I Can’t Sleep - Cardboard | Calm Bedtime Reading for Sleep

Episode Date: October 18, 2022

Unwind with this calm bedtime reading as Benjamin explores the story of cardboard, helping you relax and ease insomnia. You’ll learn how this everyday material is made, its history, and its many use...s in packaging, storage, and creativity. Benjamin’s soothing cadence transforms practical details into peaceful storytelling that reduces stress and quiets the mind. This isn’t whispering or hypnosis—just gentle, fact-filled narration designed to guide you into rest. Press play, settle in, and let this exploration of cardboard carry you into a deep and refreshing sleep. Want More? Request a Topic: https://www.icantsleeppodcast.com/request-a-topic Ad-Free Episodes: https://icantsleep.supportingcast.fm/ Shop Sleep-Friendly Products: https://www.icantsleeppodcast.com/sponsors Join the Discussion on Discord: https://discord.gg/myhGhVUhn7 This content is derived from the Wikipedia article on Cardboard, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) license. Read the full article: Wikipedia – Cardboard. Happy sleeping! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Starting point is 00:00:03 You're listening to a Glassbox media podcast. What if I told you that most of the modern day self-help advice you've been hearing could actually make you worse? The key to a better life isn't about feel-good gimmicks that sound catchy. The Mentally Stronger Podcast gives you access to a licensed therapist who shares science-backed tools that will actually change your life. Hi, I'm Amy Morin, psychotherapist, mental strength trainer, and international best-selling author. In each episode, we cover research-back strategies, like how to stop relying on willpower and start creating habits for lasting change. And the five mental strength-building exercises you can do from your couch.
Starting point is 00:00:49 I also speak to world-class experts like Dr. Nicole Kane, who shares how to permanently heal anxiety by addressing the root cause. With over 200 episodes in our catalog, this podcast is for you if you're ready to crush self-doubt, conquer challenges, and become stronger than ever with therapist-approved strategies that can change your life. Listen to Mentally Stronger with Therapist Amy Morin, wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to the I Can't Sleep podcast, where I read random articles from across the web to bore you to sleep with my soothing voice. I'm your host, Benjamin Boster. Today's episode is from a Wikipedia article titled, Cardboard. Cardboard. Cardboard.
Starting point is 00:01:35 is a generic term for heavy paper-based products. The construction can range from a thick paper known as paperboard to corrugated fiber board which is made of multiple piles of material. Natural cardboards can range from gray to light brown and color depending on the specific product. Dyes, pigments, printing, and coatings are available. The term cardboard has general use in English and French, but the term cardboard is deprecated in commerce and industry as not adequately defining a specific product.
Starting point is 00:02:12 Material producers, container manufacturers, packaging engineers, and standards organizations use more specific terminology. Statistics In 2020, the United States hit a record high in its yearly use of one of the most ubiquitous manufactured materials on Earth, cardboard. With around 80% of all the products sold in the United States being packaged in cardboard, over 120 billion pieces were used that year. In the same year, over 13,000 separate pieces of consumer cardboard packaging was thrown away by American households, combined with all paper products, and this constitutes almost 42% of all solid waste generated by the United States annually. However, despite the sheer magnitude of paper waste, the vast majority of it is composed of one of the most successful and sustainable packaging materials of modern times.
Starting point is 00:03:15 Corrugated cardboard, known industrially as corrugated fiberboard. Types Various cardstocks Various types of cards are available, which may be called cardboard. Included are thick paper of various. types or pasteboard used for business cards, aperture cards, postcards, playing cards, catalog covers, blinders board for bookkeeping, scrapbooking, and other uses which require higher durability than regular paper. Paperboard. Paperboard is a paper-based material,
Starting point is 00:04:00 usually more than about 10 mils thick. It is often used for folding cartons, set-up boxes, carted packaging, etc. Configurations of paperboard include container board used in the production of corrugated fiberboard, folding box board, comprising multiple layers of chemical and mechanical pulp. Solid bleached board, made purely from bleached chemical pulp and usually has a mineral or synthetic pigment. Solid unbleached board, typically made of unbleached chemical pulp.
