Carton

A carton is a box or container usually made of liquid packaging board, paperboard and sometimes of corrugated fiberboard. Many types of cartons are used in packaging. Sometimes a carton is also called a box.

Not to be confused with Cartoon.
For people with the surname Carton, see Carton (surname).

Examples of several types of cartons for different products

Types of cartons

Folding cartons
See also: Folding carton
Typical blank for folding carton

A carton is a type of packaging typically made from paperboard that is suitable for food, pharmaceuticals, hardware, and many other types of products.[1] Folding cartons are usually combined into a tube at the manufacturer and shipped flat (knocked down) to the packager. Tray styles have a solid bottom and are often shipped as flat blanks and assembled by the packager. Some also are self-erecting. High-speed equipment is available to set up, load, and close the cartons.

Egg carton
Molded pulp egg cartons, Japan

Egg cartons or trays are designed to protect whole eggs while in transit. Traditionally, these have been made of molded pulp. This uses recycled newsprint which is molded into a shape which protects the eggs. More recently, egg cartons have also been made from expanded polystyrene and PET.

Aseptic carton

Cartons for liquids can be fabricated from laminates of liquid packaging board, foil, and polyethylene. Most are based on either Tetra Pak or SIG Combibloc systems. One option is to have the printed laminate supplied on a roll. The carton is cut, scored, and formed at the packager. A second option is to have the pre-assembled tubes delivered to the packaging plant for completion and filling. These are suited for aseptic processing and are used for milk, soup, juice, etc. Paperboard-based cartons are lighter compared to a similarly sized steel can, but is harder to recycle. Some open-loop recycling operations pelletize or flatten ground-up cartons for use in building materials; closed-loop recycling is possible by separating the layers before processing, though some recyclers only recycle the cardboard fibers.[2]

Perga carton

Perga cartons entered production in 1932 as a leak-proof can during World War I. Jagenberg Werke AG, in Düsseldorf, Germany, patented the design. The carton had a ribbed texture and paper sleeves covered in paraffin material, which provided a seamed structure from base to lid. Most cartons had a capacity of 200 mL. Development of the carton slowed during World War II, but the design would see a revival within European markets in the 1960s.

Gable top
Gable top carton of cream

Gable top cartons are often used for liquid products such as milk, juice, etc. These use polyethylene-coated paperboard[3] or other liquid packaging board and sometimes a foil laminate. Most are opened by pushing open the gables at the top back and pulling the top (spout) out. Some have fitments to assist in opening and eating the contents.[4][5][6][7]

Waxed paperboard beverage carton (historical)

Cuboid waxed paperboard beverage, a formed waxed paperboard plug crimped and sealed, preceded gabled polyethylene-coated paperboard cartons.[8] Waxed paper straws were used to drink.[9] Borden distributed milk in this way.[10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20]

Packaging history

Robert Gair was a Brooklyn printer and paper-bag maker during the 1870s. While he was printing an order of seed bags, a metal rule normally used to crease bags shifted in position and cut the bag. Gair concluded that cutting and creasing paperboard in one operation would have advantages; the first automatically made carton, now referred to as "semi-flexible packaging", was created.[21]

Folded carton

In 1817, the first commercial cardboard box production began, in England.[21] In 1879, Robert Gair, in Brooklyn, New York, operated a factory that die-ruled, cut, and scored paperboard into a single impression of a folded carton.[21] By 1896, the National Biscuit Company was the first to use cartons to package crackers.[22]

During the first decade of the 1900s, G. W. Maxwell developed the first paper milk carton.[5]

Milk carton

In 1908, Dr. Winslow, of Seattle, Washington, described paper milk containers that were commercially sold in San Francisco and Los Angeles as early as 1906.[8][23] The inventor of this carton was G.W. Maxwell.[8] Later, in 1915 John Van Wormer of Toledo, Ohio, received the a patent for the gable-topped, wax-coated, "paper bottle," a folded blank box for holding milk, calling it the "Pure-Pak."[24] The milk carton could be folded, glued, filled with milk, and sealed at a dairy farm.[25] In 1953, Seok-kyun Shin introduced the gable-topped milk carton to Korea.[26] In the 1960s, Mario Lepore, a Detroit engineer designed a machine to fold and seal a gable top paper carton.

