Improvements in Toilet-paper.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application (in United Kingdom), 9th Aug., 1892
Complete Specification Left, 9th Aug., 1892-Accepted, 10th Sept., 1892
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Toilet-paper.
I, EDGAR JEROME, residing at 137 Main Street in the City of Norwalk,
in the County of Fairfield and State of Connecticut, United States of America,
Toilet-paper Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of my invention
for IMPROVEMENTS IN TOILET-PAPER, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:
My invention is an improvement in toilet-paper of that class in which a
continuous web is formed into a roll, the web being subdivided into sheets or units
Various forms of
for use by regularly-recurring weakened portions of the paper.
such rolls are well known.
The principal object of my invention is to provide a bond between the sheets or
units of the web sufficient to hold these units together in the necessary process of
winding the sheets into a roll and adapted to be ruptured with ease and certainty
on the line of weakness across the sheet when the sheet is pulled from the roll
without causing the line of rupture to run into either of the sheets connected
by the bond and thereby causing waste of the sheets so mutilated; also by the
same form of bond I have provided a web which when the sheet is drawn from
the roll indicates the position of the line of weakness readily to the eye of
the user.
My invention is also designed to provide a form of sheet such that when one
sheet is folded upon another the central portion will be of double thickness and the
margin at the ends of the sheet will be of single thickness, whereby a practically
double sheet is provided having greater area than the single sheet.
My invention consists, first, of a roll of toilet-paper formed of a web having
transverse cuts from the margins inward, which, being opposite each other,
determine the sheets or units for use, and which are of such extent in relation to
the width of the web that they will leave a bond between contiguous sheets
throughout the web, the margins of which bond coincide substantially with the
lines of strain substantially parallel between the bond under strain and the point
on the free end of the sheet where it is grasped by the thumb and finger of the user
in separating the sheet, whereby the rupture is made with certainty on the line of
weakening without running materially into either sheet.
My invention consists, secondly, in forming the lines of division or partial
severance at an angle to the longitudinal line of the web, whereby when the two
connected sheets are severed from the web and one folded upon the other the pro-
jecting parts are at opposite ends and form a double sheet at the centre with single
margins at the ends.
My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which-
Figure 1 shows the sheet and roll in plan. Fig. 2 shows the roll with a part

page_text: In the drawings, a represents part of the web of paper, which is wound upon
itself into the form of a roll in the same manner as such a web of toilet-paper
is ordinarily wound. The difficulty in separating sheets from the roll is caused,
practically, by the longitudinal direction of the fibre of the paper in the web and
by the necessity of having a bond between the sheets of sufficient strength to permit
the web after it has been weakened, as above explained, to be wound into a roll.
The tendency of the rupture of the bond is to run into one of the sheets which the
bond connects, thereby causing considerable waste in the aggregate of the material.
It is desirable, also, to weaken the paper on the transverse lines determining the
division of the sheets without the removal and consequent waste of the paper, which
waste also in the aggregate is of considerable importance. The second object I
attain by cutting or rupturing the paper from the margin inward on a single line.
and the first by carrying these ruptures to such points, as e e, in relation to the
inner ends of both that the bond remaining will be substantially within the lines of
strain indicated at cc, these lines extending from the inner extremities of the cuts
or ruptures in a substantially parallel direction to points just outside the grasp
of the thumb and finger, (indicated at ele¹). This leaves a bond sufficient to permit
the web to be wound into the form of a roll. This bond also bears such relation in
respect to its width to the width of paper ordinarily grasped at the free end between
the thumb and finger of the user that the lines of strain are substantially parallel
and include the bond. Practically the pull is never exactly in line with the
longitudinal axis of the web, and the tearing strain is a combination of the
longitudinal and transverse strain, the transverse strain being toward the margin
opposite that on which the rupture is started. So long as the rupture is within the
field of direct lines of strain between the part of the web grasped by the thumb
and finger and the point of greatest resistance the line of rupture will be at right
angles to the margin of the web; but after the rupture has passed outside of this
field it tends to follow the longitudinal fibre of the web either into the remaining
sheet or into the sheet drawn off, according as the lateral strain is toward one
margin or the other. If it were practicable to grasp the free end of the sheet
equally all the way across, the rupture might be made by an even pull from a
narrow or slight rupture on the margin without material divergence of the rupture
from the direct line at right angles to the margin of the web remaining upon the
roll when also evenly and firmly held; but as this is impracticable and the free end
of the sheet is ordinarily grasped between the thumb and finger or fingers, and the
width of the part pulled upon is thereby practically limited, I have made the bond
of such width that the beginning of the rupture will not be materially outside the
substantially parallel marginal lines of this part of the sheet thus subjected to
strain. Within these lines the relation of the longitudinal to the lateral strain is 80
maintained that the rupture of the paper is inevitable between the inner extremities
of the cuts or ruptures b b. This narrow bond also leaves loose and free margins
or corners, which when the sheet is pulled from the roll drop and indicate the
lite of weakness, and thus facilitates the rupture. It will be observed that the
ruptures bb are not at right angles to the margins, but are inclined equally from
the margins. This leaves a salient angle upon one sheet and a re-entrant angle
upon the other or ends reversed in contour. Thus when two sheaths are drawn off
and folded one upon the other the projecting parts of each sheet will overlap the
opposite sheet, as in Fig. 3, and form a sheet double in its main central portion and
single on the margins at each end, which is a form convenient for use and also
serves the purpose of economizing paper, which is of great importance in the
aggregate.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:
1. A roll of toilet-paper consisting of a web having transverse cuts from the

page_text: substantially coincide with the lines of strain between the bonds under stress and
the point of appplication of the thumb and finger.
2. A web of toilet-paper having a narrow bond between the sheets and cuts from
the margins toward the centre at an inclination to the margins, said cuts leaving a
re-entrant angle on one sheet and a salient angle on the other, all substantially as
described.
3. A roll of toilet-paper formed of sheets connected by bonds and having the
contiguous ends of the sheets formed of reversed contour, substantially as and for
the purpose set forth.
Dated this 7th day of August 1892.
DAY, DAVIES & HUNT,
321, High Holborn, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.