Flat Bottom Paper Bag Inventor

Margaret eloise knight february 14 1838 october 12 1914 was an american inventor notably of the flat bottomed paper bag she has been called the most famous 19th century woman inventor.

Flat bottom paper bag inventor.

Margaret knight was one of the first women to receive a patent most notably for her invention of the flat bottomed paper bag machine. In 1868 at which time she was living in springfield massachusetts she invented an attachment for paper bag folding machines that allowed the production of square bottomed bags. In 1871 inventor margaret e. After working to improve her invention in boston she patented it in 1870.

In 1883 charles stilwell patented a. Born in york maine knight went to work in a new hampshire textile mill following her father s death when she was still a child. She was working in a paper bag factory when she devised a new way to put together the bags. Knight s invention revolutionized the paper bag industry by replacing the work of thirty people with one machine.

Of course no story of triumph would be complete without a villain. Her invention meant that the bags could be produced efficiently and as a result they became hugely popular. Knight designed a machine that could create flat bottomed paper bags which could carry more than the previous envelope style design. Margaret knight invented a machine that could automatically cut fold and glue flat bottomed paper bags.

The invention of the familiar square or flat bottomed paper bag the grocery bag is commonly but incorrectly attributed to luther childs crowell of boston massachusetts who in 1872 received a patent for an improvement in paper bags. One of margaret knight s best known inventions is a machine that could make flat bottomed paper bags of the kind used in american grocery stores. That idea inspired margaret to create the machine that would transform her into a famous woman inventor. In 1852 francis wolle a schoolteacher invented the first machine to mass produce paper bags.

She later received patents for a dress and skirt shield 1883 a clasp for robes 1884. The flat bottomed paper bags that were in use were made individually by hand. And re using one at the grocery store would not earn you back a nickel. Knight s machine automatically folded and glued paper bag bottoms creating the flat bottom paper bags that are still used to this very day in most grocery stores.

Wolle and his brother patented the machine and founded the union paper bag company. At the time she worked in a factory that produced envelope style paper bags and thought how much easier it would be to pack things if the bag had a flat bottom.