Advances in paper-making began with its modest roots in Egypt using Papyrus. It was the ancient Chinese who made paper from hemp and other cellular materials. The need for newspaper spurred the development of paper from wood pulp by Charles Fenerly in 1838. This sparked amazing technology to produce a blizzard of paper products, including cardboard.
Pleated Paper
The first use for cardboard was for men’s tall hats in 1856. President Lincoln wore one during his presidency. When entrepreneurs saw the product, they found other uses for the new paper. Robert Gair, in 1870, invented the cardboard box. He developed a flat sheet of corrugated paper, when precut could be folded into a cardboard box. The flat sheets made it possible to produce in bulk with easy shipping. By 1874, stronger cardboard was produced for all sorts of shipping challenges such as bottles, jars, and other breakables.
Description of the Corrugated Machinery
This is a massive machine that is as long as a football field. Rolls of draft paper are used as liners and as the corrugator material. The processing steps include:
1. Heating the material
2. Applying adhesives
3. Pressing the paper into cardboard sheets
4. Sending the stock to another machine to cut the sheet for making boxes
Other Essential Elements
Glue is made from starch additives and must be mixed to the required consistency and viscosity. It is applied and heated to bond the paper together. New starch compounds reduced the heat requirements and improved the application procedures.
Advantages to Recycling
Companies that produce cardboard boxes own the forestland for harvesting. Recycling the wastewater and waste paper is the key for these companies to reduce costs. These include:
1. Cardboard recycling
Using discarded cardboard is cheaper and provides a better product over using fresh wood pulp. The used cardboard is soaked in solutions to create new pulp to make the paper that is actually superior to virgin pulp.
2. Improved starch mixing process
New starch mixing systems have precise measurements of starch additives that is done automatically and monitored by computers.
3. Recycled wastewater produces superior products
Producing paper pulp requires great quantities of fresh water. Recycled cardboard consumes less water and reuses the wastewater.