00:00What is the History of Paper Towels?
00:03The history of paper towels is one of serendipity stemming from a
00:06problem the size of a railroad car.
00:09The Scott Paper Company in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was already
00:12established as a leading producer of toilet tissue by 1907.
00:17In that year, the president of Scott Paper, Arthur Scott, received
00:21some distressing news from the railroad docks.
00:25An entire railroad car was filled with paper that was simply too
00:28thick to be used as toilet tissue, or for any other purpose for that
00:32matter.
00:34Scott pondered the fate of this unusable paper, then recalled a local
00:38newspaper article from 1879 about a Philadelphia teacher who issued
00:42sections of soft paper to her students as a substitute for the single
00:46cloth towel used communally in the school's bathroom.
00:50She hoped that individual students use the paper one time and dispose
00:54of it properly.
00:56Scott determined that the unusable paper in the railroad could be cut
00:59into individual sections and sold as an alternative to the cloth towels
01:03commonly used in households.
01:06The Scott Paper Company sold these paper towels under the brand name
01:10Sani Towels Har to emphasize their hygienic advantages over germ-filled
01:15cloth towels.
01:18The original paper towels were not an instant success with consumers,
01:22however.
01:23The familiar perforated rolls of paper towels would not be introduced
01:27on grocery store shelves until 1931.
01:31Most paper towels marketed today contain at least two layers of paper
01:35pressed together, but more absorbent brands may have three or more
01:39layers.
01:40The first paper towels were often bleached white to emphasize their
01:44clean and sanitary nature, but manufacturers eventually began to print
01:48distinctive patterns on the paper to improve their aesthetic appeal.
01:53Other improvements include adding more surface area through embossed
01:57designs and varying the length between perforations to allow users to
02:01choose the amount of paper toweling needed for a particular task.
