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

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.