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  THE STORY OF
  PAPER-MAKING

[Illustration: A MODERN PAPER-MILL]




  THE STORY OF
  PAPER-MAKING

  AN ACCOUNT OF PAPER-MAKING
  FROM ITS EARLIEST KNOWN RECORD
  DOWN TO THE PRESENT TIME

  _ILLUSTRATED_

  J. W. BUTLER PAPER COMPANY
  CHICAGO ::  ::  ::  MDCCCCI




  COPYRIGHTED
  BY J. W. BUTLER PAPER COMPANY
  JANUARY, 1901




    THE ABSENCE OF NON-TECHNICAL WORKS UPON THIS INTERESTING
    SUBJECT PROMPTS THE AUTHORS TO PRESENT A TREATISE FROM THE
    STANDPOINT OF THE LAYMAN, AND FOR HIS USE




CONTENTS


  CHAPTER                                              PAGE
    I. ARTICLES SUPPLANTED BY PAPER                       1

   II. PAPYRUS AND PARCHMENT                             12

  III. ORIGIN AND EARLY HISTORY OF PAPER                 20

   IV. EARLY METHODS OF PAPER-MAKING                     49

    V. MODERN PAPER-MAKING                               55

   VI. WATER-MARKS AND VARIETIES OF PAPER                95

  VII. EXTENT OF THE BUSINESS IN THE UNITED STATES      123




PREFACE


It is a rare privilege to stand as we do at the meeting-point of
the centuries, bidding a reluctant farewell to the old, while
simultaneously we cry “All hail!” to the new; first looking back over
the open book of the past, then straining eager eyes for a glimpse
of the mysteries that the future holds hidden, and which are to be
revealed only moment by moment, hour by hour, and day by day.

The nineteenth century, so preëminently one of progress in almost every
line of mental and material activity, has witnessed a marvelous growth
in the paper industry. It was in the early years of the century that
crude old methods, with their meager machinery, began yielding to the
pressure of advanced thought, and the development since has kept full
pace with the flying years. The hundred years that have written the
modern history of paper-making mark also the period during which the
J. W. BUTLER PAPER COMPANY, or its immediate predecessors, have been
associated with the industry in this country. It has therefore seemed
to the present representatives of the company that the closing year of
the century was an especially fitting time to put into story form the
history of the wonderful and valuable product evolved almost wholly
from seemingly useless materials, and they consider it their privilege,
as well as the fulfillment of a pleasant obligation, to present this
account to their friends and associates in the paper, printing, and
auxiliary trades. We

   “Know not what the future hath
    Of marvel and surprise,”

but we feel confident that the incoming century will bring changes and
improvements as wonderful as any the past has wrought, and we hope
that it may be our good fortune to in some measure be instrumental in
promoting whatever tends to a greater development of the industry with
which our name has been so long associated.

                    J. W. BUTLER PAPER COMPANY.




CHAPTER I

ARTICLES EARLY USED FOR PURPOSES NOW SUPPLIED BY PAPER


Full of dignity, significance, and truth is the noble conception which
finds expression in Tennyson’s verse, that we are the heirs of the
ages, the inheritors of all that has gone before us.

♦We are the heirs of the ages♦

Through countless cycles of time men have been struggling and aspiring;
now “mounting up with wings, as eagles,” now thrown back to earth by
the crushing weight of defeat, but always rising again, undaunted
and determined. “The fathers have wrought, and we have entered into
the reward of their labors.” We have profited by their striving and
aspiration. All the wisdom of the past, garnered by patient toil and
effort, all the wealth of experience gained by generations of men
through alternating defeat and triumph, belongs to us by right of
inheritance. It has been truly said, “We are what the past has made us.
The results of the past are ourselves.”

♦Tradition untrustworthy♦

But to what agency do we owe the preservation of our inheritance?
What conservator has kept our rich estate from being scattered to
the four winds of heaven? For the wealth that is ours to-day we are
indebted in large measure to man’s instinctive desire, manifested in
all ages, to perpetuate his knowledge and achievements. Before the
thought of a permanent record had begun to take shape in men’s minds,
oral tradition, passing from father to son, and from generation to
generation, sought to keep alive the memory of great achievements and
valorous deeds. But tradition proved itself untrustworthy. Reports were
often imperfect, misleading, exaggerated. Through dull ears, the spoken
words were received into minds beclouded by ignorance, and passed on
into the keeping of treacherous memories. As the races advanced in
learning and civilization, they realized that something more permanent
and accurate was necessary; that without written records of some sort
there could be little, if any, progress, since each generation must
begin practically where the preceding one had begun, and pass through
the same stages of ignorance and inexperience.

♦Hieroglyphic records♦

In this strait, men sought help from Nature, and found in the huge
rocks and bowlders shaped by her mighty forces a means of perpetuating
notable events in the histories of nations and the lives of
individuals. From the setting up of stones to commemorate great deeds
and solemn covenants, it was but a step to the hewing of obelisks, upon
which the early races carved their hieroglyphs, rude pictures of birds
and men, of beasts and plants. As early as four thousand years before
Christ, these slender shafts of stone were reared against the deep blue
of the Egyptian sky, and for ages their shadows passed with the sun
over the restless, shifting sands of the desert. Most of the ancient
obelisks have crumbled to dust beneath Time’s unsparing hand, but a few
fragmentary specimens are still in existence, while the British Museum
is so fortunate as to be in possession of one shaft of black basalt
that is in perfect condition. A part of it is covered with writing,
a part with bas-reliefs. In Egypt these hieroglyphs were employed
almost exclusively for religious writings--a purpose suggested by the
derivation of the word itself, which comes from the Greek, _ieros_, a
priest, and _glypha_, a carving.

