The herald., 1894-02-05
THE PAPER BOX AGE.
NUMBER OF USES TO WHICH CARD
BOARD CASES ARE PUT.

which the Figures Arc Gigantic-How
1t Provides Employment For Thousands.
Evolution of the Paper Box.
In the multiplicity of modern con-
veniences the paper box holds front
place. Half a century ago the dry
goods dealer would present an empty
box to the little daughter of his regular
customer as a mark of special favor
Boxes were then used only by the
wholesale houses to send out their goods
in, and the retailer kept them to show
his wares in. Now the customer insists
upon his purchase being placed in
neat box. Not only is this SO in the
dry goods business, but in every other
business. The oyster fry in box as a
peacemaker was popular joke half
dozen years ago; now they put ice
cream in boxes, and all sorts of things.
Candy used to be sold in paper bags;
the smallest purchase has to be put in
a box. The saucy confectioner might
hand paper bag to woman who had
made small purchase, but never to a
man. The man is probably more par
ticular about his parcel than woman.
He hates to be seen carrying parcels
anyway, and those he does carry must
be thoroughly we'll disguised. If he
buys a bottle of whisky, he must have it
in box, so that his friends may mis-
take it for pair of shoes.
1t is not surprising, therefore, that
paper box making should have grown
into an important industry. In this
city alone no less than 5000 girls are
employed in it. 1t is comparatively
clean, healthy business, is regular and
is well paid, the wages averaging be-
tween 81 and $40 week. There are
in this city rs firms engaged in the
business, but three-fourths of it is done
by 10 large firms, whose individual out
put will run from 500, 900 to $3.50, 900
a year. AS the average cost of paper
box is cents, you can form some idea
from this of the enormous number that
are used. One candy maker alone dur
ing the month of December last used
$40, 1000 worth of boxes.
Philadelphia, Boston and Chicago are
also prominent in this industry, and
the workmen and girls employed by the
firms of those cities cannot be much less
than 10000. There are small firms,
too, in every large city, in addition to
which many large manufacturers make
their own paper boxes.
The first paper box maker was George
W. Plumly, who started in the bust
ness at Philadelphia in 1916. He and
his partner cut out the boxes, their only
tools being straight edge, compasses,
shoe knife and scissors. They employed
five girls to paste and for six or seven
years had a monopoly of the business
Then Charles W. Jencks started in the
business in Providence and introduced
a rough scoring machine to cut partly
through the cardboard where it is fold
ed to make the box. At that time it
was struggle to obtain proper mate
rails. There were few paper mills in
the country, and the straw board used
was very poor stuff, not two sheets
coming out of the mill of the same size
1t was made by hand of straw, meadow
hay, refuse straw from stables, dried in
the open air on the ground, and conse-
quently was often filled with sand,
which made it interesting for the cut
ters. The best quality of mill board
was all imported.
In those early days the young women
in the paper box factories made boxes
as their mothers made pies, lone at
time and thst one we'll. A girl who
could make pies quickly and well could
make boxes in a similar style. Tie
operations were somewhat similar.
There was the same manner of cutting
out material, the same caressing way
of patting down and smoothing out the
box coverings as the pie crust and the
same way of trimming off surplus ma
terial. Now everything is done by ma
chinery in paper box making, and the
girls have nothing to do but feed tn
material to the machines.
George A. Dickerman of Boston
started in the business in 1858 in Bos-
ton, and about 1870 Frenchman named
Rouyon introduced the business in this
city. The old fashioned way of scoring
the pasteboard with rule and cob,
bler's knife continued until 1871, when
the first machine was introduced. This
was the invention of Mr.. Bigelow of
New Haven. This scoring machine
was such a success that number of
firms sprang up. Six years after man
named Marshall of Boston made n
lighter and easier running machine,
and in 1881 John t. Robinson & Co.
invented the present scoring machine.
The trouble with the former machines
was in the time it took to adjust the
knives to new size OF pattern of box.
In the Robinson scorer there are two
sets of knives, so that one set can be
adjusted while the other is being used.
Nowadays the whole of the material
is made in this country, and it is sat
isfaction to know that the scoring ma
chimes and the boxmaking machines
are all the result of Yankee ingenuity.
Paper boxes are used all over the world
now, and all the world has to get its
machines from this county. In France
paper boxes are still made by hand by
many firms, but the machines have been
introduced there, and it will not be long
before these Yankee inventions will be
at work in all their factories.
The boxmaker now receives So for
the same work he got S. for 21 years
ago, yet he makes larger profit and is