Hygiene is the most important factor of preventive measures aimed at preserving health. In the XIX century, in Europe and in Russia, great importance was attached to hygienic measures and they began to say that it was almost a panacea for all diseases.
This was due to the spread of dangerous epidemics in the world.
So, in the highest circles living in mansions and palaces, such items as flea traps, mosquito repellents, dust cleaning machines were common.

Throughout the 19th century, foreign travelers indignantly described spitting Americans. Back in the first half of the 20th century, spittoons, judging by the literature, stood in all public buildings, on trains and on steamboats.
Langston Hughes's poem "Copper Spittoons" serves as a monument to that era.
The English agent Bruce Lockhart in his memoirs mentions the American ambassador to Russia (apparently David Francis), who carried everywhere with him a portly spittoon with a lid that opened by pressing the pedal.

At the end of the 19th century, spittoons were commonplace in places such as pubs, brothels, salons, hotels, shops, banks, railroad cars and other places where people (especially adult men) gathered, especially in the United States, but allegedly also in Australia.

Spittoons have a flat bottom that is often weighted to minimize overturning and often have an inner "lip" to reduce the chance of spilling in the event of overturning.

Some have lids, but this is rare.
Some have holes, sometimes with a plug, to facilitate draining and cleaning.
The use of spittoons was considered an achievement of public order and health, intended to replace the previously common spitting on floors, streets and sidewalks. In many places, laws have been passed prohibiting public spitting anywhere other than a spittoon.

Public spittoons sometimes contain an antiseptic solution (such as carbolic acid) in order to limit the transmission of the disease.
Since the beginning of the 20th century, doctors have encouraged tuberculosis patients to use personal pocket spittoons instead of public ones; these were jugs with tight lids into which people could carry them to spit.
Similar devices are still used by some patients with chronic and severe forms of tuberculosis.

After the 1918 flu epidemic, supporters of "high-society etiquette" began to neglect the public use of spittoons and their use began to decline.
Chewing gum has replaced tobacco as the favorite chewing of the younger generation. Cigarettes were considered more hygienic than chewing tobacco, which causes saliva.
Although back in the 1930s it was possible to see spittoons in some public places in the USA, a huge number of old copper spittoons met their end.

This eventually became a source of ridicule in the media outside of China. And in response to this, spittoons have mostly been removed from public places in China since the late 1980s.
In May 2015, the "Spittoon Collective" emerged, perhaps the largest English-language literary collective in China. They publish Spittoon, a literary magazine.

The floor spittoon is an indispensable attribute of the cognac tasting room, every tasting place is equipped with it. After all, tasters, as you know, do not drink cognac. "We evaluate the bouquet, tastes and aftertaste, roll on the tongue, and, having rolled, aristocratically spit out."
However, even this is sometimes not enough. Many professional tasters will confirm that even by the quality of the entries in the evaluation sheet, it is easy to determine in what sequence the wines were tasted, if there were a significant number of them. And in such a situation, only such tactics (using a spittoon) is the only way not to lose your professional capacity.

For general use in the premises, a closed Pomortsev spittoon is used — an enameled cup with a capacity of 500 ml on a high (about 1 m) tripod - the flat lid opens automatically when the foot is pressed on the pedal.
Open spittoons are not hygienic and should not be used. Spittoons came into widespread use after Koch's work on the causative agent of tuberculosis.

Spittoons are divided into pocket, desktop and spittoons for public use.
On the streets of big cities, in parks, squares, they are replaced by bins for cigarette butts and paper.

In recent years, desktop and pocket spittoons, stamped from waterproof waxed paper pulp, have become widespread.Paper spittoons are burned together with the contents, which greatly simplifies the care of patients and ensures aseptic sputum destruction.

In order to disinfect sputum, 5-10% lysoform solution, 1-2% potassium permanganate solution, etc. are usually poured into glass and metal spittoons. If steam sterilization of sputum or burning it with sawdust or peat is impossible, for which special furnaces are arranged in large medical institutions, then sputum removal into the sewer can be allowed.

In some sanatoriums for tuberculosis patients abroad, room and corridor spittoons are connected by a network of pipes with a special collector, where all sputum is washed off with a jet of water, which is disinfected with superheated steam and then removed into the general sewer system.

An ordinary can of colorless glass can be adapted as a spittoon, but it is necessary to make a lid for it (made of cardboard or thick paper).
15-30 ml of turpentine is poured into the spittoon, which, floating on the surface of the sputum, prevents the spread of odor. For the same purpose, a strong solution of potassium permanganate can be used.

For disinfection, the spittoon is boiled in an alkali solution for at least 1 hour or immersed in a 10% solution of bleach for 1 day.
Before collecting sputum for examination in a glass spittoon, it should be washed clean and filled with a small amount of water so that the sputum does not stick to the bottom and to the walls of the spittoon.

The product will significantly protect those who are in public transport, shopping malls, on the street and those who are engaged in the disposal and cleaning of streets.
It is advisable to use this product at home while caring for patients to reduce the risk of infection of family members