Sometimes I amaze myself on what I find while doing research for this column. There are many things we take for granted; yet we must realize that someone has to invent those items we regularly use, even though we really never think or talk about them. One of those items is toilet paper. Someone had to invent it, right? The average American uses 57 sheets of toilet paper a day or more than 20,805 sheets a year, and is a $2.4 billion dollar industry. That's a lot of sheet.

Seems like this little necessity has absorbed our interest for ages. Chinese emperors ordered toilet paper in 2 by 3 feet sheets as early as 1391 AD; The Bureau of Imperial Supplies produced 720,000 sheets of toilet paper a year! In America, New York's Joseph C. Gayetty manufactured the first packaged pre moistened sheets of toilet paper in 1857, which he called "therapeutic paper." Packs of 500 sheets were sold for 50 cents. He was so proud that his name was imprinted on each sheet (no jokes please). He advertised it as "The Greatest Necessity of the Age! GAYETTY'S Medicated Paper, FOR THE WATER-CLOSET." It contained aloe, but acceptance by the public was not smooth, nor immediate. Not everyone used the specially made toilet paper and alternatives competed cheek to cheek.

Many outhouses conveniently set aside a basket of leaves, or mussel shells; in rural areas, the soft porous pages of the Sears Catalog were ideal. In fact, when Sears went to color coated shiny paper, they received tons of complaints. Other innovative tools included discarded sheep wool, sponges, newsprint - you get the picture!

Manufacturers were reluctant to place their names on their products, nor was it a discussion topic at parties. People were discrete, as evident from a fan, known in the vernacular as "Madam's Double Utility Fan," found in a house dated 1785. It had a hidden compartment in the handle with 150 sheets of toilet paper cut to conform to the shape of the fan.

Marketing toilet paper on a roll is usually credited to the Scott Paper Company, in Philadelphia, founded by two brothers, E. Irvin and Clarence Scott, in 1879, and originally from Saratoga. The British Perforated Paper Company also sold toilet paper in 1880, but not on a roll. Instead, their rolled paper catered to barbers, in which they ripped off pieces to mop up razors. Scott Company was so embarrassed by its TP that they instead used the brand name "Waldorf," starting in 1902.

Of course I wouldn't be writing this piece unless I was going to unroll a local connection, right?

In 1871, the first U.S. patent for perforated wrapping paper was awarded to Seth Wheeler of Albany. The paper was wound into rolls and could easily be torn off at the perforations. Toilet paper was already manufactured in rolls; now only the step of perforation was needed in the production, either with a row of holes or short cuts.

Wheeler was born in Chatham on May 18, 1838, attended Albany Academy, and worked at his father's Wheeler, Melick & Co., one of the most important makers of agricultural implements. In 1871, he invented his perforated wrapping machine that also printed on each sheet as it left the roll. In 1874, he created the Rolled Wrapping Paper Company at 318 Broadway in Albany, but the company couldn't turn a profit, and in 1877, he reorganized into the Albany Perforated Wrapping Paper Company and began manufacturing his "Medicated Toilet Paper." In short, the toilet paper used today was an Albany, NY invention.

Flush with success, the charmin Wheeler did well and had over 100 patents. He also served as president of the Wheeler Heat and Power Company, was VP of the Cheney Piano Action Company of Castleton, and was president of the Albany County Savings Bank and director of the NYS bank. On April 3, 1860, he married Elizabeth Boyd and had three sons and two daughters. His sons worked with him in the paper company. APWP had offices in NY, Chicago, Boston, San Francisco, London, Paris, Berlin and Cologne. They owned over 100,000 acres in Nova Scotia.

If you think that I'm implying that this subject is frivolous, let me remind you of the 1973 toilet paper shortage scare. Johnny Carson cracked a joke about the United States facing an acute shortage of toilet paper. The next day viewers ran out to stores buying every roll in sight and begin hoarding them. Carson apologized the following day for causing the scare and retracted his quote, but people still horded their rolls. Let's face it; the thought of not having any two-ply is enough to scare the wits out of even the brawniest tough guy.