A courtier named Ts'ai-Lun, from
Lei-yang in China, was the inventor of paper (not papyrus) circa 105 A.D.
However, the word paper is derived from the name of the reedy plant papyrus,
which grows abundantly along the Nile River in Egypt. Paper is made of
pulped cellulose fibers like wood, cotton or flax. Papyrus is made from
the sliced sections of the flower stem of the papyrus plant, pressed together
and dried.
Left Photo: Greek parchment
paper
General
Papermaking History Paper
Online Starting with the year 3000 BC,
this is a timeline of paper invention.
American
Museum of Papermaking The Robert C. Williams American
Museum is a renowned resource on the history of paper and paper technology.
Virtual Tour Contents Forerunners
to Paper - The Invention of Paper - The Spread of Papermaking in
Europe - The Papermaker - Dard Hunter - Papermaking Moves to the United
States - The Advent of the Paper Machine - Watermarks - The Modern Paper
Mill - Paper in Our Lives - Recycling in the Paper Industry.
A
Short History of Paper and Cardboard You must click on the history button
in the left hand navigation bar. Love the paper surfer.
America's
First Papermill The Rittenhouse Mill - Alex Buntin
established the first commercial mechanical pulp mill in North America
at Valleyfield, Quebec, in 1866. Also see mills
Newsprint Charles Fenerty of Halifax made
the first paper from wood pulp (newsprint) in 1838. Charles Fenerty was
helping a local paper mill maintain an adequate supply of rags to make
paper, when he succeeded in making paper from wood pulp. He neglected to
patent his invention and others did patent papermaking processes based
on wood fiber.
Cardboard
and Packaging
Grocery Paper Bags The first recorded historical reference
to grocery paper bags was made in 1630.
The
History of Paper Sacks The use of sacks only really started
to take off during the Industrial Revolution: between 1700 and 1800.
Grocery
Bags Margaret (Mattie) Knight (1838-1914)
- Knight was an employee in a paper bag factory when she invented a new
machine part to make square bottoms for paper bags. Paper bags had been
more like envelopes before. Knight can be considered the mother of the
grocery bag, she founded the Eastern Paper Bag Company in 1870. Paper Bags On February 20, 1872, Luther Crowell
also patented a machine that manufactured paper bags. A
History of Packaging The first commercial cardboard box
was produced in England in 1817, more than two hundred years after the
Chinese invented cardboard. Corrugated paper appeared in the 1850s; about
1900, shipping cartons of faced corrugated paperboard began to replace
self-made wooden crates and boxes used for trade.
A
History of Packaging The cardboard box emerged at the
end of the 19th century, a simple yet revolutionary invention. An American,
Robert Gair, had the bright idea of manufacturing in bulk a pre-cut cardboard
panel which, once folded, would form a box.
Corrugated
Paper Products In 1856, Englishmen, Healey and
Allen, received a patent for the first corrugated or pleated paper. The
paper was used to line tall men's hats. However, this was not the corrugated
cardboard we know today. On December 20, 1871, Albert Jones of New York
NY, patented a stronger corrugated paper (cardboard) used as a shipping
material. This was the first cardboard and stronger than paperboard. In
1874, G. Smyth built the first single sided corrugated board machine. Also
in 1874, Oliver Long improved upon the Jones patent and invented a lined
corrugated material and this was modern cardboard as we know it today -
which led to the invention of the:
Corrugated Cardboard Box American, Robert Gair promptly invented
the corrugated cardboard box in 1890. These were pre-cut flat pieces manufactured
in bulk that opened up and folded into boxes. Gair made his first plain
paper folding box in 1870.
Containerboard or Corrugated
Containers The first use of corrugated paper
for packaging came in 1871, when an American, Albert Jones, introduced
an idea of wrapping bottles and glass chimneys in it. However, it was the
addition of a liner to one and then to the other side of corrugated paper
that signaled the birth of cardboard as we know it.
Single
Service Disposable Or foodservice
disposables were first made at the beginning of the 20th century. The paper
plate was the first single-use foodservice product invented in 1904. Dixie
Cups Hugh Moore was an inventor who owned
a paper cup factory, located next door to the Dixie Doll Company.
The word Dixie was printed on the doll company's front door. Moore saw
the word everyday, which reminded him of "dixies," the ten dollar bank
notes from a New Orleans' bank that had the French word "dix' printed on
the face of the bill. The bank had a great reputation in the early 1800s.
Moore decided that "dixies" was a great name. After getting permission
from his neighbor to use the name, he renamed his paper cups "Dixie Cups". It
should be mentioned that Moore's paper cups first invented in 1908 were
originally called health cups and replaced the single repeat-use metal cup that
had been used with water fountains.
Wallpaper The Chinese glued rice papers onto
their walls as early as 200 BC - but this was not wallpaper as we know
it today. Paper as a wall covering was first used by the working classes
in Britain and in Europe as a substitute for costly materials. Frenchmen,
Christophe-Philippe Oberkampf invented the first machine for printing wallpaper
in 1785. Frenchmen, Louis Robert invented a way to make an endless roll
of wallpaper around the same time. The earliest wallpapers in England and
France were hand painted or stenciled.
Right Photo: The distribution rights for this
wallpaper design by Joseph Rameé was obtained by the Philadelphia firm of
Messrs. Virchaux & Co. Philadelphia had become the center of wallpaper
production in the United States by the end of the eighteenth century, although
French influence continued to dominate the design of domestic papers. Subjects
ranged from commemorative and panoramic scenes to designs drawn from
architecture and nature, like the garland adorning these two tromp l'oeil
columns.
History
of Paper Mache People have taken the trouble to
conserve and recycle paper ever since it was invented in China.
Wax Paper Two of Thomas
Edison's lesser known inventions include wax paper and the talking
doll.
History
of Paper Dolls First manufactured paper doll: Little
Fanny, produced by S&J Fuller, London, in 1810.
The
Whatmans and Wove Paper The Whatmans were paper inventors,
who invented a new type of paper called wove paper.