Starting point is 00:04:34 White-lined chipboard, typically made, from layers of waste paper or recycled fibers, most often with two to three layers of coating on the top and one layer on the reverse side. Because of its recycled content it will be gray from the inside. Binders board, a paper board used in book binding for making hard covers. Currently, materials falling under these names may be made without using any actual paper. Corrigated fiberboard corrugated fiber board is a combination of paperboards, usually two flat liners and one interfluted corrugated medium. It is often used for making corrugated boxes for shipping or storing products.
Starting point is 00:05:22 This type of cardboard is also used by artists as original material for sculpting. Recycling Most types of cardboard are recyclable. Boards that are laminids, wax-coated, or treated for wet strength are often more difficult to recycle. Clean cardboard, i.e. cardboard that has not been subject to chemical coatings, is usually worth recovering, although often the difference between the value it realizes and the cost of recovery is marginal. Cardboard can be recycled for industrial or domestic use.
Starting point is 00:06:01 For example, cardboard may be composted or shredded for animal bedding. History. The material had been first made in France in 1751 by a pupil of Romier and was used to reinforce playing cards. The term cardboard has been used since at least 1848 when Anne Bronte mentioned it in her novel, the tenant of Wild Fell Hall. The Kellogg brothers first used paperboard cartons to hold their flake corn cereal, and when they began marketing it to the general public, a heat sealed back. of wax paper was wrapped around the outside of the box and printed with their brand name.
Starting point is 00:06:45 This development marked the origin of the cereal box, though in modern times the sealed bag is plastic and is kept inside the box. The Kikifer Container Company, run by John W. Kikoffer, was another early American packaging industry pioneer. It excelled in the use of fiber shipping containers, particularly the paper milk carton. Cardboard box. Cardboard boxes are industrially prefabricated boxes, primarily used for packaging goods and materials. Specialists in industry seldom use the term cardboard because it does not denote a specific material. The term cardboard may refer to a variety of heavy paper-like materials, including cardstock, corrugated fiberboard, and paperboard. Cardboard boxes can be readily recycled.
Starting point is 00:07:42 Terminology Several types of containers are sometimes called cardboard box, a box or carton of cream of wheat cereal, hard cigarette pack or paperboard box, corrugated box used for storage of archives, Uhoo drink boxes, milk and gable top carton, set-up box made of non-bending,
Starting point is 00:08:07 paper board. In business and industry, material producers, container manufacturers, packaging engineers, and standards organizations try to use more specific terminology. There is still not complete and uniform usage. Often the term cardboard is avoided because it does not define any particular material. Broad divisions of paper-based packaging materials are paper is thin material mainly used for writing upon, printing upon, or for packaging. It is produced by pressing together moist fibers, typically cellulose pulp derived from wood, rags, or grasses, and drying them into flexible sheets. Paperboard, sometimes known as cardboard, is generally thicker, usually over 0.25 millimeters or 10 points than paper. According to ISO standards, paper board is a paper with a basis-wayed
Starting point is 00:09:06 gramage above 224 grams per meter squared, but there are exceptions. Paperboard can be single or multi-ply. Corrugated fiber board, sometimes known as corrugated board or corrugated cardboard, is a combined paper-based material consisting of a fluted corrugated medium and one or two flatliner boards. There are also multiple names for containers. A shipping container made of corrugated fiber board is sometimes called a cardboard box, a carton or a case. There are many options for corrugated box design. A folding carton made of paperboard is sometimes called a cardboard box. A set-up box is made of non-bending grade of paperboard and is sometimes called a cardboard box.
