257 



PAPER MANUFACTURE AND TRADE. 



PAPER MANUFACTURE AND TRADE. 



2J8 



pistons, a uniform degree of vacuum cannot be maintained, so that 

 the pulp receives various degrees of pressure, and consequently the 

 paper is made of unequal thickness. To remedy this defect, by 

 rendering the vacuum as uniform as possible, two patents were 

 taken out in 1839 ; one to effect the purpose by substituting a 

 revolving fan for the air-pump, and the other by using hydraulic 

 air-pumps working on the principle of gas-holders, instead of the 

 common ones. 



Various patents have been taken out for improvements in parts of 

 the machinery, or for other machinery to be applied in various stages 

 of the process. One was taken out by Mr. Dickinson for an apparatus 

 to separate the knots and lumps from the pulp, by making the pulp pass 

 through the periphery of a revolving cylinder constructed of an endless 

 spiral wire attached to metal bars. Other improved processes for the 

 same purpose have been invented. A patent was taken out by Messrs. 

 Towgood and Smith, the object of which is to apply the size to the 

 paper aa it comes in a continuous sheet upon the endless wire-web. 

 The operation in this apparatus is performed by rollers, the surfaces 

 of which are supplied with size, which is transferred from them to the 

 newly-made paper as it passes between the rollers. Mr. Dickinson 

 has a patent for uniting two layers of pulp in order to produce 

 paper of an extra thickness. The combination of two or more sheets 

 of pulp has been long employed in the making of thick drawing-paper 

 and Bristol-board by the process called couching ; but Mr. Dickinson's 

 contrivance affords the means of doing it in a common paper-making 

 machine. No attempt, however, can be made here to enumerate in 

 detail the steps by which improvements have been introduced in the 

 paper-machine ; they are too numerous. Foreign inventors have done 

 much in this matter. The names of Robert and Didot have already 

 been mentioned ; and we may also notice M. Canson, who was the 

 first to apply suction-pumps to the machines ; and M. Jequier, who 

 devised a mode of making continuous paper with wire marks. Among 

 English paper makers and machinists, the names of Brown, Crompton, 

 Taylor, Barrett, Ibotson, Wilks, and Hollingworth may be mentioned 

 as the introducers of valuable improvement* in the continuous paper 

 making. So wonderful is now the operation of the machine, that 

 fine writing-paper can be made, sized with gelatine, dried, and cut 

 into sheets, at the rate of 60 feet a minute in length, and 70 inches in 

 width. 



Varietia of Paper, We shall now notice a few matters connected 

 with the differences in the kinds of paper, without particular reference 

 to the fact of their being hand-made or machine-made. 



It may here be observed, that various wire-marks, or water-marks, 

 as they are called, were formerly applied to paper to distinguish it. 

 On the paper used by Caxton and the other early printers these marks 

 consisted of an ox-head and star, a collared dog's head, a crown, a 

 shield, a jug, ic. A head with a fool's cap and bells gave name to the 

 l>aper called foolscap ; and post paper seems to have derived its name 

 from the mark of a horn, which was formerly carried by the postman, 

 and blown to announce his arrival. Hand-made paper is now commonly 

 marked with the name of the maker, and the date of the year when 

 it was made. 



The cutting of paper into sheets of ally desired size u an operation 

 which has been greatly improved within the last few years. The best 

 paper is examined when made, to remove knots or specks, and to lay 

 aside damaged sheets. It is then counted into quires of 24 sheets, 

 folded, and put up into rearm of 20 quires. If the paper is for printing, 

 the continuous web made at the machine is cut into sheets of a certain 

 ize, without any particular regard to the fineness of the cut ; but in 

 the preparation of writing-paper, whether hand-made or machine-made, 

 he cutting is very carefully attended to. Hence there are cutting- 

 chines of two different classes, one to sever the web into sheets, and 

 s to cut well-squared sheets of writing-paper. In the first of these 

 " I the paper is generally coiled round a cylinder into a substantial 

 mass, and this cylinder, while rotating, is brought at intervals against 

 a cutting edge in such a way as to cut through the paper. In the 

 second kind much ingenuity has been shown ; and it is certain that 

 the remarkable cheapening of writing-paper since the introduction of 

 the penny post has been greatly due to the adoption of machines, 

 instead of hand-cutting, for the severance of the paper into sheets. 

