The 200-Year History Of Cardboard Boxes
In some ways, it is really a very strange thing that there are still cardboard boxes being used today. They were created in 1817, when they were produced in England. Many other types of technology that were in use at the time have been phased out. New items have replaced those older technological devices, even though the people who were living at the time thought that the technology that they had was very advanced. As simple as a box made of cardboard really is, it has managed to stand the test of time. Hundreds of thousands of them are used every month.
As mentioned, cardboard boxes were first produced in 1817. These boxes were not corrugated or pleated. They were called paperboard boxes, and they were basically just a heavy-duty type of paper that was folded and cut into the shape of a box. This provided a light-weight way for things to be transferred or concealed. They also offered slightly more protection than paper or cloth against rain, snow, and other types of moisture.
Cardboard boxes were actually not created on purpose. The whole process was an accident. A man who was trying to make seed bags had something go wrong with his machine. One of the rulers shifted in position on its own. It was typically used in a way that allowed the material to be folded, but it started to cut the material when it shifted to this new direction. As can be imagined, this ruined the seed bags. However, it also showed Robert Gair, who was working in the shop, that cutting and folding could be used to make boxes instead of bags. At the time, he had no idea how much his invention and this accident would change the world of packaging and shipping.
After the creation of these cardboard boxes by accident, they were patented for use in the shipping industry in 1871. The material itself had been patented in 1856, but at this time it was being used primarily as a way to line hats. The fur trade was very big at the time, and hats were in style. They needed to have some way to hold their shape since they were made of fur, but they also could not be so heavy that they would be uncomfortable for the people who were wearing them. Cardboard provided the perfect alternative.
By the early years of the next century, this new invention was spreading around the world. Cardboard boxes were being used in the United States for shipping and also for packaging cereals. People had used wooden crates in the past, but these increased the weight of the entire shipment by quite a lot. It was found that cardboard could lower the weight, and that this would also lower the shipping cost. More things could be sent out at once, so shipments could move faster. There have been some refinements, such as chemicals that deflect water, but boxes have stayed much the same into the modern era.
