Folding carton

The folding carton created the packaging industry as it is known today, beginning in the late 19th century. Basically, a folding carton is made of paperboard, and is cut, folded, laminated and printed for transport to manufacturers. The cartons are shipped flat to a manufacturer, which has its own machinery to fold the carton into its final shape as a container for a product. The classic example of such a carton a cereal box.

Invention and development

In the 1840s, cartons were made by hand and held together with tacks and string, and used only for expensive items (such as jewelry). Although Charles Henry Foyle is described by some as the "inventor" of the paper carton, mass production of the cartons were invented, partly by accident, at the Robert Gair Company in Brooklyn, New York. Machinery at the end of the press had been set up carelessly by a pressman, and machinery cut through the material. This ruined the press but gave them an idea: Printing and cutting could be done with one machine. Previously, cutting of printed cardboard had been done manually. From the mistake in 1879, Gair developed a process for mass production of boxes. In 1897, the National Biscuit Company (Nabisco) became the first large company to adopt the new cartons, for Uneeda Biscuits. Other manufacturers soon followed. With inexpensive packaging now even common items could be placed in a showy carton and each carton became it's own advertisement. The product was also protected, and the contents had a longer shelf life. This trend was to continue with force, through the 20th century. This could be seen as a contributing factor in what has later been called "the 'throw away' culture of America". The environmental impact or product packaging has gained attention from consumers and businesses alike, and this awareness has created a steady trend since the mid to late 1990's, on the part of manufacturers, to use recycled material and/or reduce over-all materials usage.

Product characteristics

Folding cartons are now a $10 billion industry. Typically, cylinder board made from pulp from reprocessed scrap paper is used for most packages. Cartons for food are made from a higher grade and lighter solid sulfate board. Because of the limitations of cutting machinery, the thickness of the board is limited to 0.81 mm (0.032 in), and folding cartons are generally limited to holding a few pounds or kilograms of material.

References

Hanlon, Kelsey, and Forcinio; "Handbook of Package Engineering" (CRC Press, 1998)

External links

* http://www.ppcnet.org/MediaKit/Folding%20Carton%20History2.pdf - "Folding Carton History" on the Paperboard Packaging Council website
* http://www.brpboxshop.com/how_its_made - "Folding Carton Manufacturing" on [http://www.brpboxshop.com brpboxshop] website