PAPER MANUFACTURE AND TRADE. 



PAPER MANUFACTURE AND THA1HC. 



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A good wotkwoman can sort MM! cut about hundredweight <ly. 

 HempM ngt are used for coarse paper*. and oM cottUge and tarml 

 i (or bruvn wrappin^-papm. 



ran are mow to be wmUwi. which i* don* ehher with hot water 

 ilbnrmill.snch a. u*rd for .cmiring cloth. or they are auhj.rtl 

 far MM htwn to UM action afsteam. Formerly they were half rott.>l 

 to prepare " * **" "><* Uy t^" 1 "^ Beaton into a palp. 

 Bat by 1Kb prow- the fibre wa partially dortroye.1. and the texture 

 o( UM paper materially injured. 

 PreriotM t the important 



all regvtable col 



that chlorine possesses the 



. |]n-r makers could only 



[Inch their rag* by subjecting them to various washings in alkaline 

 leya.Md by exposing them to the dew and light ; and after all their 

 pain., they only obtained a paper so imperfectly white that they were 

 obliged to ma* UM defect ^tinging it with a shade of blue. Rut 

 DOW, by UM proper application of chlorine, either in the form of the 

 li 1 1 gff ff in combination with lime (chloride of lime), the colour 



can bt perfectly discharged, and the (taper rendered, if necessary, of 

 UM purest white. Objection* have been justly made to the improper 

 application of chlorine in bleaching paper. Sometime* it is applied in 

 oak quantity, or for such a time, as to injure the substance of the 

 fibre ; tfmrttmr- the paper, after it is made, U bleached with chlorine 

 in such a manner that the ink turns brown ; and there hare been 

 instance* in which the colour has been nearly discharged altogether, 

 leaving the sheet almost as it was before it was written or printed 

 upon. It is now, however, generally admitted that chlorine, judi- 

 ciously applied, is not in the smallest degree injurious to the paper, or 

 liable, in any length of time, to alter the colour of the ink ; although 

 UMTS is unquestionable proof that, unless skilfully managed, bleaching 

 leaves the fibres leas coherent than they were before. 



The rags, after being washed, are subjected to the action of a 

 rerolring cylinder, tin- surface of which is furnished with a number 

 uf sharp teeth or cutters, so placed as to act against other cutters 

 fixed beneath the cylinder. The rags are kept immersed in water, 

 and subjected to the action of the cutters for several hours till 

 they are minutely divided and reduced to a thin pulp. During this 

 [irocess a quantity of the chloride of lime or of chlorine gas is mixed 

 with the rags, by which the pulp is rendered perfectly white. Until 

 about a century ago, the rags were always pulped by means of 

 tamper* : but cutting-machines, introduced by the Dutch, greatly 

 expedited the process. 



The pulp, or itxf, as it is technically called, is now ready to be made 

 into paper, which is done either by hand or by machine. On the 

 hand-method, the stuff is put into a large rat, and is kept at a 

 propel temperature either by a stove or by steam-heat ; and the fibrous 

 matter is held in suspension by a continual motion carried on in the 

 vat by means of what u technically called a hoy, or by other improved 

 apparatus. 



The paper is made with a mould and drrt/t. The mould is a shallow 

 quare frame covered with wire cloth, and a little larger than the sheet 

 intended to be made upon it. The wire-cloth is now generally woven 

 in a loom like cloth, and makes no wire-marks on the paper ; but the 

 old fashioned wire-cloth consists of a number of {nrallel wires stretched 

 across the frame, very close together, and crossed at right angles by 

 other stronger wires about on inch apart. These thicker wires make 

 the trirr-mnrlu of the paper, the stuff being there thinner than on the 

 rest of the sheet. It was Baskerville who introduced the wovcn-wire 

 moulds, in 1750 ; or rather, a beautiful edition of ' Virgil,' printed by 

 him on paper thus made, was the IIUMIIS of drawing general attention 

 to this improvement. The deckle is a very thin frame of wond which 

 (its close upon the mould, and is required to retain the stuff on the 

 mould and to limit the size of the sheet. The iii/i/icr, or r aim mi, 

 inclining the mould a little towards him. dip< it into the vat with the 

 deckle upon it, and lifts it up again horizontally. He shakes it to 

 distribute the stuff equally, and the water drains through the wire. 

 He lays the mould on the edge of the vat, and takes off the deckle, 

 whuh he requires to apply to another mould. After remaining two 

 ur three second* to drain, the mould is taken by another workman, the 

 miuttr, who, baring deposited the layer of pulp upon a felt, or piece 

 ^ woollen cloth, returns the mould to the dipper, who in the mean- 

 time baa made another sheet, which stands on the vat ready to be 

 couched upon another felt spread over the former sheet. Thus the 

 two workmen proceed till they have made a pile of sheets, called a 

 ;.-/. consisting of six or eight quires. This post, with its felt, is 

 placed in the ral-prra, and subjected to a strong pressure to force out 

 the superfluous water, and to give firmness and solidity to the paper. 

 Th pile is then removed from the vat-press, the felts are taken out, 

 and the sheets pressed again by themselves. They are then taken from 

 the Itws, and bung up. five or ,ix together, in the drying-room. 



The paper is now made, and only requires finishing. The greater 

 number of the finishing processes are only required for writing -pni-er 

 common printing paper and wrapping-papers U-iii K ruadv for packing 

 up irhrn dried. WdtbMMMper is dip|>cd, fire or six ahcete together, 

 into a tub <>f 'iff. and afterwards pn.-NH.il to force out the superfluity. 