Starting point is 00:10:00 Drink boxes made of paperboard laminates are sometimes called cardboard boxes, cartons, or boxes. History. The first commercial paper board, not corrugated box, is sometimes credited to the firm M. Treverton and Son in England in 1817. Cardboard box packaging was made the same year in Germany. A Scottish-born Robert Gere invented the pre-cut cardboard or paperboard box in 1890. Flat pieces manufactured in bulk that folded into boxes. Gare's invention came about as a result of an accident. He was a Brooklyn printer and paper bag maker during the 1870s, and one day while he was printing an order of seed bags,
Starting point is 00:10:50 a metal ruler normally used to crease bags shifted in position and cut them. Gare discovered that by cutting and creasing in one operation, he could make prefabricated paperboard boxes. Applying this idea to corrugated boxboard was a straightforward development when the material became available around the turn of the 20th century. Cardboard boxes were developed in France about 1840 for transporting the Bombix Moray moth and its eggs by silk manufacturers, and for more than a century, the manufacturer of cardboard boxes
Starting point is 00:11:26 was a major industry in the Valraeus area. The advent of lightweight flake cereals increased the use of cardboard boxes. The first to use cardboard boxes as cereal cartons was the Kellogg Company. Corrugated, also called pleaded paper, was patented in England in 1856, and used as a liner for tall hats. The corrugated boxboard was not patented and used as a shipping material until the 20th of December 1871. The patent was issued to Albert Jones of New York City for single-sided single-face corrugated board. Jones used the corrugated board for wrapping bottles and glass lantern chimneys. The first machine for producing large quantities of corrugated board was built in 1874 by G. Smith,
Starting point is 00:12:20 and in the same year, Oliver Long improved upon Jones's design by inventing corrugated board with liner sheets on both sides. This was corrugated cardboard as we know it today. The first corrugated cardboard box manufactured in the U.S. was in 1895. By the early 1900s, wooden crates and boxes were being replaced by corrugated paper shipping cartons. By 1908, the terms corrugated paperboard and corrugated cardboard were both in use in the paper trade, crafts and entertainment. Cardboard and other paper-based materials, paperboard, corrugated fiberboard, etc., can have a post-primary life as a cheap material for the construction of a range of projects, among them being science experiments, children's toys, costumes, or insolative lining. Some children enjoy playing inside boxes. A common cliche is that if presented with a large and expensive new toy, a child will quickly become bored with the toy and play with the box. instead. Although this is usually said somewhat jokingly, children certainly enjoy playing with boxes, using their imagination to portray the box as an infinite variety of objects. One example of this in
Starting point is 00:13:44 popular culture is from the comic strip Calvin and Hobbs, whose protagonist Calvin often imagined a cardboard box as a transmogrifier, a duplicator, or a time machine. So prevalent is the cardboard box's reputation as a plaything that in 2005, a cardboard box was added to the National Toy Hall of Fame in the U.S., one of very few non-brand-specific toys to be honored with inclusion. As a result, a toy house, actually a log cabin, made from a large cardboard box, was added to the hall, housed at the Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, New York. The Metal Gear series of stealth video games has a running gag involving a cardboard box as an in-game item, which can be used by the player to try to sneak through places without getting caught by enemy centuries.
Starting point is 00:14:42 Housing and furniture Living in a cardboard box is stereotypically associated with homelessness. However, in 2005, Melbourne architect Peter Ryan designed a house composed largely of cardboard. More common are small seatings or little tables made from corrugated cardboard. Merchandise displays made of cardboard are often found in self-service shops. Cushing Mass and viscosity of the enclosed air help together with the limited stiffness of boxes to absorb the energy of oncoming objects.
Starting point is 00:15:24 In 2012, British stuntman Gary Connery safely landed via wingsuit without deploying his parachute, landing on a 3.6-meter high-crushable runway, built with thousands of cardboard boxes. See also Wikimedia Commons as media related to cardboard boxes. Banana box, a type of cardboard box designed for transportation of bananas. Eurocontainer, a system for boxes that can be used for reusable packaging for transport and storage. The Adventure of the Cardboard Box, a Sherlock Holmes story. Eurocontainer A Eurocontainer also called Eurobox, Eurocrate, or KLT Box,
Starting point is 00:16:12 from German Klein-Laudenstregor, small load carrier, is an industrial stacking container conforming to the VDA-4500 standard. A standard was originally defined by the German Association of the Automotive Industry, VDA, for the automotive industry, but was subsequently adopted across many other areas of manufacturing and the shipping industry. The most common sizes are 600 by 400 millimeters and 400 by 300 millimeters, which can be stacked together to fill a Euro palette measuring 1,200 by 800 millimeters. Dimensions Eurocontainers are based around two standard heights of 147.5 millimeters and 280 millimeters.
