When did cardboard boxes begin to be commercially produced and used by the general public?
Before the US Civil War in the early 1860’s most consumer products were still packaged in paper bags or wrapped in paper. There were about 40 box makers in the US but most boxes were made by hand. At this time Colonel Andrew Dennison developed the Dennison machine to cut the blanks for cardboard boxes but it wasn’t until John T. Robison in 1875 developed the first scoring machine, corner cutter and shears that cardboard boxes could be produced in larger quantities with less human labour involved. In 1879 Robert Gain of America took out a patent for the mechanized process of cutting and creasing board. This process is essentially the same that is used today. The end of World War II in 1945 saw significant improvements made to the machinery used to make cardboard boxes.
