1402 



Canadian Forestry Journal, November, 1917 



floor covering and not popular for 

 inside use. Various other vegetable 

 fibres have been employed in making 

 carpeting, but the product is usually 

 found to be wanting in some respect 

 as far as general use is concerned. 



The Start of Paper Weaving 



Appreciating the widespread need, 

 not only in the United States, but all 

 over the world, for a low-priced car- 

 peting which would be attractive yet 

 durable, William Scholes, a Phila- 

 delphian, hit upon the idea of weaving 

 rugs and carpets of paper. After 

 considerable experimenting lasting 

 over several years, Scholes succeeded 

 in perfecting his idea, an all-paper 

 rug, made from strips of tissue paper 

 of various colors, twisted into thread 

 and woven into a compact, heavy 

 mat or fabric. When used as a floor 

 covering this rug was found to be not 

 only attractive»in design but durable 

 as well, and very cheap, selling for a 

 half to third the price of ordinary 

 wool carpeting. 



Upon further experimentation it 

 was found that the addition of a little 

 wool brightened up the rug, giving it 

 a rich appearance and also making 

 it easier to sweep. Consecjuently, 

 the manufacture of both kinds of 

 rugs, the so-called paper-fibre " rug 

 and the wool and paper-fibre rug, 

 was taken up, and for a number of 

 years the market has been supplied 

 with them. The fact that the manu- 

 facture of this interesting kind of 

 carpeting dates back only a few years, 

 however, explains why many have 

 not as yet become acquainted with 

 the product, although it has made its 

 way to the front rapidly, and in the 

 face of competition by many different 

 floor coverings. 



How the Process Works 



The simplicity of the process of 

 manufacturing the paper-fibre rug 

 has almost as much to do with the 

 low price at which it can be sold as 

 the cheapness of the material of which 

 it is made. For this reason the meth- 

 ods involved in the process of manu- 

 facture are interesting. The paper 

 from which the fibre of the rug is 



to be made is first dyed while it is 

 still in pulp form. The paper makers 

 furnish great jumbo rolls of paper in 

 the colors desired. These rolls of 

 paper measure from two to five feet 

 in length, and weigh as much as seven 

 hundred pounds to the roll. The 

 first step in preparing the paper for 

 rug making is to cut it into strips 

 suitable for twisting into a thread or 

 fibre. This is done on what is called 

 a slitting machine. One large roll 

 of paper will be cut up into thirty or 

 so long strips of widths varying ac- 

 cording to the size thread desired — 

 narrow strips for light-weight goods, 

 wider for the heavy. The same ma- 

 chine which slits the paper also rolls 

 it up again, so that a large jumbo roll 

 several feet wide will be cut up into 

 inch or half-inch widths and re-rolled, 

 but of the same thickness as the 

 original roll. This done, the paper is 

 ready to go through the dampening 

 process, and is stored away in a 

 humidifying room. 



When the paper has been in this 

 room three or four days it is ready 

 to go to the spinning frames. An- 

 other humidifier here assures the 

 proper action of the paper during the 

 spinning. As the strips of paper 

 unroll they go through a twisting 

 process and are then rewound upon 

 large spools. The paper is now in 

 the form of a fibre yarn, the strips 

 which went into the machine flat 

 have now come out a round thread, 

 having a polish and looking like a new 

 piece of straw. The spools upon 

 which the yarn is wound hold about 

 a hundred pounds each. At this 

 juncture the fibre, as far as its 

 manufacture is concerned, is ready 

 to be woven into the rug. 



Before this can be done, however, 

 the fibre must be rewound once more 

 so as to permit of its being used on 

 the loom. Here, again, a special 

 machine is required for the work. 

 After the spools have been well filled 

 they are taken from the spinning 

 frames and placed on this machine, 

 which winds them into cops to fit the 

 shuttles of the 'oom. As in the pro- 

 cess of spinning the fibre, female 

 operatives tend the machines, taking 



