directly-controlled system is the most efficient provided that patrons remember to use it. This is far from certain, however, often because of fear of touching the handle which is located too high to kick. (With toilets, users often kick the flush lever to avoid perceived or real possibilities of infection from touching it). Some establishments, often bars, pubs or nightclubs, fill their urinals with ice cubes during peak hours. As the ice melts it serves to slowly flush the urinal, and also cools the urine to prevent smells from rising during use. The ice may also provide entertainment to patrons as they urinate.

Timed Flush

In the UK, manual flush handles are unusual. Instead, the traditional system is a timed flush that operates automatically at regular intervals. Groups of up to ten or so urinals will be connected to a single overhead cistern, which contains the timing machanism. A constant drip-feed of water slowly fills the cistern, until a tripping point is reached, the valve opens, and all the urinals in the group are flushed. Electronic controllers performing the same function are also used.

This system does not require any action from its users, but it is wasteful of water where the toilets are used irregularly. However, because British men are so used to the automatic system, attempts to install manual flushes to save water are generally unsuccessful. Users ignore them not through deliberate laziness or fear of infection, but because activating the flush is not included in their mental routine.

Automatic Flush

Electronic automatic flushes solve the problems of both previous approaches, and are common in new installations. Active or (more usually) passive infra-red detectors identify when the toilet has been used, and activate the flush. Thus the urinal is cleaned where with a manual flush it might not have been, but water is not wasted when the toilet is not used.

Automatic flush facilities can be retro-fitted to existing systems. The handle-operated valves of a manual system can be replaced with a suitably-designed self-contained electronic valve, often battery-powered to avoid the need to add cables. Timed-flush installations may add a device that regulates the water flow to the cistern according to the overall activity detected in the room. This does not provide true per-fixture automatic flushing, but is simple and cheap to add because only one device is required for the whole system.

Waterless Urinals

A more recent innovation are urinals that do not use water at all. Sloan Valve Company has created the first urinal that does not use water but uses a cartridge filled with a special sealant liquid. The liquid floats on top of the urine collected in the U-bend, preventing smells from being released into the air. The cartridge and sealant must be periodically replaced, but the system does save water and can be installed in situations where providing a water supply may be difficult.

Waterless installations often include a label warning cleaning staff not to pour buckets of liquid into the urinal (to dispose of dirty mop water, for instance). A large influx of water would wash the sealant through the U-bend and down the drain, causing the urinal to smell until it were replaced.

Arrangement of urinals

Urinals are usually associated with a commercial, industrial, or high capacity men's washroom, where they are used, together with toilets, for high throughput capacity, as part of an efficiently designed washroom architecture. For this reason, one seldom finds an individual urinal. Instead, large numbers of them are installed along a common supply pipe and drain. Individual single-user facilities usually do not have a urinal, and instead have just one toilet.

Often, one or two of the urinals, typically at one end of a long row of urinals, will be mounted lower than the others, for use by boys and short men.

See also Public toilets.

Makeshift urinals

During the Korean War, Vietnam War, Operation Desert Storm etc., "piss tubes" were used as make-shift urinals. To make one, soldiers would affix an inverted water bottle on one end of a rigid tube, burying the other end. Removing the base of the bottle made a funnel which would be left at the proper height. Deposited urine simply soaked into the ground. When the area became saturated, the piss tube was relocated.

Urinals for women

Nearly all urinals are intended for use by males, but a few have been designed for use by women. From 1950 to 1973, the American Standard company offered the mass-produced "Sanistand." It did not provide significant advantages over conventional toilets, because it used just as much floor space and flushing water. Its main selling point was that women could use the fixture without touching it.

Several other designs have been tried since then, but they either required the user to hover awkwardly or to bring her genitals into close contact with the fixture. Most have not caught on.

More recently, models that use specialised funnels have been introduced, with some success, at outdoor events (where standard indoor plumbing might not be available), most recently at the Glastonbury Festival in Pilton, Somerset.

Urinals in the news

In early March of 2004 the National Organization for Women (NOW) took offense[1] (http://www.now.org/issues/media/031804virginatlantic.html) to the new urinals Virgin Atlantic Airways decided to install in the Virgin Atlantic clubhouse at JFK Airport in New York, New York. The urinals in question were shaped like an open pair of red lips photo (http://www.now.org/issues/media/urinal.gif). After receiving many angry phone calls from female customers Virgin Atlantic Vice President John Riordan called NOW to apologize. [2] (http://www.now.org/press/03-04/03-19.html). Ironically, the urinal in question was designed by a woman. The company that manufactures them is called Bathroom Mania! and also sell less offensive products including a flower pot shaped toilet and a hammock style bathtub.

Former Wham! lead singer George Michael was arrested for having sex with another man at a public restroom place. After that he couldn't deny being homosexual. His first single post-incident was "Outside" which had a music video with disco ball styled urinals.

External links

• Collection of urinals worldwide (http://www.urinal.net/) (eg at the South Pole)
• Marcel Duchamp: Fountain (http://www.sfmoma.org/collections/recent_acquisitions/ma_coll_duchamp.html) (about his 'found art' which is a signed urinal)
• Urinals for women (http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_255.html) from The Straight Dope.
• Urinals for women (http://www.restrooms.org/urinals.html) from restrooms.org.
• The Urinal Etiquette Test (http://www.drinknation.com/urinaltest.php) (amusing, urinal related game).
• Sloan Valve Company's Waterfree Urinals (http://www.sloanwaterfree.com)de:Urinal

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