- Regardless of extra features, all toilet seats share the same common oval shape. They are equipped with a hinged lid and the seat itself is attached to the hinge. This gives the user two options while using the toilet; either using the seat or putting it up and leaving only the rim exposed. There is the ability to close the toilet completely when you are done using it. Seats are most commonly made of wood, porcelain or plastic.
- The split in the toilet seat came into circulation as early as the 1940s and became widely used by businesses and other commercial outlets worldwide. It was actually enforced as a required feature for all public restroom fixtures as per the Uniform Plumbing Code Section 409.2.2. The only exceptions allowed for any toilets to be installed without a split in the front of the seat are those in people's homes, hotel rooms or dorm rooms. That is why there is generally a discrepancy between home and public toilet seats.
- There are a few theories as to the actual purpose of the split, and according to the Toilet Museum, both pertain to sanitary reasons. The first idea is that the split offers a standing male the opportunity to lift the seat and expose the rim without having to interrupt his stream. The second hypothesis claims that the actual reason for the split is so that if a man does not lift the seat at all, any subsequent urine or splash will not land directly on the seat itself but on the lip of the rim. Toilet seats that have a split in the front are called open front seats and are also supposed to offer a more comfortable seating option.
- Because both ideas concern only the men, one may wonder why the seats in women's bathrooms also have a split in the front. Despite the fact that it is an American law to have bathrooms for both genders outfitted with an open toilet seat, this is also most likely done because during production it is easier to keep things all alike and have a general production procedure. It is most likely simply out of convenience that the women's seats also have a split. Additionally, it is more cost effective to mass produce the same product to a particular shipment site instead of issuing two different styles. The prices of both a toilet seat that has a split and one that doesn't are very comparable if they are both similar make, style and made of the same materials.
- Being that the age-old war of putting the seat up and down after a man uses the toilet is ongoing, it does heed well that there is at least a split in the front. If you believe in either of the theories, they both protect women and the seat of the toilet from sitting on any urine left by a "lazy" male. While this doesn't always mean that the seat will be left down when the next woman uses it, at least she will have the peace of mind knowing it is only the seat she will be left sitting on.
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