WOOD PULP FOR PAPER. 119 
We see that the idea of making a paper pulp out of wood is not new, 
but the trials to which such pulp was subjected at first did not succeed 
well, as the inventors only aimed at the production of a fine sawdust, or 
wood powder, which, by the shortness of its fibre, possessed no felting 
property, and had therefore soon to be rejected. 
Mr. Volter, paper-maker of Heidenheim in Germany, who com- 
menced twenty-five years ago to use wood pulp for his papers, succeeded 
after many trials with sawdust and wood powder in making an efficient 
pulp, by separating the wood into its elementary fibres, and this pulp is 
capable of being used largely with ordinary and middle fine papers. It 
has been generally employed in Germany and Belgium ; and Mr. 
Gratiot, President of the French Paper-makers' Club, called the atten- 
tion of French paper-makers to this pulp in his speech lately delivered 
with reference to the abolition of the export duty on rags in France. 
Besides the above-named countries, these machines are at work in 
France, Denmark, Austria, Russia, Switzerland, and Sweden, altogether 
sixty-one having been sold by Mr. Volter during the last three years. We 
have also seen some samples of wood pulp prepared by these machines, 
the purity and fineness of which is really surprising. Fir wood pulp 
shows a somewhat yellowish colour, but aspen wood pulp is white. 
We let Mr. Volter speak for himself about the capabilities of his 
pulp :— 
" Wood pulp can be used with rag pulp according to the quality of 
the rag pulp and the quality of the paper required, in quantities of 
15 to 80 per cent. ; generally the following proportions are taken : — 
"Fifteen to thirty per cent, for middling writing and printing papers. 
" Thirty to fifty per cent, for common writing and printing papers. 
" Fifty to eighty per cent, for paper hangings, mill boards and.paste- 
boards can be made entirely of wood pulp. 
" The application of wood pulp does not in the least exclude the use of 
China clay, analine, or pearl white, wherever these substances are admis- 
sible ; fir and pine wood pulp especially bear China clay extremely well. 
" For printing papers wood pulp is very well fit, because 
" 1. It prevents in a great degree the transparency of the paper. 
" 2. The papers containing wood pulp show a clear, sharp impres- 
sion, and consume less ink. 
" 3. The types are less worn out than with other papers, because wood 
pulps contain no hard, impure parts. 
" For thin and tissue papers, where China clay is totally unfit, wood 
pulp can be taken in large quantities. 
" The sizing and colouring of the paper is in no way hindered by an 
addition of wood pulp, as it takes size and colour just as well as rag 
pulp. Although wood pulp cannot be bleached cheaply, it is not ex- 
cluded thereby from the manufacture of better papers, as a small ad- 
mixture of China clay or the overbleaching of the accompanying rag 
pulp does hereby good service. 
VOL. VI. M 