Starting point is 00:17:01 including a 15 millimeters overlap in the vertical direction, the height of the feet or base stacked into the lip of the box below. These containers are manufactured typically in gray polypropylene to another thermoplast by injection molding. Containers with full floor and walls are watertight. Many designs have at least two or four, often for rectangular rounded grip holes near the middle of the lips. The design may include some small holes in the lowest parts of at least two walls to let liquid run out if stored outdoors in rain or after washing. Walls constructed as grids allow one to see from the side into the box. If the bottom is formed by a grid too, air may flow easily through even stacked boxes to keep bakery dry or allow quick cooling. Eurro containers mounted on the
Starting point is 00:17:59 rear rack of a bicycle or small motorcycle are widely used by newspaper deliveries in Austrian towns. A euro container fits between the frame tubes in the low transportation bay of the Danish freight bike bullet. Related standards The 400 by 300 millimeter sizes and stacking height were adopted in the early 1990s for inner stacking sustainer boxes. Milk crate. Milk crates are square or rectangular interlocking boxes that are used to transport milk and other products from dairies to retail establishments. In English-speaking parts of Europe, the term bottle crate is more common, but in the United States the term
Starting point is 00:18:47 milk crate is applied even when the transported beverage is not milk. History The dimensions of the milk crate may have been influenced by the dimensions of the tea chest. For all practical purposes, both hold similar internal volumes. The tea chests are designed for shipping over the open ocean. The bottle crate emerged after the tea chest was a de facto shipping method. The plastic milk crate is claimed as an Australian invention produced through a period of trial and error in design. by the dairy farmers cooperative milk company in the 1950s and 60s. Design
Starting point is 00:19:31 Middle 20th century bottle crates were made of wood, later ones were stainless steel, and those made in the latter part of the century were of heavy-duty polyethylene. The most common milk crate sizes are designed to carry several one-US gallon milk jugs. Some 12-inch by 12-inch milk crates have a height of 10 and 1.5 inches, but this may vary. Uses and recycling. Milk crates are often stolen for either personal or business use or for the plastic that they are made out of.
Starting point is 00:20:09 Thief of milk crates can cost dairy's millions of dollars per year. This has led at least one dairy farm to hire a private investigator to discover what is happening to the crates. The results of investigations point to plastic resellers, being the culprits in the majority of thefts. Alternate shipping methods In July 2008, Walmart and some other stores introduced a square milk jug that does not need to be transported in a crate. Sometimes called green milk jugs, they are not green in color but rather are claimed to be environmentally friendly.
Starting point is 00:20:50 These new milk jugs are stackable and can be transported without crates. Companies need not buy plastic for the crates nor transport or water. wash them. Reusable packaging. Reusable packaging is manufactured of durable materials and is specifically designed for multiple trips and extended life. A reusable package or container is designed for reuse without impairment of its protective function. The term returnable is sometimes used interchangeably, but it can also include returning packages or components for other than reuse. Recycling, disposal, incineration, etc. Typically, the materials used to make returnable packaging include steel, wood, polypropylene sheets, or other plastic materials. Reusability of packaging is an important
Starting point is 00:21:45 consideration of the environmental credo of reduce, reuse, and recycle. It is also important to the movement toward more sustainable packaging. Returnable packaging is encouraged by regulators. Shipping containers. For many years, several types of shipping containers have been returnable and reusable. These have made most sense when a reverse logistics system is available or can be readily developed. A return, reconditioning, and reuse system can save money on the cost per shipment and can reduce the environmental footprint of the packaging. Manufacturing, particularly the automotive industry, has used heavy-duty returnable racks for shipping hoods, fenders, engines, dashboards, etc. From suppliers to final assembly plans.
Starting point is 00:22:39 The racks are then returned for the next shipping cycle. Bulk foods, chemicals, and pharmaceuticals are often shipped in reusable and returnable containers. These need to be carefully inspected, cleaned, and sanitized as part of the reuse cycle. An effective quality management system is necessary. Wooden pallets are often made to be expendable for a single shipment. Others are heavy-duty and intended for multiple shipments. Some are in pallet pools which are used, inspected, and refurbished for extended usage. Often reusable industry shipping containers have barcode labels or RFID chips to help them identify and route the containers.
Starting point is 00:23:24 A typical keg, half barrel, with a single opening in the center of the top, industrial compressed gas cylinders. Steel drums can be reconditioned and reused. Plastic molded transit case with pre-cut foam interior. Returnable reusable plastic tote box, euro container. Container for bulk vegetable oil. Heavy duty reusable wood pallet. Reusable field bins for fruit.
