Annals Of Design: The Chinese Take-Out Container

“On Nov. 13, 1894, in Chicago, the inventor Frederick Weeks Wilcox patented a version of what he called a ‘paper pail,’ which was a single piece of paper, creased into segments and folded into a (more or less) leakproof container secured with a dainty wire handle on top. The supportive folds on the outside, fastened with that same wire, created a flat interior surface over which food could slide smoothly onto a plate.”