What is the history of toilet paper?

Question

did it have a specific inventor, or just evolve from the humble leaf?

Answer 1

Evidence seems to suggest that original material used in place of toilet paper ranged anywhere from leaves and sticks, to cobs of corn, or linen.  It is believed that although the earliest form of toilet paper on a roll wasn’t introduced until 1880, people made do with many various items that stemmed from their environments.  

Answer 2

The earliest toilet paper goes back to the year 1391 and was produced in China for the emporer's use. In 1857 Joseph Gayetty sold the first factory made toilet paper. In 1877 Seth Wheeler was the first to patent toilet paper after his rolled wrapping paper company was no longer a success. He then began selling perforated toilet paper on a roll.  

Answer 3

Well someone decided that walking around and having that ickey wickey feeling wasnt fun so they started to wipe and discovered the feeling went away so then they made TOILET PAPER! Thank god.

Answer 4

Joseph C. Gayetty of New York started producing the first packaged toilet paper in the U.S. in 1857.

Rolled and perforated toilet paper as we're familiar with today was invented around 1880.

Answer 5

i used to use 'news of the world' in the old days more pages lasted longer.hehe....?

Answer 6

In 1935, Northern Tissue advertised "splinter-free" toilet paper. Yep, you read that right; early paper production techniques sometimes left splinters embedded in the paper. And you thought you had it tough!

In 1942, St. Andrew's Paper Mill in Great Britain introduced two-ply toilet paper

Amnerica experienced its first toilet paper shortage in 1973.

The Virtual Toilet Paper Museum opened its virtual doors in 1999.  

Answer 7

Dont know, but what i do know is that before it came about people used to wipe using there left hand, thats why in tradition today we shake hands with the right hand........ no ****

Answer 8

Joseph C. Gayetty of New York started producing the first packaged toilet paper in the U.S. in 1857. But yes it did start out with stones, leaves, pine cones........ wow, wouldn't have sucked?

Answer 9

Although paper had been known as a wrapping and padding material in China since the 2nd century BC,[1] the first use of toilet paper in human history dates back to the 6th century AD, in early medieval China.[2] In 589 AD the scholar-official Yan Zhitui (531–591) wrote about the use of toilet paper:

Answer 10

Toilet Paper History:

Although paper had been known as a wrapping and padding material in China since the 2nd century BC, the first use of toilet paper in human history dates back to the 6th century AD, in early medieval China. In 589 AD the scholar-official Yan Zhitui (531–591) wrote about the use of toilet paper:

"Paper on which there are quotations or commentaries from Five Classics or the names of sages, I dare not use for toilet purposes".

During the later Tang Dynasty (618–907 AD) a Muslim Arab traveler to China in the year 851 AD remarked:

"They (the Chinese) are not careful about cleanliness, and they do not wash themselves with water when they have done their necessities; but they only wipe themselves with paper."

During the early 14th century (Yuan Dynasty) it was recorded that in modern-day Zhejiang province alone there was an annual manufacturing of toilet paper amounting in ten million packages of 1,000 to 10,000 sheets of toilet paper each. During the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644 AD), it was recorded in 1393 that 720,000 sheets of toilet paper (two by three feet in size) were produced for the general use of the Imperial court at the capital of Nanjing. From the records of the Imperial Bureau of Supplies (Bao Chao Si) of that same year, it was also recorded that for Emperor Hongwu's imperial family alone, there were 15,000 sheets of special soft-fabric toilet paper made, and each sheet of toilet paper was even perfumed.

Elsewhere, wealthy people used wool, lace or hemp for their ablutions, while less wealthy people used their hand when defecating into rivers, or cleaned themselves with various materials such as rags, wood shavings, leaves, grass, hay, stone, sand, moss, water, snow, maize husks, fruit skins, or seashells, and cob of the corn depending upon the country and weather conditions or social customs. In Ancient Rome, a sponge on a stick was commonly used, and, after usage, placed back in a bucket of saltwater.

The 16th century French satirical writer François Rabelais in his series of novels Gargantua and Pantagruel, discussing the various ways of cleansing oneself at the toilet, wrote that: "He who uses paper on his filthy bum, will always find his ballocks lined with scum", proposing that the soft feathers on the back of a live goose provide an optimum cleansing medium.

