Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1894-01-17
THE PAPER I,li.1 AGE.
NUMBER OF USES TO WHICH CARD
BOARD CASES ARE PUT.

An Industry Not Much Understood In
Which the Figures Are Gisantic-How
1t Provides EmpIoyment For Thousands.
Evolution of the Paper l;s:N.
In the multiplicity Of modern con-
veniences the paper tox holds front
place. Half j century ago the dry
goods dealer would present an empty
box to the little daughter Of his regular
customer as IL mark Of special favor.
Boxes were then used ,,iily lly the
wholesale houses to send vuG their goods
in, and the retailer kept tllen to show
his wares III. Now the customer insists
upon his purchase being placed in
dry goods business, but in every other
business. The oyster fry i'll ii box as
peacemaker was popular joke half d
dozen years ago. now they put ice
cream in boxes, and all sorts of things
Candy used to be sold i'll paper bags;
the smallest purchase has to be put in
a box. The saucy confectioncr might
hand a paper bag to ii woman who had
made small purchase. but never to u
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 well disguised. Ii he
buys bottle of whisky, he must have it
in box, so that his friends may mis-
take it for IL 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 IS firms engaged in the
business, but three-fourths of it is done
by 10 large firms, whose individual out
put will run from 800, 600 to $3.50, 600
a year. AS the average cost Of Il paper
box is 5 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
800 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 90, 900. 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 busi-
ness at Philadelphia in 1916. He and
his partner cut out the boxes, their only
tools being straight edge, conpasses,
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 a 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 III
the open air on the ground, and conse-
quently was often filled with sand,
which made it interesting for the cut
tiers. 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, one at a
time and that one well. A girl who
could make pies quickly and well could
make boxes in a similar style. The
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 i'll paper box making, and the
girls have nothing to do but feed the
material to the machines.
George A. Dickerman of Boston
started in the business il 1868 i'll Bos-
ton, and about 1870 a Frenchman named
Rouyon introduced the business in this
city. The old fashioned way of scoring
the pasteboard with rule and a 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 IA man
named Marshall of Boston made a
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 a new size or pattern Of box.
In the Robinson scorer there are two
sets Of knives, Sc that one set can be
adjusted while the other is being used.
Nowadays the whole of the material
is made III this country, and 1t 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 country. 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 50 for
the same work he got So for 21 years
ago, yet he makes larger profit and is
able to pay higher wages. The ma
chimes are uncomplicated and not ex-
pensive. The business gives steady
employment, as there is practically no
particular season, and when not work.
ing on orders the machines are running
on stock, Of which a large supply has
always to be kept on hand.
Such is the rapid growth of the paper
box industry, which now has three good
trade papers to represent its interests.
New York Advertiser.