Affordable Paper

The slow progress in packaging was due for the most part to the scarcity of paper.  Paper was made by hand, sheet by sheet and in the 17th century, the book publishers helped make it scarce by stocking books in unfolded, unbound printed sheets, basically hoarding paper.  When a customer wanted a book, the sheets were put together, folded and bound to the customer's specifications.  The book sellers stock of sheets that were unsold once they began to age, were sold to grocers and apothecaries to be used for wrapping, aka packaging.

Two centuries later in 1807, when the paper making machine was invented by the Fourdrinier brothers in London, paper was made in continuous sheet.  Within 10 years, Thomas Gilpin produced the first American machine that made paper.  Soon there were America machines turning out paper at 45 feet per minute - quite a feat!

New quick drying machines eliminated the weather as a factor and paper making was "speeded up."  In 1830 just 30 years after the first paper making machine was invented, the United States had become the greatest paper-producing  and paper-consuming country in the world.

Next time...Improvements in the paper process
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Today in Pioneer History: "On February 13, 1861, the first Medal of Honor  is awarded to Colonel Bernard J D Irwin, an assistant army surgeon serving in the first major US - Apache conflict.  Irwin volunteered to go to the rescue of some 60 men of the US Seventh Infantry, 100 miles away in enemy territory.  Not only did he recover the men but their stolen horses as well.