WITHIN the last few decades the paper box manufacturing industry of the United States has grown to tremendous proportions, due of course to the ever-increasing demand for paper boxes of every kind imaginable. The manufacturers have kept in steady progress with the times, and so efficiently have they organized and managed the industry that today it ranks among the largest and most important in the country. The business is rapidly developing on every side. New uses for paper boxes are constantly being discovered. In many instances, paper boxes, on account of their neatness, lighter weight and economy, are taking the places of those made of wood or tin.

Comparatively few people outside the industry ever stop to consider the fact that the paper box business has been responsible for the success of many another business. Manufacturers of the many different varieties of packaged-goods which are sold over the counters of retail stores, advertising experts and salesmen, know well that attractive, graceful paper boxes help wonderfully in selling the goods. But, the buying public in general gives little thought to this truth. With the exception of advertising and first class printed matter, handsome paper boxes today are one of the greatest selling forces in business.

It has been only during recent years that manufacturers, advertising men and salesmen have been giving closer attention to the selling power of high grade paper boxes. In days gone by the quality and appearance of paper boxes received little consideration. Some years ago, a plain, commonly-made box was considered good enough for the purpose, but not so in these days. In this age the average buyer would not be interested in a nationally-advertised product if it were packed in a mean-looking box, no matter how excellent the product may be. This explains why we see such a large number of display advertisements on bill-boards, in the street cars, and in newspapers and magazines, including the statement, “Packed in a Neat Box.”

In the present time, after a large manufacturing concern has perfected all arrangements for making perhaps, a new breakfast food, a new perfume, toilet soap, candy, tooth paste, or some other desirable article, the next step that is taken to market the product is in organizing a good sales force. Then, the manufacturers consult with one of the big advertising agencies for the purpose of launching a national advertising campaign. Among the first features of the campaign to receive close study by the advertising experts is the style and appearance of the paper boxes which are to contain the product in question. Often, many different shapes and colors for the containers are planned and tested before the right design and color scheme are decided upon. The broad-minded manufacturer will not object to paying substantial prices for attractive paper boxes any more than he would object to paying high prices for advertising in newspapers and magazines, as the advertising men can easily prove to him the fact that beautiful paper boxes will help in selling the goods.

QUALITY IS ESSENTIAL.

This does not mean that any manufacturer could succeed with the aid of attractive paper boxes in selling anything that is not of good quality. He would possibly sell an inferior article, by means of advertising and appealing paper boxes, for a limited time, but the public would soon learn whether the article was good or not. But, the manufacturer of a high grade product may always depend on good advertising and attractive paper boxes to help him in making a success of his business, and this is the point that the writer wants to make clear to the reader. The psychology of a handsome paper box is something wonderful. Women, particularly, delight in buying candy, perfumes, and many other things packed in beautiful paper boxes and tied with colored ribbons. Men, too, derive pleasure through buying goods packed in attractive boxes. All of us like dainty packages, whether we admit the truth or not.

When paper boxes are made and used for the purpose of carrying goods to retail dealers, in cases where the dealers unpack the merchandise and sell it in loose form to the public, it is not necessary, of course, to have such fine boxes as those which go into the possession of the buying public. Large size shirt and hosiery boxes, for example, seldom pass into the hands of customers of retail stores. Boxes of this class should be neat, strong and of good appearance, but there is no reason for having them expensively finished. The larger-size boxes which are to be found upon the shelves of retail shops are usually covered with glazed paper, in colors such as buff, red, light blue, pink, etc. Store-keepers prefer boxes covered with glazed, colored paper for the reason that colors, and the high gloss of the paper help in making their sales-room look attractive.

These are very important facts that every paper box manufacturer must keep in mind, and the more attention that is given to the aesthetic side of paper box making, the better for the business in general. The field for fine and fancy paper boxes, as well as for plain boxes, is without limitations. It is a rich, fertile field, and the manufacturer with new ideas and good business management can “plant and grow” all the orders for paper boxes that he may care to handle.

