science

William E. Corbin

William E. Corbin is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand William E. Corbin rather than just read about it. In short: William E. Corbin (1869–1951) was the inventor of Nibroc paper towels and was the mayor of the city of Berlin, New Hampshire (1931–1932).

Key takeaways

William E. Corbin belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect William E. Corbin to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of William E. Corbin from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

William E. Corbin (1869–1951) was the inventor of Nibroc paper towels and was the mayor of the city of Berlin, New Hampshire (1931–1932).

Early life and career

William E. Corbin was born in 1869 in Charlestown, New Hampshire to Samuel and Mary Corbin. As a child, Corbin worked on a farm in Charlestown, New Hampshire. For a short time Corbin worked at the Government Cheney mill in Manchester. He later moved to Berlin, New Hampshire, on May 27, 1892, where he was employed at the Riverside Mill of the Brown Company. In 1894, he became superintendent of this mill. In 1904, the Brown Company built the Cascade Mill on the border of Berlin and Gorham. Corbin became the first superintendent of this new mill. Along with being the superintendent of the Cascade Mill, Corbin became a director in the Berlin National Bank in 1906 and, in 1913, became the president of this bank. In 1931, Corbin became mayor of the city of Berlin, serving until 1932.

Nibroc towels In 1919, Mr. Corbin, along with Harold Titus and Henry Chase, the Brown Company's first chemist, started to experiment at the Research and Development building to improve the problems of papermaking, to include the Nibroc Paper Towels. In 1922, Corbin had completed the first paper towels. Before this, there were only cloth towels but no official paper towel. This paper towel was called “Nibroc”, which is Corbin spelled backwards.

Death and legacy On October 13, 1951, "the father of paper towels", William E. Corbin, died at his home. He was buried at Forest Hill Cemetery in the town of his birth. Nibroc paper towels were produced by the Brown Company until the 1970s.

See also Berlin, New Hampshire paper towel papermaking

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with William E. Corbin

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what William E. Corbin claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to William E. Corbin before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about William E. Corbin ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of William E. Corbin

In research: William E. Corbin appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses William E. Corbin in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: William E. Corbin is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1869 births, 1951 deaths, 20th-century American inventors, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for William E. Corbin outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study William E. Corbin in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what William E. Corbin means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain William E. Corbin out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is William E. Corbin in simple terms?

William E. Corbin (1869–1951) was the inventor of Nibroc paper towels and was the mayor of the city of Berlin, New Hampshire (1931–1932).

Why does William E. Corbin matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study William E. Corbin?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on William E. Corbin.