Starting point is 00:23:55 Stackable plastic containers. Carrots on display and returnable. plastic bins. Use in the automotive industry. Automotive OEM manufacturers use and encourage the use of returnable packaging to move components from their vendors to their factories. The components are placed in returnable packaging and are at times arranged in a way that facilitates movement straight to assembly lines. Such packaging replaces traditional corrugated cartons, thereby helping companies cut costs by avoiding wastage and effort required in disposing the curtains. It also helps in reducing the environmental footprint of the automotive industry.
Starting point is 00:24:41 Other advantages of using returnable packaging include avoiding damages to parts while in transit. Parts are at times placed in specially designed receptacles for easy picking on the assembly line, contributing to fewer mistakes in simpler inventory management. Paper Meshay Paper Meshay, literally chewed paper, is a composite material consisting of paper pieces or pulp, sometimes reinforced with textiles bound within adhesives such as glue, starch, or wallpaper paste. Paper Meshay's sculptures are used as an economical building material for a variety of traditional and ceremonial activities, as well as in arts and crafts.
Starting point is 00:25:28 preparation methods There are two methods to prepare paper machet. The first method makes use of paper strips glued together with adhesive, and the other uses paper pulp obtained by soaking or boiling paper to which glue is then added. With the first method, a form for support is needed on which to glue the paper strips. With the second method, it is possible to shape the pulp directly inside the desired form. In both methods, reinforcements with wire, chicken wire, lightweight shapes, balloons, or textiles may be needed. The traditional method of making papermiche adhesive is to use a mixture of water and flour or other starch,
Starting point is 00:26:17 mixed to the consistency of heavy cream. Other adhesives can be used if thin to a similar texture, such as polyvinyl acetate-based glues, often sold as wood glue or wood glue, or craft glue. Adding oil of cloves or other preservatives such as salt to the mixture reduces the chances of the product developing mold. For the paper strips method, the paper is cut or torn into strips and soaked in the paste until saturated. The saturated pieces are then placed onto the surface and allowed to dry slowly. The strips may be placed on an armature or skeleton, often of wire mesh over a structural frame, or they can be placed
Starting point is 00:27:05 on an object to create a cast. Oil or grease can be used as a release agent if needed. Once dried, the resulting material can be cut, sanded, and or painted, and waterproofed by painting with a suitable water-repelling paint. Before painting any product of paper mache, the glue must be fully dry, otherwise mold will form and the product will rot from the inside out. For the pulp method, the paper is left in water at least overnight to soak, or boiled in abundant water until the paper breaks down to a pulp. The excess water is drained, an adhesive is added, and the paper mesh applied to a form or,
Starting point is 00:27:50 especially for smaller or simpler objects, sculpted to shape. History Imperial China The Chinese during the Han Dynasty appeared to be the first to use paper mache around 200 AD, not long after they learned how to make paper. They employed the technique to make items such as warrior helmets, mirror cases, snuff boxes, or ceremonial masks. Ancient Egypt In ancient Egypt, coffins and death masks were often made.
Starting point is 00:28:27 made from cartonage, layers of papyrus or linen covered with plaster. Middle and Far East In Persia, paper mache has been used to manufacture small painted boxes, trays, etteries, and cases. Japan and China also produced laminated paper articles using paper mache. In Japan and India, paper mache was used to add decorative elements to armor and shields. In Kashmir, in Kashmir India, paper machet has been used to manufacture small painted boxes, bowls lined with metals, trays, etterets, and cases. It remains highly marketed in India and Pakistan, and is part of the luxury ornamental handicraft market.
Starting point is 00:29:21 Europe Starting around 1725 in Europe, gilded paper mache began to appear as a low-cost alternative to similarly. treated plaster or carved wood in architecture. Henry Clay of Birmingham, England patented a process for treating laminated sheets of paper with linseed oil to produce waterproof panels in 1772. These sheets were used to build coach door panels as well as for other structural uses. Theodore Jennings patented a process in 1847 for steaming and pressing these laminated sheets in various shapes, which were then used to make.