The box-maker with ideas does not have to wait for orders to come to him. Hundreds of manufacturers in various lines of business are willing and ready to consider suggestions in the way of unique and handsome paper boxes which may mean increased sales of the goods or articles that they are marketing. The demand for “dust-proof,” “germ-proof,” “damp-proof,” and the trade-marked folding paper boxes is without end. Box-makers who are in a position to offer new-style containers of this character will have no reason for complaining about “slack seasons.” The fiber container field also offers unlimited possibilities to the manufacturer of fiber products.

This is the age of progress. Creative salesmanship is now needed in every line of business. The box manufacturer in these days must give more of his time and thought than in the past to the subject of creative salesmanship. He should work hand-in-hand with merchants, sales managers and advertising experts when big selling campaigns are being planned. The United States is just entering the greatest period of prosperity in the history of the country, and without question the paper box industry is to enjoy its proper share of this prosperity, but the box-maker who fails in keeping abreast with the times will be in danger of “falling by the wayside.”

IMPORTANT QUESTIONS.

Creative salesmanship, standard cost systems, efficient plant management, and the matter of procuring a sufficient supply of skilled labor are among the most important questions of today which must receive deep study from the box manufacturers in general. With these serious questions in mind, the writer has prepared this text book on the subject of Paper Box Making for the purpose of helping the progress of the industry in every way possible. Before attempting this work, the writer spent considerable time in several of the modern paper box factories, studying the mechanical equipment, labor-saving methods, ordinary working operations, etc. Several of the larger plants where paper box machinery is designed and made, were also visited. In this manner, valuable data for this book were secured.

The main purpose of this book is to teach beginners, or apprentices, the practical work of paper box making. We are not so egotistical as to believe that we can make a trained paper box maker with the aid of printed matter, but at least we can try to offer simple, practical information which we hope will be helpful to beginners. We shall try to do our very best in making the technical facts plain and understandable, and if we succeed in giving the reader a clear, general idea of how paper boxes are made, we will be well satisfied.

May we suggest to employers, superintendents and foremen in the paper box industry to place this book in the hands of apprentices for study? It may even be possible to present copies of the book to young men and young women who are not working in the industry, but who may desire, after reading this volume, to engage in the interesting work of paper box making. This is merely a suggestion, but it may be of some value in gaining new apprentices.

This book will include information on Plain Paper Boxes, Fancy Paper Boxes, Round, Oval and Odd-shaped Boxes, Cutting and Creasing for Cartons, The Label Printing Department, Fiber Containers, and on other subjects of this character. It would be almost impossible for anyone to describe all of the many different kinds of plain, fancy and folding boxes that are being made at the present time, so we will merely describe the regular line of paper boxes that are considered as standard in the trade.

PLAIN “SET-UP” PAPER BOXES.

The term “set-up,” applies to paper boxes which are covered with separate lids. Folding boxes do not come under this term for the reason that they are glued together at one side, and remain in flat form until the time when they are used as containers, cut out sections of the sheet then being folded to serve as “lids.” In other words, a folding box is complete in one piece, while a set-up box (a shoe box, for example), is of two parts, the box and the lid.

A set-up box must be cut, creased, folded, stayed and covered before it is complete. The lid also must be cut, creased, folded, stayed and covered.

Various kinds of boxboard are used for the making of plain paper boxes, but the three principal kinds used are called “Chip-board,” “News-board” and “Straw-board.” Chip-board is made from pulp formed of all kinds of waste paper. News-board is made from pulp formed of old newspapers. Straw-board is made from straw. These three different kinds of boxboard come from the paper dealers, or from the mills, in various sizes and thicknesses to meet all of the requirements of the box factory.

Chip-board is more generally used for all kinds of plain paper boxes. It is of gray color, and it has rather a rough surface. When the boxes are to be of good quality, like a candy box for instance, the chip-board is lined on one side with white news paper, or white book paper. This lining is done before the boxboard is cut and creased in shape for making the boxes. Many of the larger box-makers do their own lining on a special machine called the Parry Liner, which has been designed especially for the purpose. Other box-makers send the boxboard to outside concerns who make a specialty of lining board for the trade.

