Celebrating the Original Cardboard Manufacturer

Celebrating the Original Cardboard Manufacturer

Did your delivery arrive in a cardboard box this morning? Can you spot one in your fridge? I bet you have a few lurking in your store cupboard!

Almost all of us will encounter a cardboard box at some point during every day. As the most commonly used packaging, with around 5 billion being used every year in the UK alone, it is difficult to avoid them!

The reality is that they are pretty useful for a full range of purposes. As a cardboard box manufacturer, this means that we get to work on a wide variety of designs for many different products and industries.

Where Did It All Start?

There is historic evidence that shows handmade cardboard boxes being used for centuries, but the real revolution came in 1879. A printer and paper bag maker from Brooklyn names Robert Gair was the first to take cardboard engineering to the masses. He designed a machine that could cut and crease cardboard to form pre-fabricated boxes.

Robert Gair was the first cardboard box manufacturer and having patented his work, the idea soon took off. One of the first customers was the National Biscuit Company, who according to records ordered 2 million pre-cut and pre-folded boxes. Even by today’s standards, that would be quite a large order to fulfil!

The idea of creating boxes from corrugated card is simple, yet it provides a practical, lightweight and robust solution for transporting a wide range of goods. It is a concept that has stood the test of time. Even with significant advances in technology, material and design, the cardboard box continues to hold its own.