The Scott Brothers are often cited as being the first to sell rolled and perforated toilet paper, but unless they were doing so without a patent, the beginning of toilet paper and dispensers familiar in the 21st century is with Seth Wheeler of Albany, NY, who obtained several patents. The first of note is for the idea of perforating commercial papers (25 July 1871, #117355), the application for which includes an illustration of a perforated roll of paper. On 13 February 1883 he was granted patent #272369, which presented a roll of perforated wrapping or toilet paper supported in the center with a tube. Wheeler also had patents for mounted brackets that held the rolls. Under the name Albany Perforated Wrapping Paper Co., the product was manufactured as early as 1886 at their factory just north of downtown Albany.

In many parts of the world, especially where toilet paper or the necessary plumbing for disposal may be unavailable or unaffordable, toilet paper is not used. Cleansing is then performed with other methods or materials, such as water, for example using a bidet, rags, sand, leaves (including seaweed), corn cobs, animal furs, or sticks.

For more information on toilet paper go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toilet_pape...

Answer 11

589 AD: the first mentioning of toilet paper in China.

851 AD: the first foreign(Arab-Muslim) to confirm the use of toilet paper in China.

c. 1300 AD: first records of the massive amounts of toilet paper manufactured in China.

1391: 720 sheets of toilet paper produced in China for the Hongwu Emperor's court, while 15,000 special sheets were produced solely for the royal family. Sheets were approximately 60 cm × 90 cm.

1596: invention of the flushing toilet.

1710s: the bidet was invented. Although bidets gained popularity, toilet paper was still used by the majority.

1857: Joseph Gayetty sells first factory-made toilet paper (Gayetty's Medicated Paper) in the USA. These were loose, flat, sheets of paper, pre-moistened and medicated with aloe; each sheet has Gayetty's name printed on it. It sold at five hundred sheets for fifty cents and was known as Gayetty's Medicated Paper—"a perfectly pure article for the toilet and for the prevention of piles." An advertisement for Gayetty's Medicated Paper can be found here.

1871-1883: Seth Wheeler of Albany, NY, receives patents for rolled and perforated commercial paper (specifically including toilet paper) dispensed on tubes, and the brackets to hold them.

1877: The Albany Perforated Wrapping Paper Company of Albany, New York, established by Seth Wheeler, sells perforated toilet paper ("The Standard"). It is sold "by all the leading druggists" and is not medicated. It is marketed as being free of "all deleterious substances" which includes printed materials and chemicals "incident to the ordinary process of manufacture (which is) a cause of hemorrhoids." In addition, medicated toilet paper which is "heavily charged with ointment" was offered for "sufferers of hemorrhoids."

mid 1880s: The A. P. W. P. Co. now has patents for the toilet paper roll that would become the standard, and establishes a new factory in Albany, NY for their production.

later 19th century: Scott Paper Company sells toilet paper on a roll, although initially they do not print their company name on the packaging. Toilet paper was sold under the name of various industrial customers, including the Waldorf Hotel, which led to the popular Waldorf brand of toilet paper.

1888: The phrase "toilet paper" first appears in the New York Times.[4]

1900: plumbing improvements of the Victorian era have led to wide use of flushing toilet and (in Europe) the bidet.

1935: Northern Tissue advertises its toilet paper as "splinter-free".[ who? ]

1942: first two-ply toilet paper from St. Andrew's Paper Mill in England; toilet paper becomes softer and more pliable. For most of the rest of the twentieth century, both "hard" and "soft" paper was common. Hard was cheaper, and was shiny on one side. Sometimes it had messages like "GOVERNMENT PROPERTY", "IZAL MEDICATED" or "NOW WASH YOUR HANDS PLEASE" written on each sheet near the perforation. Eventually soft paper won out as the price differential between the two papers vanished. Hard paper is seldom seen these days in UK, but is still available.

1943: novelty toilet paper printed with images of Adolf Hitler. (Note: The use of toilet paper of any type in wartime Britain was officially discouraged due to paper shortages. The widespread use of newspaper for this purpose was revived and one government propaganda newsreel suggested that anyone finding n**i propaganda leaflets dropped from planes should use them for this purpose.)

1964: Procter and Gamble introduces a fictitious Mr. Whipple, a grocer who begins admonishing customers, “Please don’t squeeze the Charmin!”[5]

December 19, 1973: comedian Johnny Carson causes a three week toilet paper shortage in the USA after a joke scares consumers into stockpiling supplies.

1980: the paperless toilet invented in Japan (combination toilet, bidet and drying element, see Japanese toilet)

1990s: papers containing ingredients like aloe begin to be heavily marketed in the USA.

2000s: toilet paper is commonly available in hundreds of different designs, colors, and prints.

Answer 12

proffessor botoms up.....

Answer 13

Lol lol lmao lol. Why? Why would you want to know that? Who-ever invented toilet paper is a GOD.