In 1957, a paper milk carton company, Kieckhefer Container Co. merged with the Weyerhauser Timber Company of Tacoma, Washington.

Shape
Tetrahedral carton of milk

Although quite often shaped like a cuboid, it is not uncommon to find cartons lacking right angles and straight edges, as in squrounds used for ice cream.

Tetrahedrons and other shapes are available. Cartons with a hexagonal or octagonal cross sections are sometimes used for specialty items.

Materials

Cartons can be made from many materials: paperboard, duplex, white kraft, recycled and many more various plastics, or a composite. Some are "food grade" for direct contact with foods. Many cartons are made out of a single piece of paperboard. Depending on the need, this paperboard can be waxed or coated with polyethylene to form a moisture barrier. This may serve to contain a liquid product or keep a powder dry.


Artistic design and other imagery

In art history, the carton (pronounced the French way) was a drawing on heavy pasteboard or paperboard, used as life-size design for the manufacture in an atelier of a valuable tapestry, such as a gobelin. During the weaving it hung behind the tapestry in the making, a time-consuming process thus in a creative sense simplified to 'mechanical' painting-by-numbers.

As these were extremely valuable, often commanded by the very richest art-buyers, including princes who hung them in their palaces and even took them on their travels as prestigious displays of wealth, often with a visual message, especially the world-famous Flemish ateliers were deemed worthy to have cartons made by some of the greatest graphic artists of the time, including such celebrated painters as Rubens.

In the 1980s, milk cartons in the United States often printed photos of missing children with the hope that someone would recognize the photograph and provide information to police.

Many milk cartons also included advertisements and sponsors. These images and sponsors ranged from DVDs, Cereal, Cartoons, Frozen Dinners, and even the popular band, Plain White T's.[27]

Carton-pierre

Carton-pierre was a material used for the making of raised ornaments for wall and ceiling decoration. It is composed of the pulp of paper mixed with whiting (ground calcium carbonate) and glue, this being forced into plaster moulds backed with paper, and then removed to a drying room to harden. It is much stronger and lighter than common plaster-of-Paris ornaments, and is not so liable to chip or break if struck with anything.

Beverages & snacks found in cartons

There's a plethora of beverages and snacks found within carton-packaging. This includes milk, juices, egg whites, coffee, protein shakes, water, and even snacks like Goldfish and Whoppers.[28]