♦Inscriptions on stone and clay♦

As the obelisk had taken the place of the rude stones and unwieldy
bowlders which marked man’s first effort to solve an ever-recurring
problem, so it in turn was superseded. The temples were sacred places,
and especially fitted to become the repositories of the records that
were to preserve for coming generations the deeds of kings and priests.
Accordingly, the pictured stories of great events were graven on stone
panels in the temple walls, or on slabs or tablets of the same enduring
material. Then came a forward step to the easier and cheaper method
of writing on soft clay. The monarchs, not being obliged to take into
consideration questions of ease or economy, continued to make use of
the stone tablets, but private individuals usually employed clay,
not only for literary and scientific writings, but in their business
transactions as well. A careful baking, either by artificial heat or
in the burning rays of a tropic sun, rendered the clay tablets very
enduring, so that many which have been dug from ancient ruins are now
in a remarkable state of preservation, bearing letters and figures as
clear as any of the inscriptions on marble, stone, or metal that have
come to us from the splendid days of Greece or Rome. The people of
Assyria and Chaldea recorded almost every transaction, whether public
or private in character, upon tablets of clay, forming thus a faithful
transcript of their daily lives and occupations, which may be read
to-day by those who hold the key; thus it is we bridge the gulf of
centuries. From the ruins of ancient Nineveh and Babylon, records of
almost every sort have been unearthed, all inscribed on indestructible
terra-cotta. There are bank-notes and notes of hand, deeds of property,
public records, statements of private negotiations, and memoranda of
astronomical observations. The life in which they played a part has
passed into history; the once proud and mighty cities lie prostrate,
and upon their ruins other cities have risen, only to fall as they
fell. The terra-cotta to which they committed their records is all that
is left, and the tablets that were fashioned and inscribed so long ago
give to us the best histories of Chaldea, Babylonia, and Assyria.

♦Assyrian, Babylonian and Chaldean records♦

One of the largest collections of these clay-writings is now in the
British Museum and was taken from a great edifice in Assyria, which was
probably the residence of Sennacherib. Several series of narratives
are comprehended in the collection; one referring to the language,
legends, and mythology of the Assyrians; another recording the story of
creation, in which “Water-deep” is said to be the creator of all forms
of life then in existence, while a third relates to the deluge and the
story of the Assyrian Moses. But however interesting these facts may be
in themselves, we refer to them only by way of illustration, since we
are dealing not so much with the writing itself as with the material on
which writing was done.

♦Inscriptions on prisms♦

Another form of tablet, a somewhat singular variation it may seem,
was in use among the Assyrians at a very early date. This was a
prism, having either six or eight sides, and made of exceedingly fine
terra-cotta. Such prisms were frequently deposited by the Assyrian
kings at the corners of temples, after having been inscribed with
accounts of the notable events in their lives, interspersed with
numerous invocations. Apparently the custom was similar to that
followed at the present day, and the ancient Assyrian tablets no doubt
served the same purpose as the records, newspapers, and documents that
are now deposited in the corner-stones of public or other important
buildings. The prisms used as tablets varied in length from a foot and
a half to three feet, and were covered very closely with small writing.
That the writers’ endeavor was to make the most of the space at their
disposal is suggested by the fact that upon a prism found in the ruins
of the ancient city of Ashur the inscriptions are so crowded that there
are thirty lines in the space of six inches, or five lines to the inch.
The prism recites the valiant deeds of Tiglath-Pileser I., who reigned
from 1120 to 1100 B. C., and undertook campaigns against forty-two
other nations and their kings. He was a monarch whose very name
inspired terror among the surrounding peoples, and his reign was filled
with stirring events and brilliant achievements. ♦Economy of space♦
Small wonder that it was necessary to crowd the inscriptions upon the
prism! Rawlinson’s “Ancient Monarchies,” in an account of the writings
that have come down to us from the earliest days of the world’s
recorded history, has this to say: “The clay tablets are both numerous
and curious. They are of various sizes, ranging from nine inches long
by six and a half wide to an inch and a half long by an inch wide, or
even less. Sometimes they are entirely covered by writings, while at
others they exhibit on a portion of their surface impressions of seals,
mythological emblems, and the like. Some thousands have been recovered.
Many are historical, and still more are mythological.” Their use in
writing and drawing was almost universal, and we read that the prophet
Ezekiel, when dwelling with “them of the captivity at Telabib, that
dwelt by the river of Chebar,” was commanded, “Take thee a tile and lay
it before thee, and portray upon it the city, even Jerusalem.” (Ezekiel
iv. 1.)

We get a glimpse of another side of that ancient life in a tablet
of Nile clay, preserved in the British Museum, which is one of the
earliest specimens of writing now in existence. It is a proposal of
marriage, and was written about 1530 B. C., more than thirty-four
hundred years ago, by a Pharaoh asking the hand of a daughter of the
Babylonian king. Forty years later, in 1491 B. C., the ten commandments
were graven on tablets of stone.

♦The works of Homer♦

In the early efforts of men to find a means of preserving in lasting
and convenient form the records of their lives and achievements, some
queer materials were pressed into service. Plates of metal were used,
even the precious gold and silver being employed for the purpose.
Skins of animals, tanned to a sort of leather, found favor among many
peoples, while their bones, and even their intestines, were by no means
disdained. The works of Homer, preserved in one of the great Egyptian
libraries in the days of the Ptolemies, were written in letters of gold
on the skins of serpents. Ivory was used, also wood and the bark of
trees. In the early days of Rome, the reports of notable events were
engraved on wooden tablets, which were then exposed to view in public
places, and citizens of all classes, mingling freely, according to
custom, in the great Forum that was the center of the city’s life, were
easily and quickly informed of the important happenings of the day. The
greatest defect in this method was remedied when, later on, wax was
used to form a surface upon the wood, thus admitting of corrections and
erasures, and making it possible to use the same table indefinitely,
simply by scraping off the coating after it had served its purpose,
and supplying other coatings as they were needed. But the first real
advance toward modern writing materials came in the use of the leaves
of olive, palm, poplar, and other trees, which were prepared by being
cut in strips, soaked in boiling water, and then rubbed over wood to
make them soft and pliable.

♦Old materials necessarily discarded♦

It will be readily understood, however, that these crude materials and
primitive methods could not long keep pace with the steady march of
progress. The peoples of the earth were increasing rapidly; they were
advancing in the arts and sciences, and in the experiences that inspire
thought, poetry, and philosophy; they had a heritage of knowledge
to which they were constantly adding, while business transactions,
together with other deeds worthy of record, had greatly multiplied.
It was but natural that the materials which had once been entirely
adequate should now be discarded as cumbersome and unfitted to the new
conditions. The sands in the hour-glass were beginning to run golden;
time was taking on a value unknown before. A deed of land written in
clay and put away to bake might answer the purpose when real-estate
transfers were infrequent and attended with much ceremony. A clay
tablet might serve in a marriage proposal by a king who had the power
to meet and vanquish all rivals, but terra-cotta was not suited either
for the record of numerous and rapid business transactions or for the
writing of books. The biography of one man, or a single treatise in
philosophy, would have required a whole building, while a library of
modern dimensions, as to the number of books, would probably have left
little room in a city for the dwellings of its inhabitants.

♦Discovery of papyrus♦

What was to take the place of the old and cumbersome materials? Even at
a very early date men were asking this question, and it was the good
fortune of Egypt to be able to give answer. Along the marshy banks
of the Nile grew a graceful water-plant, now almost extinct, which
was peculiarly fitted to meet the new demands, as we shall see in the
succeeding chapter. The discovery of its value led to an extensive
industry, through which the land of the Pharaohs was enabled to take
high rank in letters and learning, and, to maintain a position of
wealth, dignity, power, and influence that otherwise would have been
impossible, even in those remote days when printing was still many
centuries beyond the thoughts or dreams of men.




CHAPTER II

PAPYRUS AND PARCHMENT


♦The bulrush of the Nile♦

The graceful water-plant whose plumy, drooping heads were swayed by
the breezes that ruffled the waters of the Nile was one of the most
useful plants known to Egypt, in whose commerce it long held a leading
place. As early as 2000 B. C., or five hundred years before Moses led
the children of Israel out of bondage, there was made from its smooth
green stems a material called by the same name, papyrus, a kind of
crude paper, which came into universal use, and was so valuable and in
such great demand that one of the kings proposed to maintain his army
from the sale of this product alone. The plant was the familiar bulrush
of the Nile, which grew in forest-like profusion along the banks of
that mighty stream; and from its strong stems was woven the ark in
which the infant Moses was hidden away “among the flags by the river’s
brink,” and so saved from the death that menaced him under Pharaoh’s
cruel decree. The Egyptian papyrus was thus the means of preserving to
the world the life of the greatest law-giver of history. It has been
equally instrumental in perpetuating the code of laws whose principles
still serve as foundation for the jurisprudence of the leading nations
of the earth, nearly four thousand years after they were first
promulgated to his own people, the wandering tribes in the desert.

♦Many uses for papyrus♦

The papyrus, a tall, smooth-stemmed reed of triangular form, grew to
a height of ten or fifteen feet, and terminated in a tufted plume of
leaves and flowers. Like so many plants that grow beneath the ardent
skies of the tropics, it had numerous uses. It was noted especially for
the soft, cellular substance found in the interior of its stems, which
was a common article of food, both cooked and in its natural state.
It was employed also for the making of mats, sail-cloth, cordage, and
wearing apparel; while in Abyssinia, in whose marshes it is still to
be found, boats were fashioned by weaving the stems closely together
and covering them with a sort of resinous matter. At a very early day,
judging from sculptures of the fourth dynasty, Egypt made a similar
use of the papyrus, employing it in the construction of light skiffs
suited to the navigation of the pools and shallows of the Nile. It is
believed that Isaiah referred to boats of this sort when he spoke
of the “vessels of bulrushes upon the waters.” But valuable as the
papyrus was through these manifold uses, its enduring fame was due to
an entirely different source. It held closely wrapped within its green
stems the scrolls upon which, through hundreds of years, the history
and literature of the world were to be written; and that fact alone was
sufficient to engrave its name deeply on the thoughts and memories of
men.

