CUTTING AND CREASING FOLDING BOXES.

ONE of the most important branches of the paper box industry is that devoted exclusively to the making of all kinds of folding boxes and cartons, and this branch of the business has been growing wonderfully during the last few decades. The manufacturers of folding boxes are in a class by themselves, and as a general rule, they have nothing to do with the making of set-up paper boxes, although some of the larger plants are producing both folding boxes and set-up boxes.

There are good reasons why it would not be advisable for the average box maker to handle both folding boxes and set-up boxes in his factory, and the principal reason is the matter of mechanical equipment. The folding box plant must be equipped with machinery which cannot be used for the production of set-up boxes, and in a like manner, the set-up paper box plant calls for machines that cannot be used for the manufacture of folding boxes. Another fact to consider is that operators on folding boxes are usually skilled only in that line of work, while operators on set-up boxes know but little about the work on folding boxes.

Henry Ford, the automobile king, declares that specializing is the main reason for his great success in business. Says Mr. Ford:

“Any manufacturer or merchant, to be successful, must specialize. Do one thing. Do it well. Sell at one standard price—and you’re just bound to succeed.”

There should be a “tip” here for many a box manufacturer.

Folding boxes are now being used for holding a great variety of merchandise such as, for example, bottles containing medicines, cakes of soap, toothpicks, tubes of tooth paste, bottles of perfume, many different kinds of drugs, brushes, cough drops, cakes and crackers, safety razor blades, powders of various kinds, tools, grass seed, herbs, dried raisins, butter, spices, rice, sugar, absorbent cotton, bandages, etc. This list gives merely an idea of the many different uses for folding boxes, and it would be possible to add to this list hundreds of other articles which are packed in paper cartons. The drug trade alone uses great quantities of the smaller-size folding boxes for holding pills, tablets, medical goods, etc. Countless numbers of the larger size cartons are used for holding cereals, cake, tea, dozen lots of cigarette packages, dry goods, etc.

A folding box, or carton, is made from a single piece of cardboard, cut and scored in such a manner that it may easily be folded and glued together so as to form a complete box. The cutting and creasing dies are made by the box maker, from steel cutting and creasing rules. The blank sheets of stock are cut and creased, with the steel dies, on either platen presses or cylinder presses. The cut out sheets are then glued together at two ends on a gluing machine.

EQUIPMENT REQUIRED FOR A SMALL CUTTING AND
CREASING PLANT.

With this equipment, the box maker would be in a position to make all kinds of steel cutting and creasing dies for every variety of folding boxes, also all shapes of steel cutting dies for cut-outs of advertising novelties, cardboard fans, odd shapes for fancy boxes, etc. With this equipment, the box maker could also manufacture all sizes and all styles of folding boxes up to those requiring blanks of cardboard as large as 20 × 28 inches. It is the writer’s purpose to explain all the technical work necessary in the making of the steel dies, made-ready on the presses, and other practical work relating to the making of folding boxes, cartons, advertising novelties and so forth, and if this information is carefully studied and followed, the apprentice in box making should have no difficulty in producing all of the work in question.

KIND OF PAPER STOCK USED FOR FOLDING BOXES.

The ordinary news-board, chip-board and straw-board, such as used for the manufacture of set-up boxes, is not adapted to folding boxes for the reason that these boards have a tendency to break when folded. The stock used for folding boxes includes Manila tag-board, bristol-board, clay coated Manila, Manila-lined board, and other kinds of pasted boards which are tough and flexible. Coated box-board comes in white, colors and tints. One side is coated in white, color or tint, the other side being of Manila. When the box is to be printed, the printing is done on the coated side. This stock comes 500 sheets in a ream, size 22½ × 28½, the weight running from 90 pounds to 200 pounds per ream. This stock also comes in rolls, and may be run in rolls on rotary printing presses.

Among the well known firms who supply folding box-board of all kinds, are the following: A. Hartung & Company, of Philadelphia; Berton C. Hill Company, of New York City; Baird & Bartlett Company, of Boston, Mass.; C. L. LaBoiteaux Company, of Cincinnati, Chicago, Cleveland and New York City, and the White Pigeon Coated Paper Company, of White Pigeon, Mich.

MAKING THE “DUMMY” FOR A FOLDING BOX.

The “dummy,” or pattern, for a folding box is the first requisite. For example, a carton is wanted for holding a glass jar of cold cream. If any printed matter, such as a booklet, directions for using the cold cream, etc., is to be packed with the jar, inside the carton, this must be considered when determining the size of the folding box.

Attach the printed matter to the jar, held with rubber bands. Then place two blocks of wood on either side of the jar, the blocks and jar standing on a table. The blocks should stand close to the jar and its printed matter. Now lay a ruler across the jar and blocks, and the ruler will give the dimensions for the top and bottom of the box. Next, lay the jar on its side, and set the two blocks at the top and bottom of the jar. Span the ruler across the blocks. This will give the dimensions for the height of the box. This same method is used in taking the measurements for all kinds of boxes.

