HP Smith

"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."

"“Which company developed the method?” he wondered. “Smith, HP Smith, that’s what it’s called,” replied the obliging plant manager who did not understand why the Swede was so interested in plastic-coated kraft paper. However, he was slightly surprised when the Swede suddenly apologized and explained that the visit had taken longer than he had thought and therefore he had to leave immediately."

"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”."

"HP Smith’s machine was originally built to coat paper with low molecular weight polyethylene. Therefore, it worked perfectly well to use it also for high molecular weight polyethylene. But now they were after a new type of machine that coated the paper with the plastic through so-called extrusion. The method was based on first melting the plastic and then distributing it over the paper using a nozzle – the extruder. Thus, it created a smooth and fine distribution of the plastic. It was the chemical company Dupont that had allowed the machine manufacturer Eagan to develop the method in collaboration with HP Smith. Dupont’s purpose was to allow companies to use the machines at cost price and thus increase their market for polyethylene."