A set-up box must be cut, creased, folded, stayed and covered before it is complete. The lid also must be cut, creased, folded, stayed and covered.
Various kinds of boxboard are used for the making of plain paper boxes, but the three principal kinds used are called “Chip-board,” “News-board” and “Straw-board.” Chip-board is made from pulp formed of all kinds of waste paper. News-board is made from pulp formed of old newspapers. Straw-board is made from straw. These three different kinds of boxboard come from the paper dealers, or from the mills, in various sizes and thicknesses to meet all of the requirements of the box factory.
Chip-board is more generally used for all kinds of plain paper boxes. It is of gray color, and it has rather a rough surface. When the boxes are to be of good quality, like a candy box for instance, the chip-board is lined on one side with white news paper, or white book paper. This lining is done before the boxboard is cut and creased in shape for making the boxes. Many of the larger box-makers do their own lining on a special machine called the Parry Liner, which has been designed especially for the purpose. Other box-makers send the boxboard to outside concerns who make a specialty of lining board for the trade.
Chip-board, news-board or straw-board, when used for the making of ordinary boxes—shoe boxes, for example—is not lined. Better-class boxes, such as are used for holding collars and cuffs, silk shirts, handkerchiefs, neckwear, writing paper, and “white goods” of many varieties, should be lined with white book paper.
The first step toward the making of a paper box is in deciding on the proper measurements. The specifications must indicate the length, width and depth of the box, as well as the length, width and depth of the lid. The length and width of a lid, for a plain set-up box, must of course be slightly larger than the length and width of the box. To ascertain the correct sizes of both the box and its lid, the box-maker first makes models, and after these have been approved, the regular work of making quantities of the boxes is commenced.
Robinson Double Rotary Cutter and Creaser.
The full-size sheets of boxboard are fed into a scoring machine which cuts and creases the sheets to the proper dimensions. Several pieces of board, of the size required for the boxes, or lids, are cut from the sheet with one operation. The machine is equipped with a series of rotary knives and rotary scorers, which can be moved and adjusted to the positions desired. The rotary scorers are like dull knives, and are set up a little higher than the cutting knives; thus they score the sheet instead of cutting completely through it.
Single scoring machines, which score and cut the sheets of boxboard in only one direction, are used in some of the box-making plants. In other plants double scoring machines, which score and cut the sheets in both directions, are in service. The double scoring machine is naturally a big time-saver on large orders for the simple reason that it cuts and scores, both ways, on the sheet without it being necessary for the operator to feed the sheets through the machine a second time.
The cut and scored blanks, when in flat form ready for cornering and folding, appear like this: