September 15 In Patent History

It turns out that the roll-style toilet paper that we all buy was granted on September 15, 1891, as patent number US456516A. Seth Wheeler was credited with the invention and later assigned the rights to the patent to the Albany Perforated Wrapping Paper Company.

In Wheeler’s improved patent for toilet paper, he described the idea of perforated toilet paper on a roll. In the words of the patent the sheets are “partially separated, having their points of attachment arranged in a novel manner, whereby each sheet will easily Separate from the series as it is drawn from the roll, there being no litter occasioned, and any Waste of paper is thereby prevented.”