The invention of industrial plywood production is usually attributed to Emmanuel Nobel (1801–1872), who described the manufacturing process in detail and patented the invention in St. Petersburg in 1848.
The first American patent for plywood was issued in 1865 to John K. Mayo.
Plywood factories appeared in Europe in the mid-XIX century, when the technology of layered wood bonding became industrially feasible.
By the beginning of the XX century, plywood had become one of the most important wood-processing products.
In addition to all other uses, it began to be used in aircraft construction.
In 1928, the United States introduced a standard plywood board size for the furniture industry for the first time: 4 feet × 8 feet (1.2 m × 2.4 m).