July 17 2017
From a toilet paper wedding dress contest to the problem of toilet paper in space stations; from asbestos paper to toilet roll thefts in hotels: 10 paper curiosities from the strange to the ridiculous.
- According to several historical sources, Ts’ai Lun invented toilet paper in China in 105 AD
- Astronauts use toilet paper and then… it is pressed and sealed
- The first modern toilet paper was launched on 8 December 1857 by Joseph C. Gayetty. It was presented as a medical product (called “Medicated paper”) and contained an additive still widely used today: Aloe Vera
- The sale of fire-resistant paper based on asbestos began on 6 October 1869; the Papal State claimed ownership and used it to draft its most important documents
- The first and second drafts (1776) of the United States Declaration of Independence were written on paper made from hemp fiber
- The toilet roll appeared for the first time in 1876; up until then, toilet paper was sold in individual sheets
- The artist Tim Youd rewrites entire novels on a single A4 sheet; with an old typewriter, he prints the same sheet countless times
- The world’s largest piece of hand-made paper was made in Japan on 19 August 2009; it measured 13.9 m x 6.9 m
- Every year, New York holds a Toilet Paper Wedding Dress Contest
- 7% of hotel customers steal toilet paper…