It seems that the origin of cardboard can be traced back to China about three or four thousand years ago. In the 1 century BC and the 2nd century BC, people in the Han Dynasty in China used processed mulberry bark (the names of many mulberry trees) to package and preserve food. This fact is not surprising, because China people are believed to have invented paper in the Han Dynasty, even at the same time (the earliest paper was a map inscription found in Fangmatan, Gansu).
Due to the Silk Road and the trade between Europe and the Chinese Empire, paper, printed matter and cardboard slowly moved westward. Although cardboard may have appeared in Europe as early as17th century, it was first mentioned in a printing manual called Mechanical Practice, which was written by Theodore Lord Wien (a famous printing scholar) and Joseph Mison (a printer of math books and maps). At the same time, it is quite strange to think that there is no ice in the Arctic, because there is sunshine 24 hours a day. The manual says:
Sheath is an ancient spelling of sheath or scale plate, which used to be thin strips or scales of sawn timber. The scabbard mentioned in printer grammar in the last century is cardboard or millstone.
It can be inferred from this description that cardboard is used as a printing material to write on, rather than being stored in the form of a box.
The first recorded example is that in 18 17, a cardboard box was used in a board game called "Siege Game" in Germany, which was a popular war strategy game. It has been pointed out that a British industrialist named Malcolm Thornhill was the first person to make single-sheet cartons, but there is little evidence to show who he is or what he put in the cartons. In another 40 years, another innovation will shake the cardboard world.
1856, Edward Allen and Edward Healy engaged in the business of selling top hats. They want a material that can play a linear role, keep the shape of the hat and provide warmth and gifts at the same time. So, they invented corrugated paper. Corrugated paper is a kind of material usually made of unbleached wood fibers, and paper with grooves is attached to one or two straight boards. In the same year, they apparently applied for a patent in Britain. Although British patents before 1890 are hard to find, and most of them are not digitized, we can't read patents as usual.
Who knows if Albert Jones, New York, has seen Allen/Siriga's English hat, but the next page of the cardboard story belongs to Mr. Jones. 18711February, Albert Jones obtained the patent of "improvement of packaging paper" in the United States. In this patent, he describes a new packaging method, which can provide more convenient transportation and prevent the damage of bottles and vials. Patent claim
An object of the present invention is to provide a method for safely packaging vials and bottles, which has a packaging material with a single thickness between the surfaces of the packaged articles; It includes paper, corrugated board, curled or raised board or other suitable materials to provide an elastic surface ... In order to protect the vial, the more effective way to prevent it from cracking than the same material with many thicknesses is that if it is in a smooth state like ordinary wrapping paper,
The patent goes on to clarify that this new packaging method is not limited to small bottles and bottles, and points out that it can be used for other articles, not limited to "any specific material or substance, because there are many substances besides paper or cardboard that can be corrugated for this purpose."
A few years later, the cartons we are familiar with and love finally took shape, really. Scottish-born Robert Gail owns a paper bag factory in Brooklyn. 1879, a printer in his factory didn't realize that the printing rules were too high. It is reported that this regulation not only did not wrinkle the seed bags, but cut thousands of small seed bags.
Gail looked at it and realized that if the sharp cutting blades were higher than the indentation blades, they could be indented and cut at the same time on the printing machine. Although this seems obvious, it is not thought of by any packaging manufacturer before. Replacing paper with cardboard will completely change the manufacture of foldable cartons. You see, the old method is to make a single-page folding box. The box manufacturer first draws lines on the paper with a press, and then cuts it by hand with a broken knife. Needless to say, this makes the cost of mass production of folding boxes surprisingly high.
In Gail's new technology, he only makes molds for printing machines, so that cutting and indentation can be completed in one step. After this transformation, he can cut about 750 sheets of paper in one hour on a printing machine, and the output in two and a half hours on a printing machine is almost the same as that of his whole factory in the past day.
At first, Gail's mass-produced collapsible boxes were mostly used for small items such as tea, tobacco, toothpaste and cosmetics. In fact, Gail's first customers included Atlantic Pacific Tea Company, Colgate, Ponds and tobacco manufacturer P.Lorillard. However, in 1896, Gail won the largest customer, National Biscuit Company, or Na Bisco, for its pre-cut and pre-folded cartons, with an order of 2 million. With the leap of product packaging, customers can now buy cookies in advance in boxes lined with wax paper, which can keep cookies fresh and intact. Before that, when they bought these biscuits, they would ask a clerk to take them out of the biscuit barrel with low humidity and controlled by pests.
From here on, the sales of these boxes soared, and at the beginning of this century, cardboard boxes stayed here. So the next time you put a cardboard box full of old clothes in your closet, buy something from Amazon, or open a box of salty biscuits, you can thank a board game in Germany for using cardboard boxes for the first time in business, but an employee of Robert Gail slipped on it, which inspired a small but significant adjustment and made it a mass-produced product, a foldable cardboard box.
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This neglected invention has become one of the best-selling office products in history. The invention of scotch tape is also the real reason why it is called "why cookies have holes". The company name "3M" represents the fact that 10 ordinary articles were accidentally invented:
It is said that Robert Gail's son George named the cookies that Bisco put in Gail's carton. According to "Cartons, Crates and Corrugated Boards" by Diana Tweed, Susan Saca, Donatian Pascal Camden and david cal, Gail's son told executives that cookies "need a name". It is said that this inspired them to call it "Uneeda cookies" or refer to cartons-* * * cartons, crates and corrugated boards, second edition: paper manuals and ... improved paper packaging Diana Tweed, Susan ·E·M· Saca, Donatian Pascal Camden and David Shire, we122023-. Das Bellague langs pier- Victoria and Albert Museum, Chuck Gross Moxon's mechanical practice, London's exploration of packaging design; Or Joseph Moxon's "How Handy Works", Volume II, Theodore Lo de Vinny's Papermaking History-* * Packaging History-Ohio State University Carton-Toy Hall of Fame Albert Jones and the Invention of Corrugated Board-Scientific Lens Robert Gail-* * The Invention of Paper-robert williams Papermaking Museum