 In Black's paper-cutting machine, a sharp knife fixed to a rack is made 

 to traverse laterally by the motion of the rack. The paper is laid 

 upon a bed, and U adjusted by a screw spindle. A back-plate is hinged 

 at its lower edge, so as to be brought by pinching-screws to a proper 

 position for the paper to be cut rectangularly ; and there is a screw to 

 raise and lower the knife. Morgan's cutting-machine is intended to do 

 the work with a small expenditure of power ; the cutting-knife rotates 

 on an axis, and the paper advances horizontally to meet it, like the 

 action of a circular saw in timber cutting. In Ullmer's machine there 

 is a contrivance for imparting to the cutting-knife a diagonal move- 

 ment, so as to enable it to make a draw-cut in an effective manner. 

 There are many other paper-cutting machines, acting on similar prin- 

 ciples, but differing in details. 



Mr. Herring, in a recent work on the paper manufacture, while 

 giving a list of the various sizes and names of paper, puts together the 

 writing, drawing, printing, and wrapping papers, and then separates 

 them simply into two groups, according as they are fine or coarse. 

 The chief names and sizes mentioned by him are as follow : 



ABTS AND SCI. HIV. VOL. VT. 



So numerous, however, are the sizes, thicknesses, and qualities of 

 the various kinds of paper, cardboard, millboard, &c., that some of the 

 largest wholesale dealers, according to Mr. Herring, keep in stock not 

 much less than two thousand different kinds. Placing them under a 

 few headings, without regard to size, papers are sometimes designated 

 thus : Writing paper, five kinds, namely, cream wove, yellow wove, 

 blue wove, cream laid, and blue laid ; prinlit/tj paper, two kinds, 

 namely, laid and wove ; wrapping paper, four kinds, namely, blue, 

 purple, brown, and whited-brown. In these various kinds of paper it 

 is believed that England takes the lead of the Continent, except in 

 two particulars : that thin French writing-paper is better than English ; 

 and that the French obtain a purer surface than the English, who 

 often hide a dirty white by blueing it. 



A few years ago careful experiments were made to determine the 

 relative strengths of different kinds of piper ; and the result was given 

 in the last edition of the ' Encyclopaedia Britannica.' In the following 

 table the first column shows the kinds of the paper ; the second, the 

 weight in grains of a superficial foot ; and the third, the weight in 

 pounds upheld without breaking by a strip two inches broad : 



Bank post, very thin, sized . 



,, thinner, unfized 

 Thick writing, machine-made 



,, hand-made 



Drawing paper, muchine-madc 

 Newspaper, sized ;tt machine . 

 Scotch bank-note paper 

 Mrong cartridge paper 

 Pink blotting-paper 



Go grains. 



48 



139 



143 



217 



113 



95 



13S 



90 



23 Ibs. 



13 



42 



Oil 



95 



3'J 



70 



M 



10 



Among the varieties in paper-making may be mentioned Dickinson's 

 double-faced paper, to be used either for lithographic or copper-plate 

 printing, according as one or the other surface is selected ; two webs 

 of different kinds of pulp are placed one on another, and are pressed so 

 as to unite them into a single sheet. Laced paper is now very much 

 employed. The French have long made it, and applied it to orna- 

 menting fruit-baskets, lamp-shades, print-borders, &c. About 1830, 

 M. Riviere, a Swiss watchmaker established in London, obtained a 

 patent for perforating thin metal plates ; Messrs. De la Rue contrived 

 a modification of the same apparatus for perforating pasteboard and 

 card ; and hence lias arisen an extensive branch of ornamental paper- 

 making, especially for ra/entinei, the production of which is enormous. 

 Plain-surface coloured papers are now largely made, for the use of 

 bookbinders, printers, button-makers, confectioners, &c. The colour is 

 applied by means of brushes, similar to those employed by paper- 

 stainers ; but the pigments are better, and more care is taken in 

 laying on, smoothing, and finishing. Gilt, silvered, and coloured 

 papers are prepared for decorative stationery, by chromo-lithography, 

 surface-printing, block-printing, and woven-wire printing. The inge- 

 nuity of paper-makers has also been directed to the production of 

 paper covered with real gold and siver ; paper coated with bronze or 

 imitation bronze ; paper embossed and grained by means of engraved 

 rollers, dies, and plates ; paper varnished to imitate Morocco leather ; 

 paper enamelled, for the ground of fine satin paper-hangings, and for 

 other ornamental purposes, by treating the surface with sulphate of 

 barytes a pigment reduced in price within a few years from 21s. to 

 6d. per Ib. ; paper extra enamelled with Kremnitz white lead, for 

 wedding-cards, etc. ; paper with an opaline iridescence, prepared by 

 Messrs. De la Rue ; paper to which a kind of metallic granular surface 

 has been given, for memorandum books ; &c. 



Much attention has been paid to the manufacture of paper which 



