Who invented the egg carton?

Joseph Coyle was born in Ontario and worked as a painter, surveyor and reporter. In 1907 he started the first newspaper in the area, the "Bulkley Pioneer", for the North Coast Land Company.

He left the land company in 1908 and moved to Hazelton where he started the Omineca Harald with Louis DeVoin. He married Augusta Bradley in 1908 in Hazelton.

In 1909 he began to publish the "Interior News". He also owned the only paper cutter in town so one of his chores was to cut sheets of money into bills for a newly opened Aldermere bank.

In 1911 he had invented an egg carton for Mr. George Demell to transport eggs for the La Croix ranch (Gabriel Lacroix) to Jack McNeill’s hotel in Aldermere.

With the construction of Smithers, in 1913, he moved his news press over to the new town on Main Street and cranked out the first Smithers publication on Aug. 15, 1915 in the Lobsinger Building.

The egg carton worked well so finally in 1918 he patented his invention. In 1919 he sold the newspaper, moved to Vancouver to market and manufactured the carton with United Paper Products. This venture failed; subsequently he moved to Los Angeles, Chicago and returned to Ontario to establish manufacturing facilities in these cities.

Many millions of egg cartons were manufactured under his patient but he never became a rich man, comfortable yes, but not rich. As with many inventors, others made far more money than he ever did.