Figure 52. — Fourdrinier paper machine. Dilute pulp flows at left onto the 

 endless wire mold (wc). As the upper half of the mold moves to the right, 

 excess water drains through the mold, leaving a continuously formed length 

 of paper. The paper is transferred to couching rolls, an endless felt, and 

 finally to steam-heated drying drums and a paper-reel at the right-hand end 

 of the machine. From Charles Tomlinson, ed., Cyclopaedia of Useful Arts and 

 Manufactures, 2 vols. (London, 1852- 1854). 



to take pleasure in exhibiting it, he led the way back 

 to the office. Of course, I, for the time, abandoned 

 all hopes of being shown through the shops. When 

 about leaving, he referred to the pulp dresser, and 

 said he must again caution me showing it to anyone. 

 To this I replied by repeating what Sir Walter Scott 

 had said to my uncle, Rembrandt Peale, as to his 

 friend, "Honest Bryan Donkin, the machinist," that 

 with such an endorsement I felt that I ran no risk, 

 and should send the pulp dresser to him. 



His face brightened with a look of great satisfaction, 

 as he said "that when Sir Walter acknowledged the 

 authorship of the Waverly Novels, and said that for 

 a long time it had been known to twenty people, 

 none of whom had abused his confidence, he was 

 proud of knowing that he was one of the twenty; he 

 then added, the acquaintance, and, he might say, 

 intimacy with Sir Walter had come about in a most 

 natural way; he had frequent consultations with the 

 Constables, the publishers of Scott's novels, on the 

 subject of paper for that purpose, at which Sir Walter 

 was often present." 



He said that Mr. Swann, in his letter to him, had 

 expressed a belief that it would be mutually ad- 



vantageous to us to have a free interchange of ideas 

 on paper machinery, and he laughingly added: "My 

 ideas have gone to America in a machine I sent there 

 to fill an order, and I learn they have already been 

 copied." 



I told him that so far we had been exclusively en- 

 gaged on cvlinder machines, and had never built a 

 Fourdrinier; that at that time Phelps & Spafford 

 were the only builders in the United States. 



He asked what we got for a complete squirrel cage 

 cvlinder, naming a size. On my giving our regular 

 price, he promptly said that he could not compete, 

 pay freight and duty, for our price was less than he 

 got at his works. 



This I felt to be my opportunity, so I explained our 

 mode of putting up the cylinders, the machinery and 

 tools we used. He listened very attentively, but made 

 no comments. I could not but admire his extreme 

 caution and reticence as to his modes. At the same 

 time his evident eagerness to learn what others were 

 doing amused me, and I felt much like a man in the 

 hands of an interviewer of the present day. But to 

 divert, and at the same time lead him on, I remarked 

 that I had been surprised at not finding the direct- 



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