As with many great inventions…corrugated box was made by accident. Originally born in Scotland, Robert Gair invented the corrugated box in 1890.
As a Brooklyn printer & paper[paper?:paper sample maker cutting machine]-bag[bag?:bag paper pattern sample cutting machine] maker in the 1870s, he was printing[printing?:printing cutting finishing solution] an order of seed bags using a metal ruler, which was normally used to crease bags. The ruler shifted in position and cut the bags instead of creasing them. Gair discovered he could make prefabricated paper boxes by cutting and creasing bags in one operation. He realized he could apply this development to corrugated box paperboard once the material became available.
The triangle shape of the internal corrugation is what gives the corrugated box its strength.
