1940s
- Published: September 20, 2002, By PFFC Staff
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The 1940s...
Despite the efforts of FDR to keep America out of the war in Europe, the December 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor will mark the US’ entry into WWII. The war will dominate life in the 1940s. War production pulls the US out of the Great Depression. As tens of thousands of men leave for the war, women take their place as the power behind America’s workforce. Radio takes over American culture, as radio programs become family fare, and Frank Sinatra and Dinah Shore are the musical celebrities of the day. As the war ends, and the boys finally come home, things have changed. Women go back to their roles as housewives, but having tasted independence, they will begin the framework for the feminist movement. People are taking a harder look at segregation, and by the decade’s end, radio is being challenged by a new medium that allows people to view popular culture, and the world, in a whole new light -- television.
1940
Hitler’s conquests in Europe are softening America’s isolationist stand as World War II continues. Italy declares war on England and France invades the Balkans. The 1940 Olympics are cancelled due to the international ill will.
July 1940
Great Britain decrees sharp restrictive measures in the manufacture and use of converted paper products. Prohibited are paper handkerchiefs, tablecloths, cups, plates, book wrappers, festoons, and confetti. The precedent for Limitation Order M-241-a, which was later to fall on America, is already set.
January 1941
FDR is inaugurated for a third term in office.
April 1941Anilox, a new ink distributing system for the envelope industry, is developed by International Printing Div. of Interchemical Corp., and under an agreement with IPI, the F.L. Smithe Machine Co. begins manufacturing anilox units for envelope presses.
Aluminum foil shortages lead to an article on the earliest metallizing processes, introduced by Reynolds Metals Co.
October 1941
The Converter runs its first installment of Paper in War section.
America begins to feel the effects of the now growing paper shortage.
December 1941
The Japanese attack the U.S. base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7. America enters WWII the next day after FDR declares war on Japan.
The Converter reports on the introduction of controlled infrared radiation in paper box manufacturing.
1942
Bell introduces the XP-59, the first American jet aircraft.
1942
Kurz Celebrates 50th Anniversary... Est. 1892 kurzusa.com.
North American Manufacturing Celebrates 25th Anniversary... Est. 1917 namfg.com.
January 1942
WWII tightens paper supplies while demands for the substitution of paper products for other critical materials increases.
April 1942
New logo is introduced.
July 1942
Ink is controlled under orders M-53 and P-941.
Paper makes important contributions in the field of military packaging, and the imperative need of developing packages of moisture, vapor-resistant materials occupies the technical research labs of converter’s plants.
September 1942
V-mail comes into existence during the year when the US Post Office inaugurates this new service under Order 17791. Many envelope companies busy themselves with the production of V-mail forms to meet the postal requirements of the Army and Navy as well as the civilian front.
November 1942
Order M-241 freezes paper and paperboard production at the average operating rate for six months. During this time, the government is preparing the outline for Order M-241-a, which vitally affects the operation of paper converters.
December 1942
The paper converting industry begins to feel the severe pinch of the war. All prices move under OPA control. The industry also loses skilled help and the cost of doing business climbs higher.
1943
Stanford Products Is Established... stanfordproductsllc.com.
June 1943
The War Manpower Commission declares essential the production of pulp and certain papers, paperboard, and converted products. Later in the year, the Waterproof Paper Group receives the WMC’s nod, but all so-called "essential industries" soon find that designation by the WMC is not a guarantee of protection of labor pools.
September 1943
Another new logo debuts.
The Army and Navy hold Paper Requirements conference.
November 1943
The nation’s entire paper industry is in acute famine.
1944
The Industrial Packaging Engineers Association of America is organized in Chicago to raise the status of packaging men professionally and to promote the economic welfare of the group.
Windmöller & Hölscher Celebrates 75th Anniversary... Est. 1869 wuh-lengerich.de.
Paper Converting Machine Company Celebrates Its 25th Anniversary... Est. 1919 pcmc.com.
June 1944
The Normandy Invasion takes place on D Day, June 6.
July 1944
Our new logo now carries a tag line -- "Devoted to the Entire Paper Converting Industry."
August 1944
We publish our first supplier/converter directory in four segments: Specialty and Converted Papers; Envelope and Bag; Folding and Set-Up Box; and Converted and Specialty Paper Products.
November 1944
FDR is elected to fourth term.
January 1945
Effective with this issue, we change our name to The American Paper Converter. Adoption of the new title fills a long-felt need for clarification of the magazine’s outlook, says Phil A. Howard, editor and publisher. “Inclusion of the word "Paper" (elastically applied to include both paper and paperboard) will bring closer identity with the industry served. Inclusion of the word "American" will more closely ally the publication with The American Paper Merchant, also published by the Howard Publishing Co.”
The January issue also contains this note from the editor: “A friend, who had managed to burrow his way into a foxhole along the Seigfried Line, wrote just before the German drive, ‘Copies of The Converter arrived today. It seems an honor of a sort, having your good publication in the front lines of the war effort, though the significance of it escapes me.’ We, too, remain dubious regarding the honor-unless it goes to those couriers of the postal service who make such delivery possible. We like to think, though, that Hitler unleashed his drive just to secure those copies and see what American converters are doing.”
February 1945
Phil Howard takes time to grouse on the contents page: “This morning we learn that a man can’t even have a beer after midnight at his favorite tavern, what with Mr. Brynes saving on fuel and on bartenders. Hell of a war, isn’t it, when a man can’t have a beer whenever and wherever he wants it? It’s one of those times to try men’s souls that Tom Paine must have had in mind during the American Revolution.”
