Machine Made Boxes

The paper bag could not meet the packing demands of the growing factories of America.  Boxes of all sizes and shapes, machine-made, easy-to-store, and sturdy to use - that was what was called for.

In England, box makers had been like luggage manufacturers.  They made them to sell empty.  They were made by hand, mostly from wood and heavy paper.  Boxes were round (hat boxes) or oval, hand shaped around a wooden frame.  There were too expensive to mass produce and store.

The most important packaging invention of the 19th century (after the flat-bottom paper bag) was the compact box, machine-made, that remained flat until needed to package.  Factories could then buy flat boxes in large numbers and stack them until use.  Folding boxes were inexpensive - if a machine could be designed to do that...

Along came Robert Gair, a Scot immigrant to New York City at the age of 14 who fought in the Civil War on the Union side.  After the war, Gair went into the paper bag business, selling his bags to department stores.  One of his employees was a man who had designed sturdy flour bags to use during the war.  Gair began to manufacture seed bags, flour bags, and buckwheat bags, all printed with the merchant's name on the bag.  Yet the bags were still made by hand.

In April of 1879, one of Gair's workers who ran the printer for the merchant's names made a error.  He let a metal rule slip on the press, not only printing the bag but also cutting it.  This error gave Gair an idea for box making.  If he used a multiple die that used a sharp metal rule set high to cut the cardboard, and a blunt rule set lower, he could crease the cardboard. 

Gair brought a second hand press for $30 and fitted the cutting and creasing rules.  This machine cut and creased 750 sheets an hour, each sheet providing an hourly production of 7500 cartons.  From Gair's simple idea came the machine made, folding box.

Next time...Patents galore
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Today in Pioneer History: "On February 24, 1836, in San Antonio, Texas, Colonel William Travis issues a call for help on behalf of the Texas troops defending the Alamo, an old Spanish mission and fortress under attack by the Mexican army.  The defense of the Alamo became a powerful symbol for the Texas revolution and on May 14 Texas officially became an independent republic.