The Coyle Egg Safety Carton
“I have devised a simple, practical, and inexpensive box for carrying eggs, the use of which … provides a great convenience for those engaged in the shipping and handling of this commodity.”
- Joseph Coyle, Specifications for Patent #181662, 1917
An old idiom warns us not to put all our eggs in the same basket, and for good reason! For centuries, eggs were typically carried in baskets, tubs, or wooden crates, often filled with straw, sawdust, or other soft materials for cushioning. Naturally, accidents happened and breakage was common. Numerous inventors tried to remedy the situation:
- John and George Stevens of San Francisco patented a multi-compartment case for transporting eggs in 1867. (An illustration can be seen about halfway down this blog post from the Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation).
- A folding wooden crate for eggs, fruits, and vegetables - spotlighted here by the Palmer Museum of History - was invented by Herbert Harvey Cummer of Cadillac, Michigan in 1894. These "Humpty Dumpty" boxes were so named because they could be 'knocked down' and stored flat when not in use. Like Joseph Coyle, Herbert Cummer had also been born in Canada.
- In 1906, only 5 years before Coyle’s invention, Thomas Bethell of Liverpool, England created the Raylite Egg Box. These wooden containers used interlocking strips of cardboard to give each egg its own miniature compartment. An exterior photo of one of these boxes - along with an interesting 19th-century tip for preserving eggs - can be seen on this post by the Tecumseh Historical Museum.
Coyle's contraption
The story of the modern egg carton begins in 1911 at the Telkwa Hotel in Aldermere, where a disagreement supposedly arose between two men. Local farmer Gabriel Lacroix had delivered a basket of eggs to hotel proprietor Jack McNeil, who was incensed to find many of them broken. Neither man wanted to pay for the damage. Joseph Coyle somehow overheard this argument - some sources claim that he was eating in the hotel restaurant at the time, while others state that he was working nearby. However it happened, Coyle soon set to work devising a solution.
The result was a rectangular cardboard package with an individual slot for each egg. Lightweight and capable of folding flat, it was much easier to transport and to store than the bulky wooden crates of previous inventors. However, Coyle’s biggest improvement upon the earlier designs was the addition of a flexible V-shaped piece of cardboard in each slot. These little ‘pouches’ held each egg gently in place, preventing them from rattling around and breaking while in transit. This framework could also be lifted out of the box with the eggs still in place, allowing for them to be easily and safely inspected.
Coyle began making these cartons upon request for his friends and neighbors. They proved to be quite popular: by 1915 he was advertising “perfection egg cartons” in the Interior News for 35 cents per dozen boxes. In the summer of 1917, Coyle submitted his design (above right) to the Canadian Intellectual Property Office. His patent was officially issued on January 15th 1918. The claims and description for Coyle's patent can be viewed on the Canadian Patent Database ('Documents' at bottom of linked page). Curiously, the patent lists Frederick Dundas Todd alongside Coyle as the carton’s inventor and owner. An Interior News article from 1917 identifies Todd as an inspector from B.C.’s Department of Agriculture - albeit one concerned with beekeeping, not eggs! The extent of Todd’s involvement with the Coyle cartons is unknown.
(Eggs)panding his business
Receiving his patent must have inspired Coyle to take his little business to the next level. In 1918 he sold the Interior News and moved his family to Vancouver. Here, the cartons were produced in a factory by United Paper Products. Due to rising local and international demand, Coyle invented a machine to speed up the process of making egg cartons. He clearly kept in touch with his friends in Smithers, because the Interior News published several glowing articles on his successes (see left). He also had egg cartons shipped to the News office to sell to the townspeople.
Ellen Coyle Myton later recalled her father’s ingenuity when making the machine: “He had no mechanical training, and merely a grade school education in a small rural school. He bought a book of mechanical drawings, and the paper and instruments, and set about learning - teaching himself. I can remember, as a little girl, watching him make the intricate drawings which later became blueprints.” The machine is currently in the collections of the Royal BC Museum.
In spring 1920, the Coyles moved to Los Angeles and set up their own small carton-making business. Winnifred and Ellen helped out on the weekends. They struggled through the Post-War economic recession and the following Depression of 1920-21 with financial assistance from promoters. Coyle had sold part of the shares in his patent to businessman Leon Benoit, who opened an egg carton factory in Chicago. Later U.S. factories were opened in Pittsburgh, Indiana, and New York, with up to 200 million cartons sold annually from the latter alone. Manufacturing eventually spread to Mexico, South America, Europe, and South Africa.
From its humble beginnings at an Aldermere hotel, Coyle's egg carton had truly taken the world by storm.
