Carr Sherman

"After returning to Sweden, Erik Torudd continued to advocate for the use of the S-50 and to apply HP Smith’s method to it. Now, it seemed that the winds were changing within the company. The board of Tetra Pak now included Ruben, Gad, Hans, Holger Crafoord, Erik Torudd, and the company’s skilled lawyer, Carl Borgström. When the dark-suited gentlemen gathered for a board meeting on the morning of February 4, 1952, they decided to build a copy of HP Smith’s machine. Erik Torudd and Harry Järund, who was co-opted onto the board, fought hard against the decision. Both thought it was better to either buy a finished machine or drawings. Otherwise, they risked several years being lost to development. Moreover, they thought it was immoral to copy someone else’s work. But they spoke to deaf ears. Tetra would copy the HP Smith machine. Responsible for the project were the technical genius Nils Andersson and Gad. The decision was bold, but entirely legal. Carr Sherman had voluntarily shown them a design that was not yet patented."

"With age, Ruben became increasingly suspicious of other people. He was convinced that the majority of the world’s population consisted of swindlers and deceivers. And if they weren’t already, they would most likely become so. “If someone is given the opportunity for dishonesty, he will surely take advantage of it sooner or later,” was one of his common sayings. The examples with Carr Sherman’s hot-melt machine, Eagan’s Dupont machine, and Ruben’s own patent stories seemed to confirm that he was right."

"“May I see the machine?” wondered Torudd. But there was a limit to Sherman’s openness. The method and the machine were patent pending, but the patent had not yet been granted. Therefore, he was very careful about who could see the machine. Erik Torudd could not control his impatience. Here he was opposite a man who might hold the answer to the question of how the tetrahedron would be plastic-coated. “If I arrange a roll of paper of the right quality and enough quantity of S-50, are you then willing to test if it works?” “Absolutely,” Carr Sherman replied spontaneously. Erik Torudd was beside himself with joy. Now it was important not to waste any time unnecessarily. When he returned to his hotel room, he immediately called the American plastics company Sarnia and ordered S-50, and from International Paper, he ordered a roll of cardboard. By doing so, he would avoid the long transports and problems with customs that would arise if he ordered from the usual suppliers, Billerud and Uddeholm."

"The assumption turned out to be completely correct. He only had to wait a few minutes before he was received by the CEO, also the owner, the sympathetic Carr Sherman. Erik Torudd could not contain his curiosity, and after just a few minutes he wondered if it was really true that HP Smith could polyethylene coat paper through the hot-melt method. Carr Sherman, like so many of his countrymen disarmingly open, confirmed that it was. The method had been developed by a designer named Pete Massey, whom Carr Sherman described as “rarely skilled”."