♦The preparation of papyrus♦

In the manufacture of this Egyptian paper, papyrus, the outer rind of
the stem was first removed, exposing an interior made up of numerous
successive fiber layers, some twenty in number. These were separated
with a pointed instrument, or needle, arranged side by side on a
hard, smooth table, crossed at right-angles with another set of slips
placed above, and then dampened. After pressure had been applied for a
number of hours, the sheets were taken out and rubbed with a piece of
ivory, or with a smooth stone or shell, until the desired surface was
obtained, when the process was complete, except for drying in the sun.
The inner layers of the plant furnished the best product, the outer
ones being coarse and suitable only for the making of cordage. Single
sheets made in this way were fastened together, as many as might
be required, to form the papyrus rolls, of which hundreds have been
discovered in recent years. It is said that the Romans, when they
undertook the manufacture of papyrus, made a great improvement in the
sheets by sizing them with flour, to which a few drops of vinegar were
added, and then beating the surface smooth. ♦Early Chinese discoveries♦
The Chinese, far away to the East, also learned some of the secrets
of paper-making. It is believed that in early times they used silk
as their basis, but later on they made the so-called rice-paper by a
method similar to that employed in the manufacture of papyrus, deftly
cutting a continuous slice from the pith of the papyrifera.

[Illustration: THE THRASHER--PAGE 57]

From the reed, and the process of manufacture through which it passed,
the English language has gained a number of words. The plant itself,
called papyrus in the Latin tongue, byblos in the Greek, has given us
the two words paper and bible. It is claimed further that the process
of furrowing off the different layers of the pith gave us, through the
Greek word charasso χαρασσω, to furrow, and the Greek and Latin charta,
a piece of paper, our several words chart, card, carte blanche, and,
of course, the “charta” of that famous document, Magna Charta, the
great sheet-anchor of English liberties. In the course of manufacture,
twenty sheets of papyrus were glued together into a scapus by the
glutinatorie, the first known bookbinders, and then into a roll known
as a volumer, from which we get our word volume. The city of Paris
boasts a volumer of this sort, a papyrus manuscript, well preserved,
which is thirty feet in length.

♦Extensive use of papyrus♦

The rolls, or papyri, are said to have become known in Europe through
the French expedition into Egypt in 1798, and specimens were reproduced
in print by one Cadet in 1805. The making of papyrus is mentioned by
Philostratus as a staple manufacture of Alexandria in A. D. 244, and
it continued to be used in Italy until the twelfth century. The extent
to which it was employed may be judged by the fact that nearly 1,800
rolls were unearthed in the ruins of Herculaneum, about the year 1753.
The durability of this substance added greatly to its value, and it is
claimed that the ancient papyrus manuscripts that have been properly
preserved are almost as serviceable to-day as when first made. It is
doubtful whether a similar statement can be made four thousand or
even two thousand years hence in regard to many of the books printed
on nineteenth-century paper. Chicago has the largest collection of
ancient papyri west of the Atlantic, consisting of three hundred
complete pieces and hundreds of fragments, which were discovered by an
Arab sheik while digging along the banks of the Nile.

♦Parchment a substitute for papyrus♦

Following the making of papyrus came the manufacture of parchment, the
use of which in diplomas and certain public documents continues to
the present time. As the story runs, the invention of the new writing
material was due to the spirit of rivalry between two cities of the
ancient world. Attalus, king of Pergamus, was anxious to establish
in his capital a library that would excel the splendid collection
at Alexandria, but Egypt, having a monopoly of papyrus, refused to
sell to him. But no monopoly of that day or this could ever control
all the means of supplying man’s needs. Nature is resourceful, and
man, when driven by necessity, soon learns that her treasures are
practically limitless. When the supply of one article is for any reason
curtailed, she furnishes something as good or better to take its place.
If all the paper in the world to-day were owned by a monopoly that
refused to sell, something would speedily be found to take its place.
So the inhabitants of Pergamus, being refused papyrus, set about
manufacturing a substitute, which came to be known among the Romans as
“pergamena,” from which comes our word parchment.

♦Manufacture of parchment♦

The skins of sheep and goats were employed in the making of parchment.
These were steeped in pits impregnated with lime, and afterward
stretched upon frames, where their thickness was reduced by paring and
scraping them with sharp instruments. To obtain the fine, uniform,
velvety surface characteristic of the best parchment, it was necessary
to sprinkle the skin with chalk, and rub and polish it with fine
pumice-stones, which not only smoothed and softened the leather,
but also improved its color. When it had been reduced to about half
its original thickness, it was dried for use. Vellum, which still
represents the acme of luxury in bookbinding, was made in a similar
manner, from the skins of young calves. As early as 1085 B. C., the
Hebrews wrote on the skins of animals, and it is believed that the
Medes, at about the same period, used a substance resembling parchment,
and prepared in a similar manner, the cost of land carriage being too
great to admit of any extensive introduction of papyrus into western
Asia. “For public documents, the rock, and for private, the pen and
the prepared skin, seem to have been preferred by them, and in the
earlier times, at any rate, they employed no other materials.”

♦The advent of paper♦

For many years parchment was used in England for all deeds of real
estate, and so lengthy were these documents that it was said it
took a flock of sheep to convey an acre of land or make a marriage
settlement. As the age of stone, the carved obelisk, the clay tablet,
and other crude materials was outgrown, so was that of papyrus and
parchment. With the next step forward came paper, and the improvements
in its manufacture with regard to quality, variety, and increase of
production, have kept pace with the varying and growing demands. It is
not given us to know what the future may bring forth, but paper seems
likely to hold sway until the end of time.




CHAPTER III

THE ORIGIN AND EARLY HISTORY OF PAPER


♦Paper from mulberry bark♦

To the Chinese is now generally conceded the discovery of the art of
making paper, of the sort familiar to us, from fibrous matter reduced
to a pulp. According to the old saying, “Time and patience will change
the mulberry leaf into satin.” The ingenious, painstaking sons of
the Flowery Kingdom had been demonstrating its truth through some
centuries, when, about 150 A. D., they discovered that the mulberry
might be put to still another use. The tree that they chose for their
new manufacture was not identical with the one upon which they fed
their silkworms, and to which they were indirectly indebted for their
softly shimmering silks, but it belonged to the same family. From its
bark they made, by a process that must have seemed to them something
akin to magic, a material which, in its developed and improved form,
has been of priceless value to the world, far exceeding that of the
rich and costly stuffs woven from the cocoons of the silkworm.

