Wikipedia's facts - plumbing
Plumbing is any system that conveys fluids for a wide range of applications. Heating and cooling, waste removal, and potable water delivery are among the most common uses for plumbing however plumbing's not limited to these applications.1 Plumbing utilizes pipes, valves, plumbing fixtures, tanks, and other apparatuses to convey fluids.2 Trades that work with plumbing such as boilermakers, plumbers, and pipefitters are referred to the plumbing trade. In the Developed world plumbing infrastructure is critical for public health and sanitation.34
The word derives from the Latin plumbum for lead, as the first effective pipes used in Roman era were lead pipes.
Źródło: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plumbing
Types of plumber's snakes
Hand auger / hand spinner
Hand augers are useful for clearing sink and bathtub drains. They are unsuitable for sending through flush toilets, because the wire might damage the bowl; also, flush toilets have relatively large drain pipes in which the narrow snake can be become tangled. (A 1?4-inch cable, for example, should never be used in a drain with a calibre of more than two inches.)
Closet auger / toilet auger
The closet auger (named after water closet) feeds a relatively short auger through a hook-shaped length of metal tubing. The hook shape makes it easier to feed the auger into the toilet. A plastic boot on the end of the auger protects the finish of the visible porcelain. Since most toilet clogs occur in the trap built into the bowl, the short cable is sufficient to break up or retrieve the greater majority of clogs.
Drum augers
A drum auger is a motorized auger with modular blades designed for various gauges of pipe. A drum auger is powerful enough to cut through tree roots. Used unskillfully, they can also damage plastic pipework and even copper tubing.
Roto-Rooter
Main article: Roto-Rooter
The Roto-Rooter is an electric auger invented in 1933 by Samuel Blanc, an American. His wife called the invention a Roto-Rooter, because the cable and blades rotated as they cut through tree roots inside sewer pipe. Competing companies made imitations after the Blanc's patent expired in 1953, but the machine is manufactured by and for a United States company called the Roto-Rooter Plumbing & Drain Service.
Źródło: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plumber%27s_snake
About the word
The word "plumber" dates from the Roman Empire. The Latin for lead is plumbum. Roman roofs used lead in conduits and drain pipes and some were also covered with lead, lead was also used for piping and for making baths.5 In medieval times anyone who worked with lead was referred to as a plumber as can be seen from an extract of workmen fixing a roof in Westminster Palace and were referred to as plumbers "To Gilbert de Westminster, plumber, working about the roof of the pantry of the little hall, covering it with lead, and about various defects in the roof of the little hall".6 Thus a person with expertise in working with lead was first known as a Plumbarius which was later shortened to plumber.
Źródło: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plumber