The Clever Design and Use of the Paper Bag

Before paper bags were invented people used crates. Carrying things in a crate was hard.

Home  | Biography of Margaret E. Knight | The Clever Design and Use of the Paper Bag | Games, Trivia, and Fun Facts  | Links and Books

It is a lot easier to carry a paper bag than a crate.

Try This!

Take an ordinary paper bag and carefully unfold the bottom.  Look at the folds and then think of how hard it must have been before the flat-bottom paper bag machine was invented. Now try putting the bag back together.   

This is Margaret Knight's clever flat-bottom paper bag machine (photograph © 2001, Smithsonian Institution Press.)