Chip-board, news-board or straw-board, when used for the making of ordinary boxes—shoe boxes, for example—is not lined. Better-class boxes, such as are used for holding collars and cuffs, silk shirts, handkerchiefs, neckwear, writing paper, and “white goods” of many varieties, should be lined with white book paper.

The first step toward the making of a paper box is in deciding on the proper measurements. The specifications must indicate the length, width and depth of the box, as well as the length, width and depth of the lid. The length and width of a lid, for a plain set-up box, must of course be slightly larger than the length and width of the box. To ascertain the correct sizes of both the box and its lid, the box-maker first makes models, and after these have been approved, the regular work of making quantities of the boxes is commenced.

The full-size sheets of boxboard are fed into a scoring machine which cuts and creases the sheets to the proper dimensions. Several pieces of board, of the size required for the boxes, or lids, are cut from the sheet with one operation. The machine is equipped with a series of rotary knives and rotary scorers, which can be moved and adjusted to the positions desired. The rotary scorers are like dull knives, and are set up a little higher than the cutting knives; thus they score the sheet instead of cutting completely through it.

Single scoring machines, which score and cut the sheets of boxboard in only one direction, are used in some of the box-making plants. In other plants double scoring machines, which score and cut the sheets in both directions, are in service. The double scoring machine is naturally a big time-saver on large orders for the simple reason that it cuts and scores, both ways, on the sheet without it being necessary for the operator to feed the sheets through the machine a second time.

The cut and scored blanks, when in flat form ready for cornering and folding, appear like this:

The next operation is in removing the corner pieces from the blanks. This work is performed with the aid of a cornering machine. There are single, double and quadruple cornering machines in some of the larger plants, but the single and double cornering machines seem to be the most popular. The single cornering machine removes only one corner from the blank with one operation; the double cornering machine cuts out two corners with a single operation and the quadruple machine removes all four corners with one operation.

The cornering devices are equipped with cutting knives, arranged so that they may easily be adjusted. The guides may be adjusted so that many different sizes of corners may be cut out of the blank stock. As many as twenty or more blanks may be placed under the knives at one time. The double cornering machine has two sets of knives and guides which are adjustable to provide for the various sizes of blanks. In the same manner the knives and guides of the quadruple machine are adjustable to provide for many different sizes of stock and also various sizes of corners.

When feeding the blanks into the single cornering machine, it is necessary, of course, for the operator to feed the sheet four times before all of the corner pieces have been removed.

When the four corner-pieces have been removed from a sheet of stock, the blank has the following appearance:

Some of the box-makers who make a specialty of fine, small-size set-up boxes for the drug trade, jewelers, etc., have machines which score the blanks, and cut out the corner-pieces simultaneously. This device is for small work only, and its principal advantage is accuracy. When scoring and cornering small-size blanks separately, it is often difficult to have this scoring line in perfect alignment with the corners. On this special type of scoring and cutting machine it is necessary for the operator to feed one blank at a time. Cutting and creasing of this kind can also be done on cutting and creasing presses, with dies formed of steel cutting and creasing rules. This process will be explained in another article.

After the blanks have been cut, scored and the four corner-pieces removed, the blanks are then bent upwards on all four sides so as to put them in form for the staying machine operation. Several of the blanks can be bent partly into shape with one operation. The operator of the staying machine then takes each blank and properly shapes it into the form of a box as the stay paper is applied to each corner. The staying machine is equipped with a roll of narrow Kraft paper which is gummed on one side. The machine is also equipped with a water-pan and a roller which moistens the gummed paper as it passes along. The operator places one corner of the box in position on the machine; the head of the machine descends and affixes a strip of the stay paper on the outside corner of the box. The operator then turns the box in rapid succession while the machine “stays” the other three corners of the box. The cutting of the stay paper to the proper size is an automatic operation, and the device can be adjusted to cut off any length of stay paper. The stay paper placed on the outside corners of the box, holds the box together.

In the case of very small boxes and lids, the stay paper is attached by hand, although the machine is adapted to small-size as well as large-size boxes.