The Development History Of Paper Cups

The growth process of paper cup history has gone through four stages:
The conical/folded paper cups that first appeared were conical in shape, handmade and glued together, making them easy to separate and must be used as soon as possible. The folding paper cups that emerged later added pleats on the side walls to increase the strength of the side walls and the durability of the paper cups, but it was difficult to print patterns on these folding surfaces, and the effect was not ideal.
Wax coated paper cup
In 1932, the first wax coated two piece paper cup was introduced, with a smooth surface that could be printed with various exquisite patterns, enhancing promotional effectiveness. Applying wax to paper cups can not only prevent direct contact between beverages and paper materials, but also protect the adhesion of the adhesive and enhance the durability of the paper cups; On the other hand, it also increases the thickness of the side wall, greatly improving the strength of the paper cup, thereby reducing the amount of paper required to manufacture stronger paper cups and lowering production costs.
As wax coated paper cups become containers for cold drinks, people also hope to use a convenient container to hold hot drinks. However, hot drinks can melt the wax layer on the inner surface of the paper cup, causing the adhesive joint to separate. Therefore, regular wax coated paper cups are not suitable for holding hot drinks.
Straight walled double-layer cup
In order to expand the application scope of paper cups, straight walled double-layer paper cups were introduced to the market in 1940. This type of paper cup is not only easy to carry, but can also be used to hold hot drinks. Afterwards, the manufacturer coated latex on these cups to cover the "cardboard smell" of the paper and enhance the leak resistance 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.
Film coated paper cup
Some food companies have started coating polyethylene on cardboard to increase the barrier and sealing properties of paper packaging. Due to the significantly higher melting point of polyethylene compared to wax, the new type of beverage paper cup coated with this material can be ideally used to hold hot beverages, solving the problem of product quality being affected by the melting of the coating material. Meanwhile, the polyethylene coating is smoother than the original wax coating, improving the appearance of the paper cup. In addition, its processing technology is also cheaper and faster than using latex coating method.