How Paper Boxes Are Made / A practical and instructive book telling how the beginner may manufacture all kinds of paper boxes, with special chapters on the printing department for paper box plants, embossing, gold-leafing, label work, etc.

by Robert F. Salade

Standardization of the styles and sizes of candy boxes is something that is seriously needed in the paper box industry, but standardization cannot always be followed by the manufacturers of candy boxes for the reason that the confectioners often want odd-shaped and special sizes of boxes to make their product more attractive to the public. It is a fact that a beautiful, odd-shaped paper box helps greatly in selling expensive candies, and even a “freak” box that is attractive without being beautiful is nevertheless a powerful selling agent. When the confectioner wants an out-of-the-ordinary box, and is willing to pay the necessary cost, the box-maker should give the confectioner what he wants, but whenever possible to talk the confectioner into using boxes of standard sizes, the box-maker should do so, as the standard styles and sizes of candy boxes will serve well for every practical purpose.

DEMAND FOR SWEETMEATS

With the passing of strong drinks in this country came a greater demand for sweetmeats from every direction. Confectionery and ice cream parlors are taking the places of liquor saloons in many instances. New candy factories are being erected in almost every town and city. American men and women are consuming larger quantities of chocolates, chewing gum and candies than ever before—they are paying high prices for the best sweetmeats, and expensive grades of confections are selling more rapidly than the cheaper grades. All of this means more business for the box-makers, and the box manufacturer who is in a position to make fine candy boxes as a specialty may have all of this class of work that he may care to produce.

Many box-makers are specializing in fancy candy boxes. Their plants are equipped to handle this one line of product to the best advantage. By making a specialty of this line, a great deal of the work can be standardized in such a way that the blanks, wrappers, neck-strips, trimming paper, covering paper, extension bottoms, etc., can be cut to standard sizes. The operators, through working continually on the same styles and sizes of boxes, soon become very efficient, and are capable of producing a larger output than would be the case in a plant that is not specializing on candy boxes. All successful box-makers are specializing in some particular kind of work, and this is a custom which should be more generally followed in the trade.

SYSTEMATIC ARRANGEMENT OF MACHINES

On the next page is a diagram which shows a systematic arrangement of machines for staying and wrapping extension bottom boxes and lids, affixing two laces in each box, and closing the boxes.

The extension bottoms are registered and attached to the box and lid blanks by means of a Stokes & Smith Extension Bottom Gauge, Model W.

The blanks are glued with a hand stencil and are placed in the gauge with the extension bottoms, after which they are delivered to the staying machine, which is elevated on a portable platform.

After the staying operation the boxes and lids are passed through a hopper to the operator of a Stokes & Smith Wrapping Machine.

The operator of the gluing machine places the glued wrappers upon a revolving table within convenient reach of the wrapping machine operator.