By opening flat some carton which is nearly the size and style of the new carton desired, the box maker will have an idea of the layout for the die which will be necessary for the new carton. Follow the measurements taken with the aid of the blocks, and with pencil, ruler, penknife and blank sheet of stock, make up a dummy for the desired folding box. When completed, the flat dummy will appear like this diagram:

This dummy will serve the box maker in measuring off the sizes of steel cutting and creasing rule which will enter in the construction of the die. Before attempting to describe the building of the steel die, however, the writer believes that it would be well to give details about the furniture and other material used in the building of the die, so that the reader will become familiar with this material as it is handled in the proper order. Later on complete information will be given about the construction of the die, the make-ready of the forms on the presses, “corking,” striping, and so on.

KINDS OF FURNITURE USED IN MAKING DIES FOR
FOLDING BOXES.

Cherry, or black walnut, is excellent material for blanking out large steel dies, as cherry and black walnut are woods which are not greatly affected by atmospheric changes. A soft wood, like white pine, for example, would readily take moisture in damp weather, expanding enough to throw the rules in a die out of register with the make-ready on the press, and this would mean damage to the make-ready as well as changes in the sizes of the boxes which are being cut out. The Cherry Lumber Company, of Cincinnati, O., supplies first class cherry and black walnut wood in strips, and from these strips the box maker may cut the pieces of blanking-out furniture to the sizes required for the steel die. This wood is about ¹¹/16 of an inch in thickness, which is the right height to hold the steel cutting and creasing rules firmly in a vertical position, and on extremely heavy forms it would prevent possible bending of the rules. The box maker uses a power circular saw in cutting this wood to the wanted sizes. The sawing must be done truly vertical, as even a slight angle on the end or side of a piece of wood furniture would cause the rule coming in contact with that end or side to have the same angle, resulting in that rule cutting lower than another rule which was absolutely true, vertically, and it would also affect the face-size of the die to some extent. This means that no furniture for die-blanks should be cut with a hand saw, as hand sawing is seldom accurate.

The box maker saves the pieces of cherry and black walnut, when old dies are broken up, and these pieces of wood are used again in building other dies.

Steel, iron and lead labor-saving furniture is also largely used in the construction of steel dies, and in many instances, series of small dies for drug cartons, etc., are entirely blanked out with labor-saving lead or iron furniture. What is called “improved metal furniture” (lead) in the printing trade is very useful for the box maker. This furniture comes in many different sizes—standard sizes—and is stored in cabinets which have compartments for each size. Within a short time the box maker becomes familiar with the standard sizes, and when blanking out a die he can tell at a glance what sizes of metal furniture are needed to fill in the blank places. The sizes of this improved metal furniture are known as “2 × 4 ems,” (pica); “3 × 4 ems,” (pica), and so on up to the larger sizes. Often, the smaller sizes of metal furniture are used in conjunction with larger sizes of cherry or black walnut wood to fill in the blank places of spacious dies.

STEEL FURNITURE USED.

Steel sectional furniture, notched at the ends, is also used for building spacious steel dies. This steel furniture (as well as the iron and lead furniture) may be bought in regular fonts, or complete sets, from the American Type Founders’ Company, Jersey City, N. J., or from any of the printers’ supply houses. These concerns also supply the cabinets for holding the furniture conveniently. For the information of those not acquainted with the printing terms, it is explained that the term “point” in printing means 72 points to an inch. The steel sectional furniture comes in 24-point width with 12-point notches at the ends; 36-point wide with 18-point notches; 48-point wide with three 12-point notches; and 54-point wide with two 18-point notches. It also comes in a full range of lengths, all the way up to 24 inches long.

With four pieces of this sectional furniture almost any size square or oblong frame, up to 24 inches, may be formed simply by putting the four pieces together. The frame is used for blanking out a square or oblong space in the die-form. At times several squares and oblongs can be made in this way and used instead of wood blocks or small pieces of metal furniture. The steel sectional furniture is absolutely accurate and it can be assembled very rapidly.

Plain iron furniture is to be had in a large number of standard sizes, but the smaller sizes are used by many box makers for blanking out portions of steel dies, the larger spaces in the form being filled in with blocks of cherry or black walnut. The iron furniture is comparatively inexpensive, and it will stand hard service for a life-time.

Enlarged iron furniture comes in many different sizes and is particularly adapted to blanking out extra-large dies. The larger sizes of this material, such as for example, 25 × 100 ems (pica), are very popular with die-makers. In each piece of enlarged iron furniture are two round holes, on the top so to speak, enabling the die-maker to handle the piece of furniture easily by means of the round holes. (Pica means 12 points in printing parlance.)