Starting point is 00:30:01 manufactured trays, chairbacks, and structural panels, usually laid over a wood or metal armature for strength. The paper mache was smoothed and lacquered or given a pearl shell finish. The industry lasted through the 19th century. Russia had a thriving industry in ornamental paper mishay. A large assortment of painted Russian paper mache items appear in a Tiffany and Coe catalog from 1893. Martin Travers, the England ecclesiastical designer, made much use of paper mache for his church
Starting point is 00:30:35 furnishings in the 1930s. Paper machet has been used for dollheads, starting as early as 1540, molded in two parts from a mixture of paper pulp, clay, and plaster, and then glued together with the head,
Starting point is 00:30:50 then smooth, painted, and varnished. Carton Pierre consists of paper mache imitating wood, stone, or bronze, especially in architecture. Mexico. Cartonaria, or paper-mache sculpture, is a traditional handcraft in Mexico. The paper-miche works are also called carton pietra, rock cardboard, for the rigidness of the final product.
Starting point is 00:31:21 These sculptures today are generally made for certain yearly celebrations, especially for the burning of Judas during Holy Week and various decorative items for day. of the dead. However, they also include bignadas, mojigangas, masks, dolls, and more made for various other occasions. There is also a significant market for collectors as well. Paper Mischae was introduced into Mexico during the colonial period, originally to make items for church. Since then, the craft has developed, especially in central Mexico. In the 20th century, the creation of works by Mexico City artisans Pedro Lineros and Carmen Caballo, Sevilla, were recognized as works of art with patrons such as Diego Rivera. The craft has become less popular with more recent generations, but various government and
Starting point is 00:32:16 cultural institutions work to preserve it. Paper boats. One common item made in the 19th century in America was the paper canoe, most famously made by waters and sons of Troy, New York. The invention of the continuous sheet paper machine allows paper sheets to be made of any length, and this made an ideal material for building a seamless boat hole. The paper of the time was significantly stretchier than modern paper, especially when damp, and this was used to good effect in the manufacture of paper boats. A layer of thick dampened paper was placed over a hull mold and tacked down at the edges. A layer of glue was added, allowed to dry, and sanded down.
Starting point is 00:33:07 Additionally, layers of paper and glue could be added to achieve the desired thickness, and cloth could be added as well to provide additional strength and stiffness. The final product was trimmed, reinforced with modern strips at the keel and gunwales, to provide stiffness and waterproofed. Paper racing shells were highly competitive during the late 19th century. Few examples of paper boats survived. One of the best known paper boats was the canoe, the Maria Teresa, used by Nathaniel Holmes Bishop to travel from New York to Florida in 1874 to 75.
Starting point is 00:33:45 An account of his travels was published in the book Voyage of the Paper Canoe. Paper Observatory Domes Paper Meshay panels were used in the late 19th century and early 20th century to produce lightweight domes used primarily for observatories. The domes were constructed over a wooden or iron framework, and the first ones were made by the same manufacturer that made the early paper boats, waters and suns. The domes used in observatories had to be light and weighed
Starting point is 00:34:20 so that they could easily be rotated to position the telescope opening in any direction, and large enough so that it could cover the large refractor telescopes in use at the time. Applications With modern plastics and composites taking over the decorative and structural roles that paper machet played in the past, paper machets become less of a commercial product. There are exceptions such as Macarda, a modern paper composite, and traditional applications such as the piñata. It is still used in cases where the east of construction and low cost are important, such as in arts and crafts. Carnival Floats Paper Meshay is commonly used for large temporary sculptures such as Carnival Floats.
Starting point is 00:35:12 A basic structure of wood, metal, and metal wire mesh such as poultry netting is covered in paper machet. Once dried, details are added. The paper mishay is then sanded and painted. Carnival floats can be very large and comprise a number of characters, props, and scenic elements, all organized around a chosen theme. It can also accommodate several dozen people, including the operators of the mechanisms. The floats can have movable parts like the facial features of a character or its limbs.
Starting point is 00:35:47 It is not unusual for local professional architects, engineers, painters, sculptors, and ceramists to take part in the design and construction of the floats. New Orleans' Marty Grah float maker Blaine Kern, operator of of the Mardi Gras World Float Museum brings Carnival float artists from Italy to work on his floats.

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