♦Chinese methods♦

Compared with modern methods of paper-making, this primitive process,
which is said to be still in vogue in China, was fairly simple. The
branches of the tree were first boiled in lye to remove the bark. Then
followed maceration in water for several days, after which the outer
part was scraped off and the inner part boiled in lye, until it was
separated into fibers. These were washed in a pan or sieve, then worked
by hand into a pulp, which was spread on a table and beaten fine with
a mallet. The pulp was placed in a tub containing an infusion of rice
and a root called _oveni_, and thoroughly stirred to mix the materials.
The sheets were formed by dipping a “mold” made of strips of bulrushes,
confined in a frame, into the vat containing the pulp, which was taken
out in a thin layer, after the method followed in making paper by hand.
After molding, the sheets were laid one above another, with strips
of reeds placed between, weights were applied, and the sheets were
afterward dried in the sun.

♦Nature’s process♦

It has been suggested that in regions where the water-plant called the
_conferna_ grows, Nature herself teaches the method of making paper
from vegetable fibers beaten to a pulp. The plant consists of slender
green filaments, similar to what is called frog-spittle. The fibers are
disintegrated by the action of the water, and rise to the surface as
a scum. Driven hither and thither by the winds, tossed by the waves,
and carried on resistlessly by the currents, this scum is at last
beaten into pulp and matted together by the forces whose plaything it
has been. Bleached by the sun, it is finally, in some overflow of the
water, cast upon the shore to dry, as veritable sheets of paper. But if
Nature taught the process, man was slow to discover the teacher, or to
learn the lesson.

♦Crusaders learn paper-making♦

When the Arabs captured the splendid city of Samarcand from the
Chinese, about 704 A. D., they gained something more than material
booty, for the art of paper-making flourished there, and they carried
the secret back with them to their own towns and cities. Western
Europe in turn learned it from the Arabs, through the Crusaders, who
visited Byzantium, Palestine, and Syria. The followers of the Cross,
many of whom were grossly ignorant and superstitious, went east to
christianize, by conquest, the inhabitants of these ancient lands, and
to wrest from the infidels the tomb of the Savior, and found to their
surprise many arts and refinements of which they had been ignorant.

♦French and Dutch improvements♦

It was in 1189 A. D. that the art of making paper from pulp was
introduced into France. At that time the French people were far in
advance of the English in cultivation and in regard to the refinements
of life. They were energetic, and took great delight in construction,
manufacturing, and building. Profiting by their new knowledge, they
prosecuted this art with such zeal and industry that they were soon
in a position to supply not only the wants of France, but those of
surrounding countries as well. The people of the Netherlands were
stimulated by the example of France, and for a long period the French
and Dutch were the best, and indeed almost the only papers produced in
Europe.

[Illustration: THE SORTING AND SHREDDING ROOM--PAGE 57]

No reliable record can be established as to the first paper-making
in England. It is stated that in the personal expense account of
Henry VII. of England, in 1498, there appears the following entry:
“For a rewarde at the paper mylne, 16s. 8d.” This would indicate
that some kind of paper, which gave the name of “paper mylne” to
the establishment where it was handled or manipulated, existed in
England nearly two hundred years before any patent was issued for its
manufacture. It was almost two centuries later that the patent referred
to farther on in this chapter was granted, which stated that no such
industry had previously existed in the kingdom. In an old book, Wynken
de Worde’s “De Proprietatibus Rerum” (About the Properties of Things),
issued in 1498, appear these significant lines:

    “And John Tate, the Younger, joye mote he brok!
    “Whiche late hathe in England, doo make this paper Thynne
    “That now in our Englysh, this book is printed Inne.”

♦English paper-mills♦

This mill is said to have been located at Hartford, England, and
the print of the watermark used is given in Herbert’s “Typographic
Antiquities,” Vol. I, page 20, as an eight-pointed star surrounded by a
circle. John Tate died in 1498.

♦Recognition by royalty♦

In the year 1558 appeared “Sparks of Friendship,” a book by Thomas
Churchyard, who was born in 1520 and died in 1604, and who bore the
title of “Nestor of the Elizabethan era.” This book mentions the
paper-mill of Spillman. A poem in a work entitled “Progress of Queen
Elizabeth,” in 1565, has the title, “A Description and Playne Discourse
of Paper and the whole Benefits that Paper Brings, with Rehearsal and
Setting forth in verse a Paper-myll Built near Darthforth, by a High
Germaine, called Master Spillman, Jeweler to the Queen’s Majestie.”
This is often said to have been the first mill in England, but if
the quotation with regard to John Tate is intended to imply that the
paper was made by him in England, then certainly there must have been
a paper-mill in operation in that country nearly a hundred years
before, and this, taking the entry of King Henry VII. as proof of an
English mill, must have been the second, if not the third, of its
kind. It is said that Spielman, or Spillman, was knighted by Queen
Elizabeth as a fitting honor and reward for the noble work of having
built a paper-mill at Dartford, England, in 1588. A lease recorded in
the Land Revenue Records of England, in 1591, reads, “Penlifton Co.,
Cambridge, lease of water, called paper-mills, late of Bishopric of Ely
to John George, dated 14th. July, 34th. Elizabeth,” which would seem to
indicate a third or fourth mill in 1592.

