In 1871, Margaret Knight, a cotton mill worker from Springfield, Massachusetts, came up with the idea for the paper bag. She invented a machine that folded and glued paper to form a flat-bottomed brown paper bag, similar to what we use in grocery stores today. Inventing the grocery bag was an idea that she was passionate about, but getting credit for it, well that was another story. In order to apply for a patent she needed a working iron model. She found a shop to build the model, but while it was being created, someone saw the model and stole her idea. He then applied for the patent himself. Margaret was not the type to let go so easily.Margaret Knight's Paper Bag MachineShe filed and won a Patent Interference Lawsuit, and the paper grocery bag making machine was hers again. She went on to establish the Eastern Paper Bag Company and received royalties for years. Still not one to sit on her laurels, Margaret lived a busy life inventing, and by the time she passed away at the age of 76, she had 87 US Patents in her name.In 1912, a grocery store owner named Walter H. Deubner in St. Paul, Minnesota realized that all of his customers only bought as much as they could carry. He realized that if they could carry more in their grocery bag, then they would buy more. Walter began working to improve the paper bag. He developed a way to reinforce the paper with a cord that ran through the bag and also served as a handle. The Deubner Shopping Bag could carry up to 75 pounds, and by 1915 he had patented the bag and was selling them for 5¢ each at a rate of more than 1 million per year. In today's dollars that would be roughly $1.12 per bag. Deubner did not know it at the time, but his grocery bag, which was reusable, was a step in the "green" direction. And as long as consumers continue to demand easy customer-carrying options at the checkout counter, the recyclable paper bags remains the environmentally-friendly sustainable resource that has been around since Margaret invented the bag making machine back in 1871.
