Robert Gair develops the folding carton
- When
- 1879
- Where
- Robert Gair Company
- Episodes
- 1
Robert Gair, a Scottish-American printer, developed the folding carton in Brooklyn, New York. While legacy records cite 1890, source passages explicitly date the invention to 1879, noting that mass production processes were developed from an accidental cut in that year. The event focuses on the specific development of prefabricated cartons through cutting and creasing operations.
Episodes
Background and detail
Development. The invention occurred by accident when a metal ruler used to crease bags shifted position and cut the bag. Gair realized that cutting and creasing paperboard in a single operation could create prefabricated cartons. This discovery led to the development of a process for mass production of boxes, establishing the foundation for modern packaging.
Process. In the modern folding carton industry generally, paperboard is printed, laminated, cut, then folded and glued, and cartons are shipped flat to packagers who fold them into final containers. This general process should not be conflated with Gair's specific 1879 method, though the folding carton he developed created the packaging industry as known today, beginning in the late 19th century.
People involved
- Robert Gair · Inventor
Sources
- Robert Gair Wikipedia, revision of 2026-05-27
- Folding carton Wikipedia, revision of 2026-10-07
Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.