The Development History Of Paper Cups

The history of paper cups has gone through four stages:

1. Cone paper cup

Conical/folded paper cups The first paper cups that came out were cone-shaped, made by hand, glued together, easier to separate, and must be used as soon as possible. The folded paper cups that appeared later added folds on the side walls to increase the strength of the side walls and the durability of the paper cups. However, it was more difficult to print patterns on these folded surfaces, and the effect was not ideal.

2. Waxed paper cup

In 1932, the first wax-coated two-piece paper cup came out. Its smooth surface can be printed with various exquisite patterns to improve the promotional effect. Waxing paper cups, on the one hand, can avoid direct contact between the beverage and the paper, and can protect the adhesiveness of the glue and enhance the durability of the paper cup; on the other hand, it also increases the thickness of the side wall, which greatly improves the strength of the paper cup, thereby reducing The amount of paper necessary for making stronger paper cups reduces production costs.

As waxed paper cups become containers for cold beverages, people also hope to use a convenient container to hold hot beverages. However, hot beverages will melt the wax layer on the inner surface of the paper cup, and the glue bonding opening will be separated. Therefore, the general wax-coated paper cups are not suitable for holding hot beverages.

3. Straight wall double-layer cup

In order to expand the application range of paper cups, in 1940, straight-walled double-layer paper cups were introduced to the market. This paper cup is not only easy to carry, but also can be used to hold hot beverages. Later, the manufacturer applied latex to these cups to cover the “paperboard flavor” of the paper and to strengthen the leak-proofness of the paper cups. Single-layer wax-coated cups treated with latex coating are widely used in self-service vending machines to hold hot coffee.

4. Plastic coated paper cup

Some food companies began to coat polyethylene on cardboard to increase the barrier and tightness of paper packaging. Since the melting point of polyethylene is much higher than that of wax, the new beverage paper cup coated with this material can be ideally used to hold hot beverages and solve the problem of product quality that is affected by the melting of the coating material. At the same time, the polyethylene paint is smoother than the original wax paint, which improves the appearance of the paper cup. In addition, its processing technology is cheaper and faster than the latex coating method.