In which year did Seth Wheeler patent the toilet roll?

Seth Wheeler (8 May 1838 – 25 May 1925) of Chatham, Columbia County, New York, USA, is arguably the world’s premier inventor of toilet paper and associated apparatus. Although the Chinese had been using paper for personal sanitary purposes since the sixth century, modern commercial toilet paper was developed only in the 19th century.

In 1857, Joseph Gayetty produced the first commercially available toilet paper in the United States. His product was sold as a medical product, but did not sell well and Gayetty ceased production. Brothers Edward, Clarence and Thomas Scott, began selling some kind of toilet paper in sheets from a pushcart in Philadelphia in 1867. As with Gayetty, this paper was not a big seller; there was initially resistance to paying for something that people were used to getting for free – yesterday’s newspaper.

In 1871, Seth Wheeler received the first US patent for a machine able to manufacture perforated, rolled, wrapping paper; the patent also mentioned that this wrapping paper machine could process manufactured rolled, perforated toilet paper. This provided the breakthrough for Wheeler ‘s further developments in personal hygiene products; among these is US Patent 459,516 (15 September 1891) for "Toilet-Paper Roll." The diagram included in the patent (pictured) shows that the end should be outside, away from the wall.