Quantcast
Who invented toilet paper and when? | Almanac.com

Who invented toilet paper and when?

Print Friendly and PDF
Who invented toilet paper and when?
Answer
The first commercially packaged bathroom tissue was produced in the United States in 1857 by Joseph Gayetty. It didn’t catch on, probably because it was sold in single sheets and people seemed quite happy to continue using their old catalogs and newspapers for this purpose. Another inventor in England created the first rolled toilet paper, but the English were such prudes that the product failed due to lack of advertising. Finally, Edward and Clarence Scott figured out the marketing and the roll concept, and in the 1880s ScotTissue was born.