Ep. 20: Elastic Force Cups (Plungers) - From Chocolate to Bathrooms
A Sticky History: The Rise of the Toilet Plunger (The Elastic Force Cup)
Let’s set the scene: it’s 7:00 AM, the coffee hasn’t kicked in, and you’re already elbow-deep in a two-pump plunge at work. Glamorous? No. Necessary? Yes. Welcome to another day in the glorious life of plumbing diplomacy.
The toilet plunger is one of the most humble yet heroic household tools. But this isn’t just any tale of poop-fighting plastic. Oh no. This is the history of the Elastic Force Cup—an invention with a backstory juicier than a Hershey bar left in a hot car.
The Man Behind the Plunge: John Hawley, Candy Tycoon
Before he was (almost) the Plunger King, John Hawley was just a guy trying to sling jewelry in Texas. But when the Civil War made things spicy, he yeeted himself out of Confederate territory, took a brief scenic route through Mexico, and ended up selling wood and mining in Nevada.
Eventually, he landed in New York and joined a candy company—because apparently life wasn’t random enough already. It was there, surrounded by sticky sweet goo and clogged confectionery drains, that Hawley had an epiphany:
“What if I made a suctiony thing to get rid of all this chocolate sludge clogging the pipes?”
And boom—The Elastic Force Cup was born in 1874. That's right: the first plunger wasn't even for poop. It was for fudge.
From Peppermints to Privies
Despite his Force Cup success, Hawley wasn't about to give up the sweet life. He went full Willy Wonka and reinvested his plunger fortune into candy. He and partner Herman Hoops (yes, Hawley and Hoops—how adorable) built one of the most successful candy companies of their time. Chocolate cigars, church donations, a boys' school, and even a building that later became a New York library. The man lived large.
And yet, for all this, he wanted nothing to do with plungers. He was a chocolate man, not a poop man.
How the Plunger Made It to the Toilet
The Elastic Force Cup began as a sink tool. For decades, “plungers” referred to drain stoppers, not the poop-pushers we know today.
That changed about 20 years later, when a modified version of Hawley’s device hit the market as “The Plumber’s Friend.” It wasn’t until the 1970s that the term “plunger” overtook “force cup” in popular usage.
So for the record:
Force Cup = Sink tool
Plumber’s Friend = Toilet unclogger
Plunger = Eventually what we all called it, despite decades of confusion
Plunger Etiquette: You Clog It, You Clear It
Let’s be clear: if you clog it, you plunge it. End of story.
Pro Tips:
Flat-bottom plungers = not for toilets. They’re made for sinks and tubs.
Toilet plungers = have a flanged, cone-like tip that creates a better seal in your toilet bowl.
Don’t use the handle to stir the bowl. It’s not a wooden poop whisk.
Always rinse your plunger. Swirl it in the bowl water or clean it outside—but for the love of hygiene, don’t drip-dry it across your house.
And yes, if your bathroom has an overflow drain, cover that sucker before you plunge your sink or you’ll create a soda fountain of shame.
Hunter’s Anecdotes to Keep You Afloats: The Dookie-Dipped Plunger
In a tale that belongs in a CSI: Bathroom Crimes Unit episode, Hunter once found a plunger with the handle—yes, the HANDLE—coated in... well, evidence. And let’s just say someone got intimately creative with it.
The result? A thoroughly disturbed janitor, a plunger locked away forever, and a plop-up mystery we’d all like to forget.
Final Flush
So next time you wield your trusty plunger like a battle axe against the dark arts of digestion, take a moment to honor John Hawley: the candy man turned silent sanitation hero.
He may have preferred bonbons to bowel movements, but his invention keeps the pipes flowing and our dignity intact.
Also, don’t forget to check the seat after you’ve done your business. No one wants to sit in your cheekprint sweat halo. Be a sweetie—wipe the seatie.
