How Toilet Paper is Made

toilet paper is probably the most indispensable item in your home after all it's not something you want to run out of at the wrong time most of us probably take our rolls of toilet paper for granted so you may be surprised to learn that bathroom tissue as it's properly called is a relatively new invention the Vikings used wool the ancient Romans employed sponges and French royalty wipe with lace then in 1857 an American entrepreneur figured that people had had enough of using leaves corn cobs newspapers and mail-order catalogs so he invented therapeutic paper as he so tastefully named it toilet paper only came in piles of pre-cut sheets until 1890 that's when one company introduced bathroom tissue on a roll ever wonder where all that recycled paper goes well look no further than your bathroom many brands of toilet paper begin as recycled paper the bales of paper drop down into the pulper a giant tank with an agitator similar to a washing machine it mixes the paper and lukewarm water for about 10 minutes transforming it into what's known as pulp and screening out all the bits of metal and plastic now they have to take out the ink the ink removal system injects the pulp with air in particles attached to the air bubbles which rise to the top the system then skims off the foam leaving the pulp ink free next the pulp passes through a series of rollers which squeeze out the water this dries out the soggy pump enabling it to absorb the chemicals they'll use to bleach it revolving knives now chop up the pulp to prepare it for the bleaching process the details of which are a closely guarded trade secret the bleach turns the gray pulp a pure white the company says it does this without using chlorine or other toxic chemicals they spread the wet palm onto a flat screen that runs through a hot dryer in less than a second the pulp dries into a delicate paper four thousandths of an inch thick each spool holds close to 47 miles of paper that's pool now feeds a machine with rollers that emboss a pattern in this case a waffle print the pattern isn't just aesthetic it also makes the paper thicker and therefore more absorbent elsewhere in the factory production is rolling so to speak with two strips of cardboard each three inches wide the machine coats the underside of the top strip with glue then winds the two strips diagonally to create a continuous cardboard tube the machine then cuts the tube in 65 inch lengths the tubes ride an elevator to the toilet paper zone their two giant spools of paper feed what's called the winding machine the two sheets come together to form a two-ply toilet paper the paper then winds onto a cardboard tube creating a super wide roll of toilet paper when the roll is full a blade automatically cuts the paper and winding resumes on the next two the machine automatically seals the end of the roll with glue to prevent unraveling a circular saw slices the super wide toilet paper roll into 16 standard rolls four inches wide the toilet paper is finished and ready for packaging this patch is for commercial use each roll is individually wrapped in paper check out this slow-motion rapping action toilet paper destined for residential use gets wrapped in transparent plastic for 230 rolls per package you

Channel: Luigi239

Views: 2,876,207

Rating: 4.781909 out of 5

Keywords: how, its, made, discovery, channel, toilet, paper

Id: wrg_6dny6Po

Length: 5min 48sec (348 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 26 2007