Things You Never Knew You Needed: A Life-Saving Toilet




The "toilet snorkel," a device that, in the case of a fire, would allow the user to access (fresh?) air from the sewer.

In 1981, citing a rash of recent hotel fires as his impetus for the invention, William O. Holmes patented a device
that would attach to a toilet and allow trapped individuals to access fresh air.

Inserted through the water trap, the toilet snorkel permits hours of extra breathing time, preventing death
by smoke inhalation. A charcoal filter attached to the snorkel ensures that the air is free of toxic impurities.
Despite being an appropriate size for business travel, Holmes' device never caught on. A larger, less
travel-friendly device patented in 1990 by Timothy Mulcahy also failed to capture the public's attention.
This device, the "apparatus and method for breathing through the soil-stack during a high-rise fire",
employed a billows that mounted to the toilet bowl rim.
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