Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Mechanized Public Toilet


Jerusalem has a number of these strange-looking "capsules."  The toilet automatically flushes whenever the door is opened, when someone enters and when he/she leaves. 

When inside I can't figure out how it "locks me in."  How does it know that someone is in or it's empty?  You need to press a button to unlock the door to get in and do the same to get out.  I'm always afraid that someone will press open and enter.

This one is on King George Street, in Gan Atzma'ut, Independence Park.

6 comments:

Jennifer in MamaLand said...

Do you have to put in money? I guess this is the way of the future. We got ONE automated pay toilet this year, to much hooplah. Apparently, it offers helpful instructions and gives you a 20 minute time limit... no idea what happens after that!

Batya said...

It's free, which I should have mentioned.

rickismom said...

In the mall near Bnai Brak the toilets doen't have automated locks, but they do flush automatically, including if you lean a bit forward (while sitting).
True, they are a lot cleaner than most public toilets, but as it often flushes when NOT needed, I just grieve over the kinneret's way-below-the-red-line water level....

Batya said...

good point
It flushed fully when I entered and when I left, and all that was needed was a half-flush.

Hadassa said...

Shalom!
My deduction: It "knows" when it's occupied because of the number of times that the door is opened. One time is someone entering, the second is someone leaving etc. Of course if my deduction is correct then if someone opens the door but doesn't enter, then the count is off and someone might be in for a nasty surprise.

Batya said...

I felt very nervous because of the "anytime door open flush." It seemed pretty dumb. It should have known to flush only when someone left.