Who Invented the Paper Shopping Bag?
"Paper or plastic?" is often the first question at the grocery store checkout counter. So who came up with the ingenious folded and glued paper shopping bag design used so prevalently? Read on to get the facts about who, what, when and how the paper shopping bag became such a grocery store staple.
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Who
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Francis Wolle created the first paper shopping bag using a paper bag-making machine he invented and patented first in the United States, and then in France and England.
Advancements
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Margaret Knight gained an additional patent in 1870 for a shopping bag machine that produced square-bottomed bags rather than the envelope-shaped paper bags Wolle created. Chas Stilwell patented a shopping bag machine in 1883 that gave the paper bags pleated sides and the ability to be stacked flat for convenience.
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Time Frame
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The major machine inventions creating the paper shopping bags we see today were developed over a 40-year span from Frances Wolle's patent in 1852 through subsequent patented improvements up to 1890.
Size
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The widely used standard brown paper grocery bag measures 17 inches tall by 12 inches wide, with a 7-inch side gusset. It often includes self-opening thumb notches, and can hold up to approximately 52 lbs.
Significance
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By the early 1930s in the United States, supermarkets became more prevalent and the demand for Stillwell's gusseted paper shopping bag greatly increased, especially since it could stand up by itself and be stacked flat. In 1999, Americans used over 10 billion paper shopping bags.
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