Paper towel

A roll of paper towels on a wooden stand

A paper towel (also called kitchen roll or the kitchen paper) is an absorbent textile made from paper instead of cloth. Unlike cloth towels, paper towels are disposable and intended to be used only once. Paper towels soak up water because they are loosely woven which enables water to travel between them, even against gravity. Paper towels can be individually packed (as stacks of folded towels or held coiled). Paper towels have almost the same purposes as conventional towels, such as drying hands, wiping windows, dusting and cleaning up spills.

History

Early paper towels

In 1907 the Scott Paper Company of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania introduced paper towels to help prevent the spread of colds from cloth towels in restrooms.^[1] Popular belief is that this was partly by accident and was the solution of what to do with to a railroad car full of long paper rolls meant for toilet paper that was unsuitable to cut into rolls of toilet paper.^[2] In 1919, William E. Corbin, Henry Chase, and Harold Titus began experimenting with paper towels in the Research and Development building of the Brown Company in Berlin, New Hampshire.^[3] By 1922, Corbin perfected their product and began mass-producing it at the Cascade Mill on the Berlin/Gorham line.^[4] This product was called Nibroc Paper Towels (Corbin spelled backwards^[5]). In 1931, the Scott Paper Company of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania introduced their paper towel for kitchens. They are now the leader of the manufacture of paper towels.

Production

Paper is made from either virgin or recycled paper pulp ^[6] which is extracted from wood or fiber crops. They are sometimes bleached during the production process to make the color more white.^[7] It is not uncommon for rolls of paper towels to include intricate colored images on each square (such as flowers or teddy bears). Resin size is used to improve the wet strength.^[7] Paper towels are packed individually and sold as stacks, or are held on a continuous roll, and come in two distinct classes, domestic and institutional.^[8] A 2007 study shows the consumption of paper towels and other tissue products is highest in the United States of America at around 24 kilograms per capita, with consumption higher than in Europe, and more than 500 times higher than in Latin America.^[9]

Market

Tissue products including paper towels are split into "at home" and "away from home" markets, with about two-thirds of North American consumption at home.^[9] As a percent of total tissue products, the "away from home" segment uses a third more paper towels.^[9] The growth in "away from home" use of paper towels has been reduced by switch from folded towels to roll towel dispensers, which reduces the amount of paper towels used by each patron.^[9]

Within the forest products industry, paper towels are a major part of the "tissue market", second only to toilet paper.^[9] Consumption of paper towels and other tissue products is highest in the United States of America, with consumption 50% higher than in Europe, and nearly 500% higher than in Latin America.^[9]

Marc Jacobs, the creative director for Louis Vuitton and head designer for Marc Jacobs and diffusion line Marc by Marc Jacobs, designed an innovated coat that mix advance technology with posh style. For his 2014 Resort Line, Marc Jacobs designed a raincoat made entirely of paper towels.

Made out of Paper Towels

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to paper towels.

• Handle-o-Meter
• Paper towel dispenser
• William E. Corbin

References