• Question: who invented cardbord ?x

    Asked by saffroncumner to Alastair, Emma, Hywel, Keith, Vicki on 15 Jun 2010 in Categories: .
    • Photo: Emma Carter

      Emma Carter answered on 15 Jun 2010:

      Hi,

      I have no idea who invented cardboard! I’d Google it if I were you 😉

    • Photo: Hywel Vaughan

      Hywel Vaughan answered on 15 Jun 2010:

      Hi Saffron,
      That’s a difficult one to answer, mainly as there are several types of ‘cardboard’. If you are referring to corrugated card (what I immediately think of when someone says cardboard!) then from what I can find it was patented first in 1856 as a liner in hats and then later in 1871 by Albert Jones in New York… Hope that helps!

    • Photo: Vicki Stevenson

      Vicki Stevenson answered on 15 Jun 2010:

      good one! I had to go and look up the answer!
      Flat cardboard was invented in China sometime in the 15th century. Boxes made out of flat cardboard (like cereal boxes) were produced from 1817. Corrugated cardboard was patented in 1856 by Healey and Allen, but originally it was called pleated paper and was used to line tall hats!

    • Photo: Alastair Sloan

      Alastair Sloan answered on 15 Jun 2010:

      You have come up with some great questions Saffron – I’ve had to spend some time on this one!

      Cardboard is actually a general term for all heavy duty paper. Corrugated paper (lots of sheets of paper placed into stacks) was patented in Britain in the 1856 as it was used as a packing for top hats!!! The inventors were Healry and Allen. This idea was improved to create a corrugated cardboard box by an American called Albert Jones. So I guess that these people should be credited with inventing cardboard.

      But – if you read hstory documents carefully, you will see that the ancient Chinese had a long tradition for papermaking so they may have developed the prototype cardboard.

    • Photo: Keith Brain

      Keith Brain answered on 15 Jun 2010:

      A history question! Eek! I did a “G.o.l.” search and found out that something exciting happened in about 1817, but I’ll let you search for more: try searching “cardboard history”. Interesting stuff – I think that Hywel’s expertise might be helpful here; plenty of structural rigidity and the joy of triangles in cardboard methinks.

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