The Screw-down water tap

was patented in 1845 by Guest and Chrimes, a brass foundry in Rotherham and the S-bend pipe was invented by Alexander Cummings in 1775 but became known as the U-bend following the introduction of the U-shaped trap by Thomas Crapper in 1880. All crucial to our water sanitation and were devised as a result of a growing population and resulting disease such as cholera.

The lowly tap; something we take for granted yet use every single day, expecting clean water to come out of it and dirty to wash (and stay) away!