This was, of course, from George Edward Washer, the godfather of modern plumbing,who used protions of his leather waistcoat in order to join pipes togetehr without leaks when under pressure to complete a plumbing job. George was known for the high quality of his work, and the almost complete lack of leaks. Later his invention was used for taps and other devices requiring a total closure

I think it was actually an 11th century German monk, Meinhoff Wascher, who discovered the value of applying tightly woven alfalfa stalks to the insides of reeds he was piecing together to conduct water from the stream near his abbey. As the water coursed through the reeds, it caused the stalks to expand, tightening the seal, and preventing leaks. Being a practical man, Wascher wrote this down and tucked it into his effects. Upon his death, Meinhoff's few possessions were given to a relative, who kept that at his estate. They passed from generation to generation, until, in 1462, Johannes Guttenberg came into possession. No, he did not put the secret into the bible he printed on his press. But when he lost his press and all his possessions to debtors, Fra Wascher's papers were among them. It did eventually find its way into print, and quickly the rather abundent leather was substituted for the tedious alfalfa stalks.

This was, of course, nothing to do with taps. Except that screw threads are "tapped" onto the stock used to make bolts etc.

The "washer" comes form the old blacksmith's question "Whatcher gonna put there?" which was corrupted to "Washer gonna put there?", hence "washer."

The word derives from the Latin "uiscus" (plural: uiscera), which means "entrails" because in earlier times the material for making the "washer" was made from the dried entrails of animal carcasses. During the centuries the "i" attenuated into "a", thus "viscus" became "washer".

The true definition of "washer" can be found by inspection the Allegorical Dictionary Of Definitions, published by Joseph Mayhap, ISBN 0 20345 78 62. "Washer," it says "Is the term derived from the skin of an eel returning fromits spawning grounds. The skin becomes tough enough to be used to seal the joints in a pipe, or to seal a faucet." Now this is interesting. It goes on to describe the reason that the shim of metal is called a washer being a simple "sahpe similarity". What it doe snot explain is why the eel skin is called a washer, per se.

The correct and original name for the flat ring is: watcher. This name describes the function of this component, which is to prevent a screw from loosen. The change of the name is due to the fact that craftsmen always have a screw between the teeth, which gives them free hands for their work on the one hand and makes them lisp on the other hand. When in 1928 the authors of modern thesauri came across the land and asked for the names of all the things that were around, it was simply a misunderstanding, that made a 'washer' out of a 'watcher'.

As usual, my dear friend Iomfats did not do his research. George Edward stole the idea entirely from his adoptive uncle, Heironymus Wausker, a little known genius of the prior generation. As a result, George Edward Washer lived a life of wealth and ease, whereas his uncle, of whom he took such unseemly advantage, lived in penury and died in obscurity.

One of my University tutors, who was a bit of a philologist, told me some years ago that 'washer' was one of his favourite words because its origin was so bizarre. It appears that one Richard Allcock Bickerstaffe, a gentleman scientist and traveller born in the 1790s, spent a good deal of time in Russia. He introduced a number of Russian engineering practices to England, one of which was the hard washer. Leather seals had been known since Roman times, but they had a limited life. Russian engineers had developed a seal made from leather which had been dried, heated to a high temperature and cooled rapidly. Such seals absorbed moisture readily and expanded rapidly, forming a perfect join which would survive intact for many years. Bickerstaffe introduced the idea as the 'Russia Seal', and it rapidly gained popularity among the English plumbing fraternity. The bizarre aspect is that Bickerstaffe had a speech impediment - the not uncommon problem of pronouncing his R's. Hence he pronounced 'Russia Seal' as 'Wussia Seal', and 'Wussia' - originally a rather cruel nickname - became the universal name for the device.

Geez the world is full of ignorant humans - everybody knows that the device in question was invented by a duck in order to keep our web feet dry, and our poop tanks full for future bombardments on humans - as to the pronounciation well unless you speak duckese you wouldn'd understand.