Maybe this invention revolutionised how we clean our butts, or maybe it was utterly trivial and 20 different ways of cutting paper rolls were patented that same year (note that present day rolls don’t even use this method).

But that’s irrelevant to the point that seems to be implied here that patents somehow contributed to it’s success. They don’t, an invention will be useful or not based on its own merits, not on the fact they’re patented.

They exist to ensure whoever registered it makes a profit, which is why they’re being exploited way past the point of making up for any good they were supposed to bring…