Toilet Paper and Its History
People often take toilet paper for granted. Think about the
alternatives. Toilet paper has not been on Earth forever. Before toilet
paper was invented, cave people had to help themselves to what
nature provided. Learning about toilet paper will help in appreciating
the little things in life.
To better understand toilet paper, knowing the definition is
essential. Toilet, or toilette, is of French origin meaning "the act of
washing, dressing, and preparing oneself." In modern days toilet
refers to the plumping fixture one might use in the bathroom. Tissue
is a term indicating a class of papers of characteristic gauzy texture,
in some cases, fairly transparent. But before this handy little product
was invented, what did people use? The Romans wiped with a sponge.
The French royalty used lace to wipe their bottoms. Corncobs and
leaves are what early Americans used. The Vikings used discarded
wool. Eskimos used snow and tundra moss. People on the Hawaiian
Islands used the shells from coconuts. It is no wonder when Scott
Paper Company put paper on a roll, the world changed.
This small but great invention became a worldwide success.
Irvin and Clarence Scott produced the first toilet paper. The business
was small and grew into a worldwide phenomenon. America is the
worlds leading producer and consumer of toilet paper. The United
States toilet paper market is worth $2.4 billion a year. Americans use
fifty-seven sheets of toilet paper a day and more than twenty thousand
eight hundred and five sheets a year. The number of days a standard
size roll of toilet tissue usually last is five days in an American home.
The typical size of a sheet is four and a half inches by four and a half
inches. The Pentagon uses, on average, about six hundred and fifty
rolls of toilet tissue a ...