Rolling Out Toilet Paper

 By Suzanne Norquist

Before toilet paper was a commodity on store shelves, someone invented it. Patents were issued, marketers developed strategies, and legal battles were fought. However, because bathroom time is private, no one celebrated the inventors. Little is known about most of them. The timeline for toilet paper’s major milestones is ambiguous and contains conflicting information.

To begin, I’ll offer a nod to the ancient Chinese people, who invented the first version of just about everything. In the fourteenth century, they manufactured millions of packages of perfumed toilet paper sheets for wealthy families, including the Hongwu Emperor’s imperial family.

Even so, most of the world didn’t use specialized paper for this purpose until the late 1800s and early 1900s, when the Industrial Revolution and indoor plumbing created new products and needs.

In the 1800s, steam-driven paper-making machines lowered the cost of paper and increased its supply. As a result, manufacturers and salesmen found new uses for it.

In 1857, Joseph Gayetty marketed “Medicated Paper for the Water Closet”. He infused sheets with aloe and other remedies, creating a premium product. He touted it as healthier because it wasn’t covered in ink like old newspapers or catalogs.

Not much is known about Mr. Gayetty. Census records indicate he may have been born in 1817 or 1827 in Massachusetts or Pennsylvania. By the time he started selling medicated paper, he had a wife and five children (one who later took over the business).

Some in the medical community called him a quack, but that didn’t seem to affect sales.

At one point, B.T. Hoogland's Sons filed a lawsuit against the company for trademark infringement related to an unpaid debt. Gayetty’s company won. A couple of other similar lawsuits followed. However, the medicated toilet paper continued to be distributed for several decades.

Timelines overlap around the 1880s, with three prominent paper companies and inventors selling similar products. This is about the time flush toilets came on the scene, requiring paper that wouldn’t clog the pipes. Before this, the masses didn’t see a need to purchase a specialty item when they already had a free supply of old newspapers, catalogs, and Farmer’s Almanacs. 

Around 1880, the British Perforated Paper Company marketed boxes of toilet paper in individual squares. However, their biggest market was to barbers for wiping shaving cream off of razors. Walter Alcock purchased the company and added perforated toilet paper rolls to the line-up. Some sources credit him as being their inventor.

Around that same time, the Scott brothers founded the Scott Paper Company, which sold squares and rolls. Edward Irvin Scott, who had been a school teacher, joined one of his brothers in a paper business. In 1867, they sold butcher paper from pushcarts. When that venture failed, he and his other brother opened a new company that sold paper bags, wrapping paper, and such (including toilet paper). They built a manufacturing plant in Pennsylvania.

This 1885 advertisement from the Rocky Mountain News shows toilet paper for sale as tissue, in plain rolls, or in perforated rolls. It also offers fixtures for rolled toilet paper with or without a cutter.

In the beginning, the Scott brothers marketed the paper to other businesses to sell under their own brand, avoiding the delicate subject of bathroom habits. They customized rolls by varying things like the size and weight of the paper and adding private labels.

In 1896, Irvin Scott’s son, Arthur, changed the marketing to build a national brand, known for consistent quality.

Meanwhile, in New York, Seth Wheeler, the son of an agricultural equipment manufacturer, dabbled in paper manufacturing. In 1871, he patented a machine to make perforated, rolled wrapping paper, then organized a company to produce it.

He later received several patents for perforated, rolled toilet paper, the holders, and the machinery to produce it.

He even created a tiny pocket- or purse-sized roll of toilet paper known as the “Wheeler Pocket Companion.”

He filed a lawsuit when the Morgan Envelope Company tried to patent a similar roll that was oval instead of round. Wheeler won that suit. The courts said the shape wasn’t sufficiently different to justify a separate patent.

Although the paper didn’t change much over the years, advertising did. In 1928, Charmin added a feminine logo and touted its product as being soft.

In the 1930s, Northern Bathroom tissue advertised its product as “splinter-free.” Yikes. Does that imply that previous products contained splinters? The answer isn’t clear.

Double-layered rolls were introduced in 1942.

Not much has changed since then. Cost has come down, and every modern building keeps a supply, but no one mentions the men who brought it to us.

So, the next time you decide to drape it over someone’s house on Halloween, remember the unsung heroes of toilet paper’s history.

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Love In Bloom 4-in-one collection

“A Song for Rose” by Suzanne Norquist

Can a disillusioned tenor convince an aspiring soprano that there is more to music than fame?

“Holly & Ivy” by Mary Davis

At Christmastime, a young woman accompanies her impetuous younger sister on her trip across the country to be a mail-order bride and loses her heart to a gallant stranger.

“Periwinkle in the Park” by Kathleen E. Kovach

A female hiking guide, who is helping to commission a national park, runs into conflict with a mountain man determined to keep the government off his land.

“A Beauty in a Tansy”

Two adjacent store owners are drawn to each other, but their older relatives provide obstacles to their ever becoming close.

Republished from Bouquet of Brides

Buy links: https://books2read.com/u/bOOx8K

https://www.amazon.com/Love-Bloom-Mary-Davis/dp/B0FPLFYCXR/

  

Suzanne Norquist is the author of two novellas. Everything fascinates her. She has worked as a chemist, professor, financial analyst, and even earned a doctorate in economics. Research feeds her curiosity, and she shares the adventure with her readers. She lives in New Mexico with her mining engineer husband and has two grown children. When not writing, she explores the mountains, hikes, and attends kickboxing class.