Professional plumbers in Adelaide usually curse toilet paper for clogging up drains. Many of their dirties jobs arise as a result of people stuffing copious amounts of toilet paper down the drain and expecting it to flush.
For regular people who don’t need to deal with these situations, toilet paper isn’t much of an issue. We use it on a regular basis and then go about our daily lives. Toilet paper only really becomes a concern when we are in a situation where we desperately need it. It is at these time when we don’t have access to toilet paper that we understand how important is in in our daily lives. This notion got me thinking about what it was like before toilet paper actually was invented. Not to be graphic, but obviously humans have always had the need for toilet paper.
Therefore, it makes me wonder what it was like back before we had toilet paper. After some research, it seems things were very primitive. Back in the cave man days, toilet paper was essentially anything you could grab, be it leaves or shrubs.
It was only until the invention of paper that the notion of toilet paper came about.The first record of toilet paper, as we loosely know it, was used back in 1391 in China. At this time, only royalty were blessed with these types of luxuries, so the first person to use toilet paper was the Chinese emperor. Unlike the toilet paper we are familiar with these days, the emperor’s toilet paper was crafted from 2ft x 3ft sheets.
By the 18th century in America, people still weren’t using toilet paper. Instead they used corncobs and leaves to wipe themselves. Thankfully, the invention of newspapers saw a softer option, with the Sears catalog and the Farmers almanac become popular. Over in France things were very different, with the French Royalty utilizing lace to relieve their royal derrieres.
It wasn’t until 1857 in America that the first package of toilet tissue was sold in the US. New Yorkers, Joseph Gayetty, who named the produce “Therapeutic Paper”, produced the product. Funnily enough, each sheet of paper has Joseph’s name emblazoned on it. At first, the paper served as a medical paper and featured aloe within the paper to help mend sores. A package of 500 sheets was sold for $0.50. In 1890, the Scott Paper Company introduced toilet paper on a roll in the US. It wasn’t long for this product to become the nation’s leading choice of toilet paper. By 1910, the Scott Paper Company built its own first manufacturing plant in Chester, where they began manufacturing large 72 inch sheets. For just $0.10 you could purchase a $1,000 sheets.
Continual advancements in the paper industry saw the toilet paper industry continue to evolve. In 1942, the St. Andrews Paper Mill in England introduced the 2 ply toilet paper, which brought welcome relief to bottoms. The toilet paper was much softer than the 1-ply variety. In 1954 a company called Northern introduced coloured toilet tissue and in 1955 the Scott Company began advertising it on TV.
By the 21st century, toilet paper is a product that we cannot live without, with the annual toilet paper sales exceeding $19 billion. With toilet paper experiencing such a massive evolution across the centuries, you wonder if there will be any more advances this century. Seinfeld’s, George Costanza famously said during an episode in the 90s, that toilet paper will continue to remain the same in the future. He said, “Take toilet paper for example. Do you realise that toilet paper has not change in my lifetime? It’s just paper on a cardboard roll, that’s it. And in ten thousand years, it will still be exactly the same because really, what else can they do?”
While this sentiment may seem true, considering the way toilet paper has evolved, who knows what the future holds for it. With technological advances, it’s difficult to say whether something some primitive will change. One thing for sure is, we will continue to overuse this luxury product, causing blockages that our Adelaide plumbers will be forced to fix. If you ever need a Plumber in Adelaide to fix a toilet paper blockage, be sure to call the professional team at Best Plumbing, or visit their website at http://bestplumbing.com.au/.
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