Born in 1871, Joseph Coyle was a newspaper publisher in the Bulkley Valley area of British Columbia whose office was next door to a hotel. One day he overheard the hotel owner arguing with a local farmer who delivered their eggs because the eggs often arrived broken.

Joseph Coyle knew he could solve their problem and he decided to create a box to hold the eggs so that each egg sat in its own cushioned pocket. In 1911 he invented the egg carton, and then he designed a machine that could make large quantities of egg cartons. He sold his newspaper and built egg carton factories in Vancouver, Toronto, Chicago and Los Angeles, and the egg carton he invented is still the standard way to transport eggs today.