Bonners Ferry herald. [volume] (Bonners Ferry, Idaho) 1904-current, 1908-01-11
HOW CIGAR BOXES ARE MApR
A Fortune Spent In Producing Them
Every Year.


A Fortune Spent in Producing Them
Every Year.
There Is probably not cigar smoker
In the land who has not wondered, at
)ne time or another, how much OF what
he pays for his smoke goes into the
oox and the autographed labels and
the gilt bands and the like, says Tit
Bits. A box which holds fifty cigars
costs from 4 to cents, according to
what 1t Is made of, and this without
counting the labels and bands, or any
thing but the wood and nails. The cost
Of these boxes used In the United
States alone foots up to S6,000000 ev-
cry year. Some of them go to Ha-
vana, but they come back with cigars
In them.
Perhaps the most interesting and
least known fact about this industry is
that, while some cigar boxes are made
of cedar, a great number are made Of
poplar, veneered on one side with ce-
dar, while still others are made OF
poplar without any veneer. In the lat
ter case the wood is printed in imi-
tation of cedar by the use of ink OF
the proper color and machine which
carries printing roller on which are
the lines to resemble the granting OF
cedar wood. The bottom and top of
cigar box of standard grade are 5-32 of
an inch in thickness, while the ends
are 1882 of an inch. Despite the very
4 small amount of wood needed, 1t is
cheaper. however, to use the veneered
poplar than the cedar, and still cheap
er to print the poplar Solid cedar
boxes to hold 100 cigars now cost about
10 cents and the half boxes, or those
for fifty cigars, about cents. The cor
responding price for veener Is about l
cent less, while for the printed poplar
the prices are to cents.
Such prices are only made possible
by the use of intricate machinery and
subdivision of labor, and it is also i'm
portant to waste as little of the ma.
terial as possible. To this end the
wood of the proper thickness is not
sawed from the log, hut sliced or split
! by a special machine. The immense
! pressure used in veneering wood for
the manufacture of furniture is not
used, and the veneered sides, which are
pretty well warped and twisted at first
are Strengthened out and dried simply
by passing through rollers.
Then the slabs are taken to the saw
ing table, where they are ripped and
cross-sawed- five to ten in one
eut-into pieces Of proper dimensions
for the single boxes which are being
made. Thence the pieces are sent tC
the inspector. who, besides examining
each and sorting out those which are
1 tanning the same number in each, Of
/. aids, sides. bottoms and tops.
= The ends and sides are nailed to
T. sether into frame by one machine
= and the bottoms and tops are nailet
|. ON by another. These machines ar
n fed with nails by an automatic ar
> ra.semsnt which presents the required
e Number OF them at each stroke. On
r strske docs the business of mailing a
e seeh corner and one stroke also SUI
nees for the bottoms and tops, tn
g nails being pushed in rather than driy
I en-. One of these machines will franz
D 5000 boxes day and two machine
I working together will turn out 1000
+ >oxes except for the labels.
n The lid OF the cigar box is held il
place by mailing only along the from
= edge and generally by one nail. TIL
. hinge at the back is made by one stri
Of cheesecloth glued upon the outsid
and subsequently, covered by the label
and paper trimmings. When the hing
is dry the pasting OF the labels is be
gun. Tiny metal hinges are sometime
put upon cigar boxes, but these ar
comparatively rare. SO are dove-tai
3 cd boxes, which can, however, be ha
n IN order
e Generally speaking, the entire int,
[. rior surface Of the box Is lined wit
Il paper and paper flaps and in large Fac
tsries the label printing and sometime
e even the dssi gnins Of the labels const
T. tute an important branch of the worl
sueh printing is of an unusually va
+ riss ekars-t>-, requiring several kind
of presses; Including tkose for emboss
y Ing
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