SIDE-SET PAPER BOXES.

IF a single piece of box-board were to be used for the making of a large-size set-up paper box, (a hat box, for example) it would necessitate the cutting out of four corner pieces which would be as large in size as the two side walls of the box, therefore the reader can readily understand that it would not be economical to cut out corners of stock which is to be used for the larger-sized boxes. Another advantage of the side-set paper box is in the ends being stronger than the ends of a one-piece box. While this strong feature of construction would not been needed in a small-size box—a pound size candy box, for instance—it is an advantage for a larger size box such as is used for holding 500 No. 10 envelopes.

For this kind of a box, the chip-board, news-board, or straw-board is cut and scored to the size required on either a single or double scoring and cutting machine. This refers to the body-piece of the box. The side pieces may be cut to the desired size, in stacks of fifty or more sheets at a time, on an ordinary power paper cutter, or of course, the side pieces may be cut from large-size sheets of box-board on a scoring and cutting machine, or on a rotary board cutter. In many of the big paper box plants the rotary board cutter is being used for neck-pieces, side-pieces for side-set boxes, and for other plain cutting where no scoring is to be done in connection with it. The main advantage of the rotary board cutter is in the smooth, clean edges left on the box-board after it has been cut into the various sizes. The smooth, clean edges could not be procured on an ordinary paper cutting machine, but in the case of common paper boxes, the rough edges of end-pieces would not be a serious matter. For the better grade of boxes the edges of the end-pieces should be smooth and free from small particles of the board, especially when the box is to be covered, as the rough edges would show plainly from under the covering.

Mitering for stock that is to form the body-pieces for side-set boxes is done on a machine such as the Hobbs Duplex Corner Cutting and Mitering Machine which is also used for cutting the corners for one-piece set-up boxes. The Hobbs machine is so constructed that two corners may be cut from box-board on one side, and two miters cut from box-board on the other side. In other words, it is a quadruple machine which will permit two operators to work upon it at the same time, the operator on one side doing corner cutting, and the operator on the other side doing mitering. Either side of the machine may be used independently of the other, and all sizes of corners up to 3 inches, and all sizes of miters up to 1 inch in depth, can be done by making the necessary adjustments of the dies, sub-presses, and gages. The two miters may be spaced as wide apart as 22 inches, and the two corners as wide as 20 inches.

Some of the paper box manufacturers are making the side-set boxes by hand, but the majority of box-makers are using Ending Machines for this kind of work. The hand method of construction is very simple: The operators are seated on each side of a long table; one operator “turns in” the flanges of the body-pieces, and shapes them ready for receiving the end-pieces; another operator applies glue to the end-pieces and keeps a supply of the glued end-pieces, arranged in rows, ready for the next operator who places the body of each box on a form, and then applies the end-pieces. It requires care for the operator to place the end-pieces in true register with the bottom and sides of the box. The scoring lines made for the flanges are followed as guides for putting on the end-pieces squarely. The form is simply a smooth block of wood, the size of the interior of the box that is being fashioned. The amount of work which a force of skilled hand-workers can turn out during the course of a day is really surprising.

HOW EFFICIENCY IS ACCOMPLISHED.

Efficiency in the production of hand-made paper boxes, as well as efficiency in the production of machine-made boxes, is accomplished by keeping the workers, or the machines, abundantly supplied with material, and by having boys or girls carry the material to and from the tables or machines, instead of having experienced operators attend to such work. When a force of operators start work at a table, or at a group of machines, there should be a steady flow of material to keep them constantly employed. This is the system now being followed in the leading box-making factories, and it is a system which should be adopted by every box manufacturer, no matter how small his shop may be. Keep your skilled help plentifully supplied with material. Do not allow your best operators to waste time in carrying stock from place to place when boys or girls, with the aid of light trucks, can do this class of work just as well.

This leads up to still another important suggestion which we will offer to the manufacturers in general: Do not keep your apprentices working for long periods at menial tasks, such as carrying stock, sweeping floors, running errands, etc. Push the apprentices ahead as rapidly as possible. Train them to become first-class box-makers.

