TIM. l\\0 CHIKK INhlAN GRASSES 



PAPER 



Manufacture 



Paper Manufacture. The Native art of paper-making in India to-day 



is very much like that of glass-blown j it consists in re -making wawte 

 paper. In a country teeming with fibres, it is surprising that the Question 

 of a good paper material has not been satisfactorily determined. And 

 this theme seems to be constantly revived by residents in Europe who 

 overlook tho immense size of India. A few hundred miles are of Intl.- 

 concern in most questions, but with paper-making transit freights soon 

 kill the prospects of supplies. Then again the cost of land n-ar the centres 

 of trade where paper mills are usually built, precludes the special cultivation 

 of paper stuffs. Moreover, as paper til>re, like esparto, must be fit for almost 

 immediate immersion in the vats, paper-making can never pay the cost 

 of separation and preparation, however simple and inexpensive. No 

 fibre known to commerce can compete with jute in point of cheapness, 

 yet the paper-makers can afford to purchase jute waste and jute cuttings 

 only, so that but for the demand for an altogether different purpose the 

 paper-maker could never procure jute at all. 



The two most important paper grasses in India arc bhabar ( /**// < > ,// // /// . 

 p. 694) and muni (Stn-r/itn-nin, pp. 929-30). These are now being largely 

 used by the Indian steam-power paper mills, the supply at a remunerative 

 price being the chief obstacle to their further utilisation. It has been 

 demonstrated that bamboo (pp. 108-10) affords an excellent paper, but 

 practical difficulties exist such as the cost of the chemicals required, and 

 the fact that the wholesale removal of the young shoots, which alone are 

 serviceable, injures the stock. It accordingly has to be added that, at 

 present, the most valuable paper materials in India after bhabar and munj 

 are old rags, waste gunny bags, waste jute and san ropes, old paper, etc. 



Whatever may be the source of the cellulose, it has to be reduced 

 to pulp, and in most cases bleached. If rags are used, a preliminary 

 dusting is essential. The material is then boiled with alkalis ; in the 

 case of grasses, such as esparto, a 10-per-cent. solution of caustic soda 

 under a pressure of 10 to 50 Ib. of steam is required. The pulp thus 

 obtained is then washed to free it from the residuary alkalis, thoroughly 

 pulped mechanically, then loaded with the mineral sizing material 

 and coloured as desired. This is known as the magma, and to convert 

 it into paper a fine wire cloth is passed through the trough containing 

 liquefied pulp, when a film of the required thickness is made to adhere 

 and is removed. This is then compressed by being passed between rollers 

 and, if so desired, is sized with gelatine, and lastly dried off by being passed 

 between heated rollers or colanders. 



[Cf. Morris, Cantor Lect., Soc. Arts, 1895 ; Cross and Be YUM, Textbook of 

 Paper-making, 1900 ; Blount and Bloxam, Chem. for Engin. and Manuf., 1900, 

 344-7 ; Julius Habner, Cantor Lect., 1902-3 ; Chem. Appl. to Arts and Manuf., 

 vii., 513-42; Clayton Beadle, Chapters on Paper-making, 1904, i. ; 1906. ii. ; 

 Hanausek, Micro' Tech. Prod. (Winton and Barber, transl.), 1907, 92-4 ; Stuhl- 

 mann, Halfa-Graa oder Esparto fur Deutech-Oatafrika, Der Pflanzer, 1907, No. 15-7.] 



Paper Mills. The first works for the manufacture of paper organised 

 in England date from 1588, and these were established at Dartford in 

 Kent by a German jeweller, John Spielman, who was knighted by Queen 

 Elizabeth. A century previously similar works had been erected in 

 Spain. So late as 1690 coarse brown paper only was made in England, 

 the supplies of the finer white papers being obtained from France and 

 Holland. The war with France occasioned such a rise in duty that a 

 stimulus was given for the improvement of home production. But an 



8G5 55 



i.. r:..i.-v. 



TTMMlt 



fort of 

 SeprUaa. 



Jute. 



Hwnj. 



IMSMI 



Pulp. 



Mills. 



In i !:._. i 1. 