Mammoth iron furniture is made on the order of enlarged iron furniture, and it comes in pieces as large as 60 × 120 ems (pica.) Round holes are in each piece, making it light in weight and easy to handle. Special cabinets are furnished for the enlarged and mammoth furniture. The cabinets are subdivided for holding the different sizes of material, and by looking over the contents of these compartments, the die-builder can see exactly what sizes of furniture is available to suit the requirements of each die. The cabinets save a great deal of time, as the die-maker does not have to “sort out” the furniture from a “mixed” assortment of sizes.

In these days of high wages and short working hours, the folding box maker should have a plentiful supply of both wood and metal furniture, and the furniture should be systematically stored in cabinets so that the die-maker can work to the best advantage. A plentiful assortment of improved metal furniture, plain iron furniture, and enlarged or mammoth iron furniture, in cabinets, will pay big dividends in any folding box plant.

STEEL CUTTING RULES AND STEEL CREASING RULES.

All dies used for cutting and creasing folding boxes are constructed of steel cutting rules and steel creasing rules, and with the proper material and devices, the box maker will have no difficulty in building his own dies to suit all requirements.

The apprentice in the folding box industry should carefully note the fact that there are two kinds of steel cutting rule—one kind is called “hard” cutting rule, the other kind is known as “soft” cutting rule. The hard steel cutting rule is used for all straight-line die work which does not call for the rules being bent into round, oval or odd shapes. The soft steel cutting rule is used in all cases where rule-bending is to be done. For example, a die having round corners for the flaps of folding boxes would call for the use of soft cutting rule in forming the round corners. All odd-shaped dies, such as dies for cutting hearts, semicircles, ovals, etc., are made of soft steel cutting rule on account of the soft rule bending to the special shapes easily. “Square” dies for cutting diamonds, oblongs, crosses, keystone, and other straight-line work of this class, are made of hard steel cutting rules.

The “hard” and “soft” steel cutting rule, and the regular creasing rule, comes in strips from 24 to 30 inches long, and is sold by the foot. The standard height of steel cutting rule is .923 in. The standard height of steel creasing rule is .918 in. Both the cutting and creasing rules are made in various thicknesses, from 2-point size up to 6-point size, but the 2-point cutting and creasing rules will do for the greater portion of all folding box work. The following list will give the reader an idea of the standard kinds of steel cutting and creasing rules:

The Simonds Manufacturing Company, of Fitchburg, Mass., is a large manufacturer of all varieties of steel rule for cutting, scoring or perforating. This concern is in a position to furnish the folding box maker with any kind of steel cutting or steel creasing rule. The American Type Founders’ Company, of Jersey City, N. J., or any of the printers’ supply houses, will also furnish the box maker with steel cutting or scoring rule.

THE WORK-BENCH FOR THE FOLDING BOX MAKER.

A good, substantial work-bench, fitted with drawers, tools, vise, steel rule cutter, etc., is an essential for the folding box maker. The box maker who is “handy” may readily build his own work-bench with the necessary lumber, but for the information of those who may not know about it, the American Type Founders’ Company has a steel work-bench which is very convenient for the purposes of a folding box making plant. On request, this company will send illustrated circulars describing this steel work-bench.

THE STEEL RULE CUTTER AND THE STEEL RULE BENDING
MACHINE.

While it is possible for the folding box maker to cut steel rules to all required sizes for dies on an ordinary lead and rule cutter, such as is used in a printing office, nevertheless the writer strongly advises the installation of a “Hercules” Steel Rule Cutter in the folding box factory. This device is made by J. F. Helmold & Brother, of 1462 Hamburg street, Chicago. It is especially built for cutting all thicknesses of steel cutting, or steel scoring rule, to any lengths wanted.

If the box maker desires to cut steel rule on an ordinary printers’ lead and rule cutter, this device must be kept in first class order, and the cutting must be done in that part of the machine which is intended to cut only heavy brass rule.

The Multiform Rule Bender is an excellent device for bending steel rule. It is made by the J. A. Richards Co., of Kalamazoo, Mich. This concern also makes steel rule cutters, combination rule benders, box maker’s special saws, etc.

The “Eureka” Rule Press, or steel rule bender, is another great time-saving device for any folding box factory. This machine is made by J. F. Helmold & Brother, of Chicago. This Rule Press, with its equipment of molds, is capable of bending steel rule to any of the odd shapes required in steel rule dies for folding boxes or cartons.

Some die-makers do all of the steel rule bending with the aid of a powerful vise and pliers of various sizes. The steel cutting rule is heated by means of a gas flame so that the rule may be bent more easily. When working with the heated rule the die-maker wears heavy canvas gloves to protect his hands from the hot rule. After the heated rule has been bent to the wanted shape, heat the rule again and immerse in cod oil. This re-tempers the rule.