See also

Notes
  1. "Guide to Carton Boxes and Packaging". Refine Packaging. 10 November 2020. Archived from the original on 3 February 2022. Retrieved 16 December 2022.
  2. Jacewicz, Natalie (9 March 2018). "In The Recycling World, Why Are Some Cartons Such A Problem?". NPR. Archived from the original on 22 September 2019. Retrieved 27 September 2019.
  3. "Carton Recycling". Carton Council. Archived from the original on 9 August 2021. Retrieved 8 August 2021.
  4. "A consumer favourite for more than a century". Elopak. Archived from the original on 6 May 2021. Retrieved 6 May 2021.
  5. "Folded Paper Milk Carton – Ohio History Central". ohiohistorycentral.org. Archived from the original on 8 August 2021. Retrieved 8 August 2021.
  6. Leahy, Cory (8 January 2016). "Food Movers: Paper or Plastic?". Food+City. Archived from the original on 8 August 2021. Retrieved 8 August 2021.
  7. "Surprisingly History Facts of Paper Bottle and FFS Machine | John Van Wormer". 26 February 2021. Archived from the original on 26 February 2021.
  8. "The Paper Beverage Carton: Past and Future". Institute of Food Technologists. Archived from the original on 8 August 2021. Retrieved 8 August 2021. The first records of paper being used to carry liquids on a commercial scale are found in reports, dated 1908, of a Dr. Winslow of Seattle. He remarked on paper milk containers which were invented and sold in San Francisco and Los Angeles by a G.W. Maxwell as early as 1906.
  9. "1888 Heavy-Duty Paper Drinking Straws (Pack of 24)". Archived from the original on 10 August 2021. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
  10. "Wax Paper Milk Carton". 8 August 2021. Archived from the original on 8 August 2021.
  11. "Wax Paper Milk Carton". 8 August 2021. Archived from the original on 8 August 2021.
  12. "Skookum Milk Waxed Carton". iCollect247. 8 August 2021. Archived from the original on 8 August 2021.
  13. "Antiques, Art, Vintage". go Antiques. 8 August 2021. Archived from the original on 8 August 2021.
  14. "2 Vintage Waxed Paper 1qt Milk Cartons Rocky Forest Dairy, Laceyville, Pennsylvania". eBay. 8 August 2021. Archived from the original on 8 August 2021.
  15. "Knudsen 1950's Dairy Half Pint Wax Paper Milk Carton". eBay. 8 August 2021. Archived from the original on 8 August 2021.
  16. "Wax Paper Milk Carton". eBay. 8 August 2021. Archived from the original on 8 August 2021.
  17. "Vintage Kitchen Décor Knudsen 1950's Dairy Half Pint Wax Paper Milk Carton". eBay. Archived from the original on 8 August 2021. Retrieved 8 August 2021.
  18. "Wax Paper Milk Carton". eBay. 8 August 2021. Archived from the original on 8 August 2021.
  19. "Wax Paper Milk Carton". eBay. 8 August 2021. Archived from the original on 8 August 2021.
  20. "2 Vintage Waxed Paper 1qt Milk Cartons RockyForest Dairy Laceyville Pennsylvania". eBay. Archived from the original on 8 August 2021. Retrieved 8 August 2021.
  21. "A History of Packaging". Archived from the original on 25 November 2017. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
  22. The packaging designer's book of patterns. Bilimsel Eserler. 11 July 2000. ISBN 9780471385042. Archived from the original on 10 August 2021. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
  23. Sullivan, Karla Sullivan (26 December 2019). "The best chocolate drinks". Karla Sullivan. Lifetime Chicago. Archived from the original on 6 May 2021. Retrieved 6 May 2021. (Photo) Bordens Dutch Chocolate
  24. "History". Elopak. Archived from the original on 6 May 2021. Retrieved 6 May 2021. 1915 Patent for the gable-topped Pure-Pak granted 1936 First machines installed in US market
  25. Food packaging: principles and practice. CRC Press. 22 September 2005. ISBN 9780849337758. Archived from the original on 29 September 2022. Retrieved 16 October 2020.
  26. Hence, the Edison of Korea, Doctor Shin Seok-kyun, suggested creating packages that would store milk for a prolonged time Archived 18 April 2021 at the Wayback Machine.
  27. Gray, Philip (27 August 2009). "Using Milk-Carton Ads to Build Strong Brands". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 17 April 2023.
  28. admin (7 December 2016). "Food and Beverages You Didn't Know Come in Cartons". Carton Council – Consumer. Retrieved 21 April 2023.

References
  • Yam, K.L., "Encyclopedia of Packaging Technology", John Wiley & Sons, 2009, ISBN 978-0-470-08704-6
  • [1]
  • The Paper Beverage Carton: Past and Future. 1 July 2002, https://www.ift.org/news-and-publications/food-technology-magazine/issues/2002/july/features/the-paper-beverage-carton-past-and-future.[2]
  • [3]
  • [4]
  • [5]
Look up carton in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
  1. "Gable Top Cartons | Gable Top Packaging". Carton Service. Retrieved 16 April 2023.
  2. Kirwan, M. J. (17 March 2011), "Paper and Paperboard Packaging", Food and Beverage Packaging Technology, Oxford, UK: Wiley-Blackwell, pp. 213–250, doi:10.1002/9781444392180.ch8, ISBN 9781444392180, retrieved 16 April 2023
  3. Chertoff, Emily (1 August 2012). "The Surprising History of the Milk Carton". The Atlantic. Retrieved 16 April 2023.
  4. admin (7 December 2016). "Food and Beverages You Didn't Know Come in Cartons". Carton Council – Consumer. Retrieved 16 April 2023.
  5. Gray, Philip (27 August 2009). "Using Milk-Carton Ads to Build Strong Brands". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 16 April 2023.
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