THE ingenuity of the Scots has given the world inventions ranging from steam power to the television. Add the ordourless loo to the list.
Invented by Don Aitchison, it was formally unveiled yesterday at a special ceremony in Paisley.
Inspiration for this cutting-edge technology came to the 46-year-old from Inveraray in Argyll at a most convenient moment. He was sitting on the loo.
He was looking at the steam extractor fan he was intending to fit, and ''realised that could work to get rid of toilet smells.''
All it required was a way of sealing noxious smells in the bowl and extracting them with the fan. He has built a prototype and enlisted the help of Renfrewshire Enterprise in a bid to research and market his product.
He gave up his job as a steel erector in the Middle East to develop his design, known as the Virtually Odour Free Toilet system.
It works by making the seat airtight. Two vents at the back of the toilet then suck the smells out into a vent chamber through an extractor fan.
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