the invention of the egg carton
The Argument That Saved A Million Eggs
How one small town editor in Canada ended a century of broken eggs
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An argument over broken eggs
In 1911 in Aldermere, British Columbia, a farmer delivered a basket of eggs to a hotel and found many cracked. Neither man would pay for the damage, and editor Joseph Coyle overheard the whole argument.
Source: Bulkley Valley Museum
A cardboard slot for each egg
Coyle designed a flat box with a springy V shaped cradle for every egg, holding each one apart from its neighbours so one jolt could not crack the whole batch.
Source: Bulkley Valley Museum
Patented in Canada, 1918
Coyle had advertised his boxes in his own newspaper for 35 cents a dozen since 1915, then patented the design on January 15, 1918, as Canadian Patent number 181662, with agricultural inspector Frederick Dundas Todd listed as co-inventor.
Source: Bulkley Valley Museum
One small idea goes global
Production spread from Vancouver to Los Angeles, then to new factories in Chicago, Pittsburgh, Indiana and New York, where the New York plant alone turned out up to 200 million cartons in a year.
Source: Bulkley Valley Museum
He never got rich from it
His daughter said the Coyle carton made several other people millionaires, but her father was never one of them.
Source: British Columbia Magazine
A century on, a good carton still carries a good egg whole to a Multan breakfast table.
References
- Bulkley Valley Museum virtualbvm.omeka.net
- Bulkley Valley Museum virtualbvm.omeka.net
- Bulkley Valley Museum virtualbvm.omeka.net
- Bulkley Valley Museum virtualbvm.omeka.net
- British Columbia Magazine bcmag.ca
Eggs worth eating every day
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