PAPER. 



iiig, till they sweat and rot; which is 

 commonly done in four or five days. 

 When duly fermented, they are twisted 

 into handfuls, cut small, and thrown into 

 oval mortars, made of well-seasoned oak, 

 about half a yard deep, with an iron 

 plate at bottom, an inch thick, eight in- 

 ches broad, and thirty long ; in the mid- 

 dle is a washing block, grooved, with five 

 holes in it, and a piece of hair sieve fas- 

 tened on the inside : this keeps the ham- 

 mers from touching it, and prevents any 

 thing from going out, except the foul wa- 

 ter. These mortars are continually sup- 

 plied with water, by little troughs, from 

 a cistern, fed by buckets fixed to the se- 

 veral floats of a great wheel, which raises 

 the wooden hammers for pounding the 

 rags in the mortars. When the rags are 

 beaten to a certain degree, called the first 

 stuff, the pulp is removed into boxes, 

 made like cornchandlers' bins, with the 

 bottom board aslant, and a little separa- 

 tion on the front, for the water to drain 

 away. The pulp of the rags being in, 

 they take away as many of the front 

 boards as are needful, and press the mass 

 down hard with their hands : the next 

 day they put on another board, and add 

 more pulp, till the box is full, and here 

 it remains mellowing a week, more or 

 less, according to the weather. After 

 this, the stuff is again put into clean mor- 

 tars ? and is beaten afresh, and removed 

 into boxes, as before ; in which state it 

 is called the second stuff. The mass is 

 beat a third time, till some of it being 

 mixed with fair water, and strewed to 

 and fro, appears like flour and water, 

 without any lumps in it ; it is then fit for 

 the pit mortar, where it is perfectly dis- 

 solved, and is then carried to the vat, to 

 be formed into sheets of paper. But 

 lately, instead of pounding the rags to a 

 pulp with large hammers, as above, they 

 make use of an engine, which performs 

 the work in much less time. This en- 

 gine consists of a round solid piece of 

 wood, into which are fastened several 

 long pieces of steel, ground very sharp. 

 This is placed in a large trough with the 

 rags, and a sufficient quantity of water. 

 At the bottom of the trough is a plate 

 with steel bars, ground sharp like the 

 former ; and Uie engine being 1 carried 

 round with prodigious velocity, reduces 

 the rags to a pulp in :: : time. 



it must be observed, that the motion of 

 the engine causes the water in thr 

 to circulate, and by that means c< 

 ty returns the stuff' to the engine. The 

 rough is constantly fed with clean water 



at one end, while the dirty water from 

 the rags is canned oft' at the other, 

 through a hole, defended with wire grat- 

 ings, in order to hinder the pulp from 

 going off with the dirty water. 



When the stuff is principally prepared 

 as above, it is carried to the vat, and mix- 

 ed with a proper quantity of water, which 

 they call priming the vat. The vat is 

 rightly primed, when the liquor has such 

 a proportion of the pulp, as that the 

 mould, on being dipped into it, will just 

 take up enough to make a sheet of paper 

 of the thickness required. The mould is 

 a kind of sieve, exactly of the size of the 

 paper to be made, and about an inch 

 deep, the bottom being formed of fine 

 brass wire, guarded underneath with 

 sticks, to prevent its bagging down, and 

 to keep it horizontal ; and further, to 

 strengthen the bottom, there are large 

 wires placed in parallel lines, at equal dis- 

 tances, which form those lines visible in 

 all white paper, when held up to the 

 light : the mark of the paper is also made 

 in this bottom, by interweaving a large 

 wire in any particular form. This mould 

 the maker dips into the liquor, and gives 

 it a shake as he takes it out, to clear the 

 water from the pulp. He then slides it 

 along a groove to the coucher, who turns 

 out the sheet upon a felt, laid on a plank, 

 and lays another felt on it, and returns 

 the mould to the maker, who by this time 

 has prepared a second sheet, in another 

 mould ; and thus they proceed, laying al- 

 ternately a sheet and'a felt, till they have 

 made six quires of paper, which is called 

 a post ; and this they do with such swift- 

 ness, that, in many sorts of paper, two 

 men mtike twenty posts or more in a day. 

 A post of paper being made, either the 

 maker or coucher whistles ; on which 

 four or five men advance, one of whom 

 draws it under the press, and the rest 

 press it wi'.h great force, till all the water 

 is squeezed from it ; after which it is se- 

 parated, sheet by sheet, from the felts, 

 and laid regularly one sheet upon ano- 

 ther; and having undergone a second 

 pressing, it is hung up to dry. When 

 sufficiently dried it is taken off the lines, 

 rubbed smooth with the hands, and laid 

 by till sized, which is the next operation. 

 For this they choose a fine temperate day, 

 and having boiled a proper quantity of 

 clean parchment or vellum shavings in 

 water, till it comes to a size, they prepare 

 a fine clovh, on which they strew a due 

 proportion of white vitriol and roch-alum, 

 finely powdered, and strain the size 

 through it, into a large tub ; in which 



