Let's settle the Over-Under TP debate.

The Huffington Post reported about a patent a while back. As an avid HuffPo reader and frequent user of the product in question, it struck my fancy.

This is the patent mentioned, but a little exploration yields several earlier, patents of interest - looks like Mr. Wheeler and Mr. Hicks were fierce competitors!

However, Mr. Wheeler seems to have had a niche, and he has the oldest patent that I can find.

US Patent 333,183 (December 29, 1885): Wrapping and Toiler Paper.

As you can see, he clearly shows the roll as being in the "over" configuration - the free end should ALWAYS come from the top or front of the roll. Even the inventor of perforated bumwad thought so.