490 USES OF WOOD PULP. 



GOTHENBURG. 



Among manufactures of wood produced in Sweden, I notice 

 the following articles: Pit props, railroad ties, unfinished oars; 

 deals, battens, and boards; wooden moldings, laths, and lath wood; 

 joinery, including furniture; matches and splints, "excelsior," walk- 

 ing canes, tobacco pipes, Persian blinds; lasts, clogs, and wooden 

 shoes; shingles; wooden boxes; staves, barrels, and firkins; and, in 

 a more advanced stage of manufacture, wood pulp, pasteboard, and 

 paper. 



The above articles are all in this line that are mentioned in the 

 official statistics, and information about other articles manufactured 

 from wood or wood pulp can not be obtained from this source. As 

 merchants and manufacturers here are careful not to furnish any in- 

 formation about their business, it is difficult t6 obtain any reliable 

 information about new methods used and the products thereof. 

 It may be said with some certainty, however, that wood pulp is not 

 extensively used in Sweden for other purposes than in the manufac- 

 ture of pasteboard and paper. To some extent, wood pulp mixed 

 with plaster of paris is used in the manufacture of moldings and 

 other ornaments for ceilings. Katrinedals Pappersbruk, in the prov- 

 ince of Bohuslan, and Alstermo Bruk, in the province of Smaland, 

 make artificial leather or "leather pasteboard," a component part of 

 which is understood to be wood pulp. The method of manufacture 

 is said to have originated in the United States. A factory near For- 

 serum, in the county of Jonkoping, has recently started the manu- 

 facture of "compo-boards," which are made by pressing a special 

 kind of pasteboard outside of wooden strips, and are principally used 

 for inside work in buildings. It is supposed to be noncombustible 

 and capable of excluding dampness and noise. 



As to the manufacture of wood pulp and the purposes for which 

 it can be used, I take the liberty to .quote the following from 

 Illustreradt Varulexikon: 



Wood pulp, or wood cellulose, which has gained such great importance in the 

 modern manufacture of paper, is chiefly divided into two kinds mechanical and 

 chemical. 



The former is manufactured by grinding wood, parallel with the fibers, against 

 quickly rotating rollers of sandstone under a steady flow of water, assorting it by 

 a system of sieves, and drying it. Such pulp alone does not yield good paper, 

 because the fibers are too short and do not felter together very well, and the resin 

 left in the pulp prevents subsequent bleaching. It is therefore generally mixed 

 with 20 to 40 per cent of other paper stock. In middling fine writing paper, print- 

 ing paper, or wrapping paper, the admixture may amount to 50 per cent, and in 

 ordinary printing or writing paper to 60 to 70 per cent. 