A brief description of the Hobbs Automatic Ending Machine will doubtless give the reader an idea of how end-pieces are attached to the flanges of boxes mechanically: This machine is equipped with a form, pasters, a hopper and a feeder, all being adjustable to provide for paper boxes of various sizes. The machine is designed to apply end-pieces to the bottom and sides of a box, causing the ends to adhere to the in-turned flanges at either end of the box. The body of the box is placed upon the form by the operator with the flanges lying flat upon the surface. The end-pieces are placed in a hopper, and the machine automatically feeds the undermost end-piece forward, applies paste to three edges as it is being fed, registers the end accurately with the box-body upon the form, and then presses the end-piece firmly to the flanges. This completes the ending operation.

VARIOUS KINDS OF ADHESIVES.

Various kinds of paste and glue are used for ending work. White Dextrine is recommended for this purpose by many box-makers. Stein, Hall & Company, of New York City, make a Dry Ending Gum, as well as Dry Gums for all classes of paper box work. The “Mikah Cold Glues,” manufactured by the National Glue and Gelatine Works, of New York City, are also well recommended. There are other good glues and pastes on the market.

In addition to the Hobbs Automatic Ending Machines there are several other ending machines in general use which are rendering first class service. The Kingsbury & Davis Double Ending and Quadruple Staying Machine is another “wonder-worker” which is worthy of special mention. It is said that one of these machines will do the same amount of work that can be done on five single enders or stayers.

Some of the larger-size paper boxes which are constructed with flanges and end-pieces, have a strong linen thread running around the sides of the box, near the top, for the purpose of strengthening the corners, the paper covering of the box concealing the thread. Other paper boxes with flanges and end-pieces, have the corners stayed on the outside with Kraft paper in the same way as the smaller-size set-up boxes. Others still have the four top edges and the four corners of the lid stayed with Kraft paper, also the four bottom edges and the four corners of the box stayed with the same material. This makes a box and lid of very strong construction, and as a rule, a box and lid of this kind are not covered with glazed paper, or in fact, paper of any kind, the box-board being allowed to show in its natural color. Many of the larger-size envelope boxes are made in this manner, the corners and edges stayed, but no covering paper applied to either the inside or the outside of the box or lid.

Shoe boxes, in nearly all instances, are stayed at the corners, and afterwards are covered with white glazed paper of an inexpensive grade.

MANY TWO-PIECE BOXES.

Although the great majority of paper boxes of the larger sizes seem to be made on the plan of the flange construction with separate end-pieces, there are also many boxes made from two pieces of box-board—one continuous side-piece, folded and joined at one corner, and a “set-in” bottom-piece. A square-shaped box containing a “neck”, such as is used by manufacturing chemists for magnesia, etc., is often made on this pattern. Writing paper boxes, and other boxes which are high and square in form, are also made in this way.

When a paper box is made on this plan—with one continuous side-piece and a set-in bottom-piece—there is practically no wastage of box-board, for the reason that no corner-pieces are cut out of the stock as would be the case with a one-piece set-up box. The continuous side-piece is scored at three corners, and is joined and stayed at one corner. The body is then set on a form, of the same size as the interior of the box, and while the body remains on the form, the bottom-piece is set in. Strips of stay paper are then pasted to the four edges of the bottom-piece, and to the four bottom edges of the box, so as to hold the body and bottom-piece together. When an extra strong box of this design is wanted, gummed linen tape is used instead of stay paper for holding the body and bottom-piece together. Sometimes the stay paper, or linen tape, is pasted on both the inside and the outside of the box, along the edges of the bottom-piece and body, for the purpose of making an exceptionally strong box.

Paper boxes of the kind which have been described in the last few paragraphs are usually covered, after the staying material has been applied to the corner and at the bottom of the box, with cheviot paper, or with glazed paper in white or color. A large-size, high and square box of this type looks particularly handsome when covered with light gray cheviot paper. The high, oblong box also makes a nice appearance when covered with the cheviot. Trimming of white glazed paper, at the top edges of the lid, and at the bottom edges of the box, forms a good “color scheme” with the cheviot paper, and the trimming enhances the general appearance of the box.