In 1649 watermark of the finest English paper (whether made in England
or not) bore the royal arms, but later on, in contempt of Charles I., a
fool with cap and bells was substituted for the king’s arms.

For some reason, the industry of paper-making languished in England,
and in 1670 the people of the “right little, tight little island”
were almost entirely dependent upon France for their supply of the
indispensable fabric, its manufacture, if carried on at all in their
own country, meeting with but slight success. In the “History of
Commeret,” by Anderson, published in 1690, it is claimed that this
was the date of the first manufacture of paper in England, and that
previous to this time England had bought paper of her neighbor across
the Channel to the amount of £100,000 annually. The war with France
occasioned such high duties on foreign products as to make the cost
of importation too great; but, as sometimes happens, the temporary
deprivation was in course of time transmuted into a permanent benefit.
The way was opened for the home manufacturer, and the opportunity
was soon improved by French Protestant refugees, who, fleeing from
persecution in their own land, settled in England and established
paper-mills. ♦White writing-paper♦ In 1687 appeared a proclamation for
the establishment of a mill for the making of white writing-paper;
in the following year it was stated, in an article in the “British
Merchant,” that hardly any but brown paper was manufactured, while in
1689, according to report, paper became so scarce and high that all
printing ceased. It is evident that up to the time when the patents
of 1675 and 1685 were granted, the industry was in anything but a
prosperous condition, existing only in brief and isolated attempts at
manufacture, and comprehended merely the crudest products.

♦Early English patents♦

The first British patent for paper-making was granted to Charles
Hildegard, February, 1665, for “the way and art of making blue paper
used by sugar bakers and others.” A decade later, in January, 1675, was
granted the second patent, already referred to in this chapter, which
was for the making of “white paper for the use of writing and printing,
being a new manufacture and never before practiced in any way in any
of our kingdoms or dominions.” Another decade intervened between the
second and the third patents, the latter bearing the date of July 4,
1685, and being “for the true art and way of making English paper for
writing, printing, and for other uses, both as good and serviceable in
all respects and as white as any French or Dutch paper.”

A seeming contradiction of the statement of the second patent is
found in Shakespeare’s Henry VI., where Jack Cade, in 1450, makes the
accusation against Lord Say: “Thou hast most traitorously corrupted the
youth of the realm in erecting a grammar school, and whereas, before,
our forefathers had no other books but the score and the tally, thou
hast caused printing to be used; and contrary to the king, his crown
and his dignity, thou hast built a paper-mill.” In the same act Cade
observes, “Is not this a lamentable thing, that, of the skin of an
innocent lamb should be made parchment; that parchment being scribbled
o’er should undo a man?” thus making it evident that parchment and not
paper was in general use. Since, however, Shakespeare delineated Cade
as a low, ignorant rebel, we are not compelled to believe that he was
necessarily truthful or historically correct in all his accusations.
The charges put into his mouth are intended to exhibit his ignorance,
and his prejudice against all learning or refinement, extending even to
decency of dress and comportment.

♦Watermark of Henry VIII.♦

There is always some dispute as to exact dates. It is claimed that
about 1540, Henry VIII. of England used for his private correspondence,
a paper whose watermark represented a hog with a miter. This was to
show his contempt for the pope at Rome, with whom he had so bitterly
quarreled. It may have been manufactured for him by special order
in Germany or the Netherlands, or it may have been made by foreign
settlers who returned to their own country, so that the trade was
afterward lost for a time in England, and its manufacture was not known
to the authorities that granted the patents.

♦Spanish and Italian makers♦

Long before this, paper-making had been introduced into Spain by
the hordes of Saracenic invaders, who, coming over from Africa on
a plundering expedition, had ended by making conquest of the whole
peninsula. When, however, the long struggle between Christian and
Moor ended in the downfall of the latter, and his expulsion from
the land that had seemed to him the paradise of the prophet, the
industry declined in Spain, to be revived at Fabriano, in the province
of Ancona, in Central Italy, which soon rose into prominence as a
paper-making center. Later on, in 1340, a paper-mill was established in
Padua.

♦America’s first manufacturers♦

The beginning of the industry in America was almost coincident with
the granting of patents for the manufacture of paper in England. A
paper-mill was established by William Rittenhouse, a native of Holland,
at Germantown, Pennsylvania, in the year 1690, one of the builders
and owners being William Bradford, a Philadelphia printer, who was
afterward the owner of the first printing office in New York City. It
was through him that Benjamin Franklin, in 1723, received his first
introduction to a temporary home, and employment, in Philadelphia. The
paper at this first American mill was made from linen rags, and the
product was about two hundred and fifty pounds per day. The mill was
on a stream subsequently called Paper-mill Run, which empties into the
Wissahickon. In 1697, William Bradford, probably in preparation for his
intended removal to New York City, rented his quarter interest in this
paper-mill near Germantown to William and Nicholas Rittenhouse, for a
term of ten years, the annual rental being “ye full quantity of seven
reams of printing paper, two reams good writing paper and two reams of
blue paper.” William De Wees, a brother-in-law of Nicholas Rittenhouse,
in 1710 erected another mill in that part of Germantown called Crefeld,
this being also on the banks of a small stream that emptied into the
Wissahickon.

