Editing Robert Gair

{{Short description|Scottish 19th-century inventor}}

'''Robert Gair''' was a Scottish printer and paper bag maker who invented the [[folding carton]] in 1879.<ref>[https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/9633148 ''Business History of the Robert Gair Company, 1864 to 1927'' by Wilbert Henry Ruenheck, New York University, 1951 (Thesis), p.15.]</ref>

Born in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1839, he emigrated to the United States at age 14. Gair invented the [[paperboard]] folding carton by accident when a metal ruler used to crease bags shifted position and cut the bag. Gair found that by cutting and creasing paperboard in one operation, he could make [[Prefabrication|prefabricated]] cartons. He ultimately entered the [[corrugated fiberboard]] shipping container business in the 1900s. His idea was developed and utilized by [[E. S. & A. Robinson]] with whom he had long-term business dealings.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.binson.co.uk/robinsons/robinsons.htm  |publisher =ES&A Robinson, Darwin, Bernard  |title=Robinsons of Bristol, 1945, p. 37.}}</ref>

Gair founded a paper empire and occupied several buildings in the area of Brooklyn now known as DUMBO, many of which still bear his name.

== References ==

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== External links ==

* [http://nyti.ms/1nESH1j Streetscapes/Robert Gair, Dumbo and Brooklyn; Neighborhood's Past Incised in Its Facades, The New York Times, By Christopher Gray, March 14, 2004.]
* [https://www.amazon.com/Robert-Gair-H-Allen-Smith/dp/B00085KZF2 Robert Gair;: A study, by H. Allen Smith]

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Gair, Robert}}
[[Category:1839 births]]
[[Category:Businesspeople from Edinburgh]]
[[Category:British emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:19th-century American inventors]]
[[Category:19th-century Scottish inventors]]
[[Category:Scottish industrialists]]
[[Category:Year of death missing]]
[[Category:Scottish company founders]]
[[Category:American company founders]]
[[Category:19th-century Scottish businesspeople]]
[[Category:19th-century American businesspeople]]


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