The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1894-02-09
BOXES FOR EVERYIHIAG.
The Great Number OF Uses to
Which Cardboard Is Put
Some Interesting Information Regard
Ing; the Beginning and Growth
of an Important In
dussry.

Of an Important In
dustry.
In the multiplicity of modern con-
venlences the paper box holds q front
place. Half century ago the drv
goods dealer would present an empty
box to the little daughter CT his reru-
lar customer as mark of sDeciol favor.
Boxes were then used only b. the
wholesale houses to send ont 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 evcrv
| other business. The oyster fry in
box as peacemaker was a popular
joke half dozen years ago: now thew
put ice-creaIn in boxes. and all sorts Of
things. Candy used to be sold in pa-
per bags: the smallest purchase has to
be put in box. The saucv confecti0.-
er might hand a paper bag to q woman
who had made small purchase. but
never to man. The man Is probably
more particular about his parcel than
a woman. He hates to be seen carry
ing parcels, anyway, and tho=c he docs
carry must be thorough --cll rie-
guised. If he buys = bottle Of III. l,v
he must have it III a box. 50 that his
friends may mistake it for pair Of
shoes.
1t is not surprising. therefore. saws
the New York Advertiser. that p2Dcr
-, - :
| important industry. IN tili5 ci5r alone
no less than five Thousand Girls are
employed in it. 1t IS Z c0lnparatively
clean. healthy business, i regular, and
is well paid. the wages aTcr21ing be-
tween seven and ten dollars q week
There are in this city seventy-live firms
engaged in the business. but three
fourths of it is done by ten larFo iirrs,s.
whose individual output viii run from
one hundred thousand to enc hundred
and fifty thousand dollars I year. As
the average cost Of paper box IS frc
| cents. you can form soC2c ilca from
this of the enormous number taa1 are
used. One candy maker alone durinr
! the month Of December last used ten
| thousand dollars worth OF boxes.
Philadelphia. Boston and Chicago
are also prominent in this industry.
and the worhmen and girls e1nployed
by the firms OF those cities cannot be
much less than twenty thou and.
The first paper box maker was
George ". Plunly. who started in the
business at Philadelphia IL 1916. He
and his partner cut ont Che boxes, their
only tools being q straight edge. COM
passes, shoe knife and scissors. They
employed five girls TO paste, and for
six or seven years had monopoly of
| the business. Then Charles Il. Jencl1s
| started in the business in Providence.
and introduced a rough scoring ma
chine to cut partly through the card
board where it is folded to make the
box. At that time it was struggle TO
obtain prorNr materials. 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 consequently
was often filed with sand, which made
it interesting for the cutters. The
best quality of mill board was all i'm
| ported.
In those early days the young wom-
en- in the paper box factories made
| boxes as their mothers made pies. ''One
| at time and that one we'll" \ girl
who could make pies quietly and well
| could make boxes il q similar style
| The operations were somewhat SINH
| lar. There was the same manner of
cutting out material, the same caress-
ing way of patting down and smooth
| ing out the box coverings a the pie
| crust and the same wa.y Of trimming
| off surplus material Now everything
is done by machinery in paper box
making. and the girls haze nothing to
do but feed the material to the ma
! chimes.
George A. Dickernan, of Boston.
started in the business IN 1863 in Bos-
ton, and about 1870 Fre1clInan
named Rouyon introduced the business
in this city. The old-fashioned way
| of scoring the pasteboard with rule
! and a cobbler's knife continued until
1871, when the first machine was intro
| duced. This was the invention of Mr..
Bigelow, of New Haven. This scoring
machine was such q success that a
number of firms sprang up. Six years
| after a man named Marshall. of Bos-
ton. made lighter and easier running
machine, and in 1881 john I. Robinson
& Co. invented the present scoring ma
| chine. The trouble with the former
machines was in the time It took to ad-
| lust the knives TO q new size or pattern
| of box: in the Robinson scorer there
| are two sets of knives. 50 that one can
be adjusted while the other is being
used.
NOWADAYS the whole of the material
| is made in this country, and it is d sat
| ;sfaetion to know that the scoring ma
| chimes and the box making machines
| are all the result Of Yankee ingenuity.
Paper boxes are used all over the
world now, and all the world has to
! eet 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 i viii
not be long before Yankee Inventions
will he at work In al their factories
The box maker now receives two dol
| l.rs for the same work he received five
| dollars for twenty-one years ago, yet
he makes larger profit and IS able to
nav higher wages The machines are
| uncomplicated and not expensive The
business gives steady employment. as
there is practically no particular sea
son. and when not working on orders