March 1945
The American Paper Converter predicts the production of corrugated and solid fiber containers and paper boxes may in 1946 become an $877,650,000 industry if industrial production continues to parallel the nation’s total output of goods and services.
Converters who worked to develop special wartime packages and papers reach the peak of their accomplishments. Multi-wall bag manufacturers learned new techniques working with wet strength papers, flexible sealing compounds for bag ends, acid resistant threads, and waterproof adhesives.
April 1945
Ninety-five days after his inauguration to a fourth term, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt died of brain hemorrhage. Harry Truman was sworn in as America’s 33rd president April 12.
August 1945
President Truman orders the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki leading to the Japanese surrender aboard the USS Missouri on September 1. WWII ends soon after.
All quantity restrictions on the manufacture of the large variety of converted paper and paperboard products covered by the order were removed through revocation of M-241-a. Included were a number of industrial, commercial and household papers in short supply.
1946
The first digital computer is introduced at the Moore School of Electrical Engineering in Philadelphia. The ENIAC was 30 by 60 feet and weighed 60,000 pounds.
January 1946
New logo is introduced. Joseph Peacock’s name appears on masthead again as advertising manager.
February 1946
We sport another new logo.
March 1946
David Schmidt, of Lakewood, OH, develops a transparent bag he dubs “Bag and Method of Making Same,” which is said to be an improvement of other transparent bags that are hard to open and are torn easily.
April 1946
Duorite Plastic Industries, Culver, CA, develops "Plastiglaze," an impregnating solution for paper and other fibrous or porous materials.
March 1947
The first fully automatic hydraulically actuated package-making machine able to produce paper containers from a flat die-cut blank in a continuous operation is introduced by Zinpak Corp.
American Paper Converter runs an article discussing a type of waterproof paper developed during the war. The specialty paper made maps durable in water, mud, and grime on the battlefield.
May 1947
A die-cut folder is used to package and preserve gift-wrapping sets. Designed for last minute wrappings, the portfolio of eight different papers (with specials for weddings, birthdays, and new babies) also comes with matching seals.
July 1947
American Paper Converter discusses the role of metallized paper during the war, attributing it to making possible the defeat of the Nazi U-Boat Wolf Packs. Expendable radio sono buoys were loaded into Navy torpedo bombers ready to be dropped when an initial contact had been made or an enemy U-Boat was suspected. Metallizing paper saved the Navy thousands of tons of vital metal in the production of these sono buoys.
October 1947
Problems with high quality paper sound recording tape are solved! The breakthroughs by 3M pave the way to a new market for specialty treated paper.
November 1947
Managing editor L. Q. Yowell writes, “For more than 15 years, the Conway Building, in which our offices are located, has been known throughout the country as the ‘Paper Center of the Midwest.’ In the paper industry, regardless of the section of the country, the address "Conway Building," has been sufficient in identifying the Chicago location of any company having offices in this building. Now the official name of the Conway Building becomes, on Dec. 1, the "Chicago Title and Trust Building." This transaction has given birth to the rumor that the building will be devoted more and more to the interests of its new owner and tenant and that, in carrying out its program, the management is willing to consider the relinquishment of other tenants. This tale has no basis in facts.”
January 1948
American Paper Converter runs an article focusing on the natives of Puebla Mexico. They have conserved a great deal of their customs, including handmaking paper, which is used exclusively for witchcraft. The article focuses on the meaning and applications of paper products in their rituals.
February 1948
Better Homes and Gardens conducts a survey based on the effectiveness of envelopes in sales. They found that in subscription mailing the type and color of envelope used were very important. Also, they found that since return envelopes were “action stimulators,” the quality of envelope was equally, if not more, important.
March 1948
Bagcraft creates the “doggie bag.”
August 1948
Technical Association of the Pulp & Paper Industry (TAPPI) announces its plans to publish a monthly magazine.
August 1948
L. Q. Yowell, managing editor since October 1945, is named editor.
September 1948
Henry A. Techtmann invents a Hook-’N-Haul Truck. The load is “hooked,” and then the operator pulls backward and slides the load on the balanced tilting carrier.
November 1948
Despite the predictions of pundits, polls, and a now-infamous incorrect newspaper headline, incumbent Harry Truman defeated Thomas Dewey for the U.S. presidency.
February 1949
The American Paper Converter presents an article introducing a new method of corrosion preventive packaging developed by Shell Development Co. The new method is made possible by the discovery of "Vapor Phase Inhibitor (VPI)," a type of synthetic organic material. Paper coated with VPI and then used to wrap or package steel articles is said to be able to prevent corrosion even though no coatings are applied to the metal and no precautions are taken to exclude moisture from the package.
May 1949
Mercury Engineering Corp. introduces its K-series high-speed streamlined blanking and creasing presses which is said to eliminate such problems as sheet length, unsatisfactory cut out, sheeting cost, and loss in handling.
June 24, 1949
Publishing pioneer Phil Howard dies at age 70. L. Q. Yowell writes, “Few men, when their life span is done, can look back upon a tangible accomplishment effected during their lifetime. Phil Howard was one of those men, as the Howard Publishing Co. and its magazines were the result of the consummation of his ideals and dreams. These magazines, founded and dedicated to serving the paper industry and its allied industries, will be continued until further notice by the staff which he had chosen and trained to work with him in making these magazines possible each month.”
August 1949
Joseph S. Peacock, appointed general manager in February 1948, has been named by the board of directors of manage overall operations of the company.
L.Q. Yowell is appointed editor of both The American Paper Converter and sister publication American Paper Merchant.
October 1949
Pearce Development Corp. introduces the Pearce Multi-Converter, designed to both print and fabricate labels, tags, tickets, checks, etc., in one fast continuous motion.
