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Saturday 12 January 2013

Packaging methods throughout time

By Ann Daniels


Since time immemorial, wrapping of items such as food and other commodities for transit, has continued. Current inventions such as synthetic wrapping have taken over the art of packaging. The demand amongst customers has increased exponentially, which has helped in the growth of synthetic wrapping of edibles.

Boxes

Originally, storage boxes consisted of calabashes, cowries and vegetation which developed into innovative storage in wooden logs, twisted vegetation and treated animal parts. Contemporary storage boxes are made from cardboard, artificial coverings, iron and transparent obsidian (glass).

Glass containers

These first emerged in the Stone Age from volcanic obsidian, and were used as slicing tools. Glass is one of the unique contemporary covering materials. In 3500 BCE, glass beads were discovered in Early Egypt or Mesopotamia, originating from limestone, soda, sand and silica. These components have not changed to date with advancements seen in the production processes and origin of the materials.

Metals

Solid containers made from iron are also good for storage. Natural compounds are mined from underground and smelted to the original metal. Iron positively influenced human life such that long periods of time were christened after the most common metal at that time, for example the bronze or iron ages.

Mixed metal

Metal has been used as a packaging material since its discovery, despite being a precious commodity that is costly and unavailable. The advent of technology of iron mixtures and affordable metals (alloys), made metal storage popular and common.

Paper packaging

Paper and fabric are original artificial wrapping which has made it easy to wrap items in lesser, prearranged sizes. These are easy to carry around and safeguard items from pollution. Paper wrapping, was initially used in China in 200 BCE, and stand out as one of the Four Great Inventions of China. This expertise steadily extended worldwide to reach Europe in 1300 CE. The procedure of extracting fibre from the soft tissue of timber began in the 1860's and has progressed to date, remaining a key source of fibre.

Plastic

Plastic containers took over from paper as the main form of supple binding resource. Plastics are manufactured from crude oil and have evolved through technological developments in petrochemical processes as well as recent pure chemistry, into plastic polymers. Cellophane is the original plastic created for binding and storage. It was developed in 1912 by Jacques E. Brandenberger and sold to DuPont who went ahead to develop the original processing industry in New York, in 1924.

DuPont

He constructed the initial mechanised factory in 1924 in New York. In 1927, he manufactured a polish that greatly lowered levels of liquid haze in cellophane and opened the way for the enormous groceries covering industry. This led to a major growth in the use of cellophane coverings, due to its advantages which include the ability to be used anywhere, its protective properties as well as keeping edibles fresh for longer periods. This was the genesis of the contemporary plastic industry which is well known and commonly used today.




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