 It is then hung up again in the drying-room. Printing-paper U sized 

 in the stuff. Every sheet is examined, imperfections ore removed, and 

 bad abeeU taken out. A Urge pile of paper is then made, and pinsmid 

 with grral force to render the sheets quite flat and smooth. The pile 



is next taken down aheet by sheet, and another made, by which new 

 surfaces are brought into contact with each other ; and the pile is again 

 pressed strongly. This operation, which is called /wrfi'n;/, is done two 

 or three times for the best papers. The paper is now counted into 

 quirm. folded, ami |>aeked u]> into reams. The size is made from skins 

 and other animal substances, and U required to prevent the ink fioni 

 spreading among the fibres by capillary attraction. Blotting-paper is 

 not sized. 



We now proceed to notice the machine-method of making paper- 

 without which, the extension of cheap literature, and the wonderful 

 ile\. l.ipmeiit of the newspaper system, would have been almost impos- 

 sible; printing-machines would possess insufficient material to print 

 upon, had not paper-making machines kept pace with them. The 

 history of these last-named machines is briefly as follows. Just at the 

 close of the last century, M. Robert, a workman in the employ of 

 M. Francois Didot, at a paper-mill st Essones, in France, invented a 

 machine for making continuous paper; Didot set the apparatus to 

 work ; and Robert obtained 8000 francs from tho government, and a 

 patent for fifteen years. This was in 1799. In 1801 Didot come over 

 to England, accompanied by Mr. John Gamble, who had resided some 

 time in France. After sundry negociatious, and the obtaining of 

 two English patents, these patents were sold to Messrs. Fourdrinier. 

 Messrs. Hall's establishment at Dartford, in Kent, was selected as the 

 place for making the machines, \mder the special care of Mr. Bryan 

 Donkin. It was in 1803 that the model of the first self-acting machine 

 was set up at Frogmore, in Hertfordshire ; and in 1804 that the system 

 came successfully into work at a paper-mill at Two Waters, 

 that year, a succession of beautiful additions and improvements have 

 been made ; although it is only just to mention that the main principles 

 of the machine have all along remained nearly the same. Messrs. 

 Bryan Donkin & Co. have devoted such special attention to this sub- 

 ject, that they have throughout been the chief makers of the machines : 

 in the first ten years they set up 1 3 paper- machines ; in the next 

 ten, 25; by the year 1851 they hod set up 191 ; and the number has 

 since steadily increased. So far from these having all been intended 

 for home use, more than half were made for foreign manufacturers : 

 Germany being the best customer on the continent of Europe. It 

 is proper to state that some of the matters connected with the early 

 history of the paper-machine, both as to honour and profit, are still in 

 dispute ; and that so late as 1857, Mr. John Gamble, in a communica- 

 tion to the Society of Arts, protested against the way in which his 

 name is generally omitted from among those who deserve credit or 

 fame as introducers of the paper-machine. It is not often that an 

 inventor, or the fosterer of an invention, lives to put in such a claim 

 fifty-six years after the occurrences to which the claim relates. 



We shall now briefly describe the operation of the paper-machine. 

 The machine is constructed in such a manner as to imitate, and in some 

 respects to improve, the processes used in making paper by hand ; but 

 its chief advantages are, that paper can be made of any size tli 

 practically be required, and with a degree of rapidity which leaves the 

 other mode of making it at an immeasurable distance. The pulp is 

 first made to flow from the vat upon a wire frame, or sifter, which 

 moves rapidly up and down so as to force the fine filaments of the pulp 

 through the wire, whilst it retains any knots or other unsuitable 

 matter. Having passed through the sifter, the pulp flows over a ledge 

 in a regular and even stream, and is received upon an endless web of 

 wire-gauze, which presents an uninterrupted surface several feet long. 

 The wire-web moves forward with a motion so regulated as, taken in 

 connection with the quantity of pulp allowed to flow upon it, to 

 determine the thickness of the paper. At the same time a shaking 

 motion is given from side to side, to the wire web, which assists in spi < :id 

 ing the pulp evenly, and also in facilitating the separation of the 

 which passes through the wire ; by this means the pulp solidifies as it 

 advances, and is at the game time prevented from flowing over the 

 sides by straps which regulate the width of the ]>aper. Before the 

 pulp, now no longer fluid, quits the plane of wire, it is pressed by a 

 roller covered with felt. It is next taken up by an endless web of 

 felt, which forms an inclined plane, and gradually moving forward 

 absorbs a further portion of the moisture. The pulp is now seized by 

 a pair of rollers, between which it is pressed ; and then it passes upon 

 another inclined plane of felt, which conducts it to another pair of 

 pressing rollers. The pulp is at length paper, and only requires to be 

 made dry and smooth. To effect these objects, the machinery conducts 

 it over the polished surface of a large cylinder heated by steam. l'i < m 

 this cylinder it passes to a second, larger and hotter, and then to a 

 third, which is still hotter than the second. After this it is sill' 

 to the pressure of a woollen cloth, which confines it on one side while 

 the cylinder smooths it on the other. It is then conducted by another 

 roller to a reel, on which it is wound, perfectly dry and smooth 

 ready to be cut into sheets for use. In two or three minutes the pulp, 

 which is introduced upon the win- web at one extremity of th>: 

 machine, is delivered at the other in the state of perfect paper. In 

 printing-paper the size is commonly added to the pulp ; but writing 

 p:iper is sized after the sheets are cut, as in hand-made paper. 



In most of the paper-making machines a partial vacuum is produced 

 under the endless wire-web by means of large air-pumps. The atmo.-i- 

 phere is thus mode to press upon the pulp, and the moisture is forced 

 through the wire. Owing, however, to the change of stroke of the 



