Paper Bag Machine

Margaret Knight, USA, patent 116,842 of 1871. The machine that folded flat-bottomed bags.

Overview

Margaret Knight devised a machine that cut, folded and glued flat-bottomed paper bags, which stand up on their own and hold far more than envelope-style bags. While her iron model was being made, Charles Annan copied the design and filed first, arguing that a woman could not have understood the mechanics. Knight produced her drawings, notes and witnesses and won the interference case. She founded the Eastern Paper Bag Company and went on to receive many more patents, becoming one of the best-known women inventors of the 19th century.