[Illustration: THE RAG CUTTERS--PAGE 59]

♦Russian mills♦

It is stated by several authorities that in the year 1712 Peter the
Great of Russia visited Dresden, and was so pleased with the process of
paper-making as he witnessed it there that he secured workmen and sent
them to Moscow, where they erected a paper-mill with many valuable
royal grants and privileges. The following year, 1713, saw a revival of
the industry in England, where it had again gone to decay, and where
Thomas Watkin, a stationer of London, brought it into great repute in a
short time.

♦Rapid advancement in America♦

In 1714 a Mr. Wilcox, who, it is stated, furnished paper to Benjamin
Franklin, erected a paper-mill in Delaware. The date of the erection of
this mill is given by another authority as 1729, and the place Chester
Creek, Delaware County, Pennsylvania, where paper was still made by
hand as late as 1870. It may possibly have been a second mill that was
built by Thomas Wilcox at that time, in which case there would be no
conflict of authorities. The manufacture made rapid strides in this
young and growing country, so that in 1770 there were forty paper-mills
in the states of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware. The advance
among the leading nations of Europe during the same period was equally
rapid. The manufacture was introduced into Massachusetts in 1717, and
into Norwich, Connecticut, in 1768, but the progress in New England was
not so rapid as in the states where it had been first established.

A bill which came before the New York Legislature in 1724, but failed
of passage, introduced the policy of protection for infant industries,
in an exceedingly narrow and discriminating sense. The beneficiary of
the bill was William Bradford, doubtless the same man who owned the
quarter interest in the first Pennsylvania mill, and by its provisions
he and his assigns were to be encouraged to make paper, while all other
persons were to be prohibited from manufacturing it in the province
during a period of fifteen years.

♦Pulp from stone♦

Man’s untiring endeavor, his constant effort through the centuries to
find something better suited to his needs, had in a figurative sense
succeeded in turning stone into paper. It remained for two apprentices
of Rittenhouse, who erected a third paper-mill in Pennsylvania in 1728,
to advance the claim that this could be done literally, that stone,
the primitive material on which had been carved the first written
characters of the race could be converted into a paper resembling
asses’ skins. We have no means of knowing what the so-called stone
was, nor what process was followed, but it is safe to assume that both
material and methods were similar to those employed at the present time
in the manufacture of asbestos papers.

♦A state grant♦

The year 1728, which marked the establishment of the third mill
in Pennsylvania, was a notable one in the annals of paper-making.
It is stated that in that year William Bradford owned a mill at
Elizabethtown, New Jersey, which is supposed to have been the first one
in the state, while in the same year the General Court or Legislature
of Massachusetts granted a ten-year patent to a company for the
exclusive right to manufacture paper. By the terms of this grant the
company was to make at least 115 reams of brown and 60 reams of writing
paper in the first fifteen months, and to increase a certain amount
each year until the annual product of the various qualities should be
not less than 500 reams a year. The mill established under this patent
went into operation at Milton, one of the small towns near Boston, in
1730. It was erected by Daniel Henchman, an enterprising stationer
of Boston, and is supposed to have been discontinued owing to the
impossibility of securing a skilled workman, though in 1731 Henchman
produced before the General Court samples of paper made at the mill. In
the following year another stationer of Boston, Richard Fry, who was
also bookseller, paper-maker and rag merchant, returned thanks to the
people for gathering rags, of which he had already received several
pounds weight, in response to a request in a previously published
advertisement.

♦Crude methods and machines♦

During these early days of the industry both methods and machinery were
crude. It was not until 1750 that wove molds came into use and did
away with the roughness of laid paper. Six years later engines were
introduced to facilitate the process of reducing the rags to pulp,
which had previously been accomplished by pounding, while in 1759
cylinders provided with sharp steel blades were invented in Holland for
the same purpose, and soon came into general use, taking the place of
the heavy stampers, which had required a great expenditure of power in
their operation.

The mill at Milton, Massachusetts, established in 1730, and
discontinued for lack of workman, was put into operation again by
a citizen of Boston. Finding among the British troops stationed in
the city a soldier who was also a paper-maker, he obtained for him
a furlough of sufficient duration to enable him to get the mill
into running order once more. The state of Connecticut showed its
appreciation of the important industry by issuing a special charter
to the mill at Norwich, already mentioned as having been built in
1768, and by the payment of a bounty to the manufacturer, Christopher
Leffingwell.

♦Scarcity of rags♦

There were constant appeals for rags in this early stage of the
industry. The Boston News Letter in 1769 published an article stating
that “the bell cart will go through Boston before the end of next month
to collect rags for the paper-mills at Milton, when all the people that
will encourage the paper manufactory may dispose of them,” and followed
with an appeal in “rime.” Apparently the people of New England did
not “encourage the paper manufactory” to any great extent, for at the
outbreak of the Revolution there were only three paper-mills in that
section of the country, and as a consequence, paper became exceedingly
scarce during the war.

Connecticut gave state aid to the mill at Norwich for two years, but
withdrew its special encouragement in 1770, having paid Leffingwell a
bounty of 2d. per quire on 4,020 quires of writing-paper, and 1d. a
quire on 10,600 quires of printing-paper.

♦Mills in the South♦

In the South, the industry was not established as early as in New
England and the Middle States, and the first mills were encouraged by
loans and rewards. The Maryland convention in 1775 resolved that £400
granted and advanced to James Dorsey for starting a paper-mill, he
to repay the same within two years, without interest, either in cash
or in writing or cartridge paper. In the same year, South Carolina
offered £500 currency to the first one who should erect and establish a
paper-mill in the colony, the money to be paid upon the production of
three reams of good writing-paper made at the mill.

