The history of corrugated board - from the hat to the cardboard box

Corrugated paper was invented as early as 1856 by two British men, Edward Charles Healey and Edward Ellis Allen. At that time, the paper was used as a stabilizer, namely as an insert for high hats and suitcases. So we owe the development of corrugated board, among other things, to the fashion of the time.

When a pleating machine for ruffles and frills came on the market in 1870, the American Albert L. Jones had the idea of simply running paper through milled rollers. In 1871, he then applied for a patent for his invention "for improving paper for packaging purposes." This corrugated paper was used to wrap bottles and other glass objects in a shockproof manner.

Finally, in 1874, the American Oliver Long achieved an improvement: he glued the corrugated paper web to a smooth paper and thus developed single-sided corrugated board.

In 1882, the American Robert H. Thompson received the first patent for double-sided corrugated board. His company Thompson and Norris developed the first mechanical corrugator. In 1883, the first corrugated board plant was opened in Europe, namely in London. Germany followed in 1886 with a plant in Kirchberg.

The first cardboard boxes were finally developed in 1890 by the Scotsman Robert Gair. He cut sheets of corrugated board so that they could now be folded into a finished cardboard box.