Wrap-King Corp. (1955-1956)

Wrap-King continued to advance equipment for a variety of uses. One of its greatest inventions to date was the lettuce-wrapping machine, named the “Model L.” This machine was on display at the National Packaging Exhibition in Chicago, held in April 1955.

A carload contained about 18,000 heads of lettuce, and hand-wrapping with cellophane would take 4 to 5 days. The Wrap-King Lettuce-Wrapper, which was in the design and implementation stage for a year and a half, could wrap 30-65 heads per minute. This resulted in a carload being wrapped in about 4.5 to 10 hours. Given lettuce’s perishable nature, this was a boon for retailers and consumers, enabling them to obtain fresher produce sooner. The machine could be adjusted within 10 minutes to wrap cauliflower and cabbage.

The company had initially sold two machines to concerns in Revere and Chelsea, Massachusetts, and hoped to sell an additional 100-125 machines.

In October 1955, Wrap King Corp. was acquired by Crompton & Knowles (C&K), a large textile machine manufacturer in Central Massachusetts, which made it a subsidiary. C&K also purchased the real estate at the plant that was held by Wrap-King’s sister corporation, Pow-Had Corp.

C&K was well known to textile industrial concerns in Holyoke, such as Skinner Mills, Holyoke Fabrics and Livingston Mills, all of which were using Crompton & Knowles weaving equipment. C&K was the world’s largest manufacturer of fancy weaving machinery.

C&K envisioned adding 35 workers to the 70 employees in 1955. Specialty equipment was manufactured for wrapping pies, candies and cold cuts, as well as for packaging tape and ball bearings. Some of the customers included Armor Meats, Schraffts, Whitman’s Candies, and General Motors. C&K had purchased several different companies to diversify its product lines.

Earlier in this presentation, the Model “L” wrapping machine for round vegetables was discussed. In February 1956, Wrap-King entered the Model “M” at the Western Meat Packers’ Show in San Francisco. This machine wrapped all types of luncheon meats and was sold to local and major grocery chains and meatpacking companies. 

By 1956, Wrap-King employed over 100 workers. The company had sales offices in Holyoke, Chicago, St. Louis, Baltimore, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Toronto. Its machinery was sold to a range of industries from automotive, pharmaceutical, tobacco, textile, confectionery and other household and industrial uses. 

As a company ad revealed in October 1956:

“Almost every day, each resident of Holyoke purchases a produce wrapped on a machine designed and manufactured in Holyoke by Wrap King Corp.”

The amazing story of Wrap-King Corp.’s growth continues in Part 3.

Citations:

Newspapers.com (paid subscription): Citations: Holyoke (Massachusetts) Transcript & Transcript-Telegram; Springfield (Massachusetts) Republican; publication dates and pages are shown.