When large-size paper boxes are made with either flanges and side-pieces, or with continuous side-pieces and set-in bottoms, the lid is made on the same pattern as a lid for a plain set-up box, that is with cut-out corners, and with the corners joined together with staying material. In the case of a large-size “telescope” box, however, the lid is made in the same way as the box, the size of the lid being large enough, of course, for the lid to fit over the sides of the box. A “telescope” box is the kind generally used for holding suits, coats, shirt waists, men’s underwear, etc. Boxes of this class are usually low in depth, say about three inches, and are therefore made with cut-out corners, or with folding corners. Some telescope boxes, in the larger sizes, are made as high as 12 inches, both the box and the lid being formed of two separate pieces. We shall endeavor to explain how folding suit boxes are made in another chapter.

EQUIPMENT REQUIRED FOR SMALL PLANT.

While holding an interview with a manufacturer of paper box making machinery who has furnished complete plants for many box-makers during the last two decades, the writer asked the manufacturer to mention the equipment that would be required for a small paper box factory just starting in business. The manufacturer answered that it would be difficult for him to specify the kinds and sizes of the machines necessary for a small new plant, without knowing exactly the class of work which was to be produced. The manufacturer explained, however, that for an ordinary plant where a general line of plain set-up paper boxes were to be made, the following equipment would probably be sufficient in the beginning of the venture:

The corner cutting machine may be equipped with interchangeable dies for cutting round corners, miters for box-bodies with flanges, and odd shapes of many kinds, such as for example, corners for wrappers used on Stokes & Smith machines. All of this work may be done on the single cornering machine in addition to the plain corner cutting for set-up boxes, but it would be necessary to order the special dies as “extras,” as they are not furnished with the regular equipment.

ECONOMY IN POWER EQUIPMENT.

The machines mentioned may be operated by either hand or foot power, or they may be equipped for power fixtures. Power machines are recommended as always being the most economical, as the amount of work produced on power machines is far greater than the amount of work produced by hand or foot power. In many of the big paper box making factories practically all of the machines are driven by individual electric motors, which means that there is no wastage of electric current when all of the machines are not in motion. When individual motors are being used in a plant, no overhead shafting or belting is necessary. Overhead shafting and belting is often responsible for dirt, dust or oil being thrown on expensive material. When steam power, or a single large motor, is used in a plant, it costs money for shafting and belting, and it also costs something to operate the shafting and belting before the power reaches the machines. Belts often break and must be repaired while the machines are standing idle. All of this expense is eliminated by the individual motor system; it helps in maintaining clean work-rooms, and it saves the manufacturer a considerable sum of money on account of the electric current being consumed only at points where the machines are in operation. On occasions when all of the machines are not running, there is a certain reduction in the amount of current used. This is not the case when a single large motor is in service. It spends its power in driving shafting and belting even when only one of the machines is in operation.

With the mechanical equipment which has been suggested for the establishment of a small paper box-making plant, and with a force of experienced operators, the manufacturer would be in a position to produce all kinds of plain set-up paper boxes such as are used for confectionery, shoes, writing paper, collars, envelopes, and so forth. As the business grows other machines of greater capacity may be added to the plant. In due course of time the manufacturer could have a double scoring machine, and perhaps an automatic wrapping machine, installed, but it would not be advisable for the box-maker to invest money in such machines unless he controlled enough business to keep them constantly busy. It would be a mistake for the manufacturer to buy an automatic wrapping machine, or other extraordinary equipment, when he is not sure of having sufficient work to provide for such equipment.

Practically all of the large and successful box-making concerns are specializing in some particular line. For example, one large company is specializing on druggists’ pill and powder boxes. Another firm is making fine candy boxes of all kinds. Still another concern is making nothing except folding boxes. The specialty line seems to be “the thing” in these days, and one can easily understand why it would not pay a manufacturer in attempting to make every variety of paper boxes and folding boxes. It would be almost impossible for him to properly equip his plant with the machinery which would be necessary to handle all classes of work. The folding box business is one branch of the industry; the set-up box business is another branch. Nevertheless, there are some cases where the manufacturer of set-up boxes could add a cutting and creasing department to his plant with advantage, and there are also some instances where the maker of folding boxes could enter the set-up paper box field. But, in no case would it pay the manufacturer to make all kinds of folding and set-up boxes. As a general rule the box-maker should specialize in some particular line.