TOILET PAPER-History Of World's Most Popular Product

Toilet Paper is the world's most popular product. People haven’t always used toilet paper. In fact, most Americans used things like corncobs (yikes), moss (ew), and pages torn from catalogs and books (ow). Buying paper just for bathroom use seemed silly.

In the 6th century AD, in China the use of paper for hygiene purposes has been recorded. These specially manufactured toilet papers were being mass produced in the 14th century. In the 19th century modern commercial toilet paper originated, with a patent for roll-based dispensers being made in 1883. Toilet papers are called with different names like "bog roll","toilet roll", "dunny roll/paper","bathroom/toilet tissue","TP","arsewipe","shit tickets" (used informally by soldiers of the United States Army), and also simply "tissue".

Joseph Gayetty

Joseph Gayetty is widely credited with being the inventor of modern commercially available toilet paper in the United States. Gayetty's paper, first introduced in 1857, was available as late as the 1920s.Gayetty's Medicated Paper was sold in packages of flat sheets, watermarked with the inventor's name. Original advertisements for the product used the tagline "The greatest necessity of the age! Gayetty's medicated paper for the water-closet".

A different advertisement, also printed in 1859, says his business was located at 41 Ann Street, and he was selling 1,000 sheets for one dollar.

Availability

Toilet papers are available in several types of papers,a variety of patterns,decorations,and textures, and it may be moistened or perfumed.  Fragrances sometimes cause problems for users who are allergic to perfumes. The average measures of a modern roll of toilet paper is ~10 cm (3 15/16 in.) wide, ø 12 cm (4 23/32 in.) and weighs about 227 grams (8 oz.). An alternative method of packing the sheets uses interleaved sheets in boxes, or in bulk for use in dispensers. 'Hard' single ply paper has been used as well as soft multi-ply.  In the United States the toilet paper sheet was sized 4 1/2" x 4 1/2".

Improvisation

Colored toilet paper in colors such as pink, lavender, light blue, light green, purple, green, and light yellow  was commonly sold in the United States from the 1960s. Today, in the United States, plain unpatterned colored toilet paper has been mostly replaced by patterned toilet paper, normally white, with embossed decorative patterns or designs in various colors and different sizes depending on the brand. Colored toilet paper remains commonly available in some European countries.

In 1890, brothers Clarence and E. Irvin Scott came up with the idea of making one long sheet of paper attached to a roll. But in those days, talking about bathroom business was a big no-no. In fact, the Scotts were so embarrassed by their own invention that they didn’t take credit for it until 1902.

In the 1900s, indoor plumbing and flush toilets became common in homes. In the 1900s, indoor plumbing and flush toilets became common in homes. Suddenly, people needed a product that wouldn’t clog their toilets. In 1928, the Hoberg Paper Company began selling Charmin brand toilet paper. The package gave no mention of the product’s actual purpose. Charmin was an immediate success!

Before long, Americans couldn’t imagine life without toilet paper. Today, we spend $6 billion on it each year. It’s safe to say that the toilet paper business is on a roll.