In the year 1776, a paper-mill at East Hartford, Connecticut, supplied
the press at Hartford, which issued about 8,000 papers a week, and
manufactured also the writing paper used in the state, together with
much of that used by the Continental Congress.

♦Paper-makers exempt from military service♦

With the outbreak of hostilities came a keener realization of the
importance of the paper interest, and the greatest care was exercised
in providing for all details of the manufacture. In 1776 Massachusetts
provided by law for the appointment of a suitable person in each
town to receive rags for the paper-mills; and the inhabitants were
admonished to be careful to save even the smallest quantity of rags.
In anticipation of the coming conflict, New York, in the same year, by
special enactment, exempted from military service the master workman
and two attendants at each paper-mill. The Council of Public Safety
of Pennsylvania went a step further. The Continental Congress having
resolved on the retention of paper-makers, the Council took measures to
prevent them from joining the volunteers who were about to march to New
Jersey.

♦A sermon effectively delivered♦

These various provisions and enactments furnish a striking
object-lesson as to the value of paper, even to the public safety.
The wisdom of these precautions soon became evident. Notwithstanding
all the care that had been exercised, the supply ran low, and after
advertising for paper, and ordering the people to produce all they had,
it was found necessary, just before the battle of Monmouth, to send
files of soldiers to search for the indispensable article wherever
there was a likelihood of finding it. In the garret of a house in which
Benjamin Franklin had once lived and had his printing-office were
found about twenty-five hundred copies of a sermon by Rev. Gilbert
Tenant, upon “Defensive War,” which had been printed by Franklin. These
were used for musket cartridges and “wadding,” and in the battle that
raged about old Tenant church, where fought representatives from every
one of the thirteen colonies, mingling their patriotic blood upon
the historic field, the sermon proved one of the most effective ever
delivered. The Rev. Mr. Tenant, when he penned his discourse, probably
had no idea that it would ever be delivered in so forceful a manner,
just outside the doors of his church. The fact that these sermons
were stored in the garret of Benjamin Franklin, printer, and held
for payment, will perhaps call forth a rueful smile from the modern
printer, who has himself had some experience of similar sort, the final
outcome of which was not so satisfactory as this use of these old
sermons must have proved to the patriot printer Franklin.

[Illustration: THE WASHERS AND BEATERS--PAGES 62 AND 64]

♦Great scarcity of paper♦

As the war advanced, the scarcity of paper caused much inconvenience.
It was on this account that the journal of the second session of the
New York Assembly, in 1781, was not printed. In 1789, so it is stated,
the paper-mill nearest to Albany, New York, was one at Bennington, in
the state of Vermont. The product was frequently brought from the mill
on horseback, and although it was very coarse and unbleached compared
with the paper of to-day, it was so valuable that every torn or broken
sheet was repaired with paste. This work was so neatly and deftly
done that in old copies of the “Register,” preserved in the Albany
Institute, the patching can be seen only by holding the paper to the
light.

♦Appeal for rags♦

The first mill to be established in the northern part of New York was
erected at Troy in 1793. About that time, or in 1801, the postmaster
of the city issued a special plea under the heading, “Please save
your rags,” in which he said: “The press contributes more to the
diffusion of knowledge and information than any other medium; rags are
the primary requisite in the manufacture of paper, and without paper
the newspapers of our country, those cheap, useful, and agreeable
companions of the citizen and the farmer, which in a political and
moral view are of the highest national importance, must decline.” He
then went on to show how, with sufficient rags, the paper-mills of the
state could meet all demands; how the patriotic saving of rags had been
inculcated and was practiced in New England, saving to Connecticut
alone $50,000 a year, and how the thrifty New England housewife had
reduced the methods of saving to a science, or rather to a fine art,
and closed as follows: “The rich, who regard the interest of their
country, will direct their children or domestics to place a bag or
box in some convenient place as a deposit for rags, that none may be
lost by being swept into the street or fire; the sales of which saving
will reward the attention of the faithful servant, and encourage the
prosperous enterprise of prudence.”

♦The establishment of the Crane mills♦

Zenas Crane, of Worcester, Massachusetts, seeking a favorable site for
a paper-mill, visited Berkshire County in 1799, and finally decided
upon a location on the south branch of the Housatonic, at Dalton. That
small beginning was like the acorn from which springs the giant oak. It
was the foundation of the great paper interest of that region, which
has made the name of the beautiful hill county famous, both for the
importance and extent of the manufacture and for the excellence and
fineness of its products.

As we have already seen, the early paper-mills were greatly hampered by
the scarcity of rags, and matters grew worse instead of better during
the last fifteen years of the century. But the year 1800 brought some
relief. Matthew Kooper, of France, who in the following year succeeded
in making paper from straw and wood, invented a process by which 700
reams of clean, white paper were turned out weekly from such old
written, printed, and waste paper as had previously been thrown away.
In the face of a rag famine, such a process was a great boon to the
paper manufacturer.

The following appeal, issued by Zenas Crane and his associates to the
people of Worcester in 1801, shows how great was the scarcity of rags
at that time, and helps to complete the history leading up to the
erection of the new mill at Dalton:

♦A rag famine♦

    AMERICANS!

    ENCOURAGE YOUR OWN MANUFACTORIES, AND THEY WILL IMPROVE.

    LADIES, SAVE YOUR RAGS.

    As the subscribers have it in contemplation to erect a
    paper-mill in Dalton the ensuing spring; and the business
    being very beneficial to the community at large, they flatter
    themselves that they shall meet with due encouragement. And
    that every woman who has the good of her country and the
    interest of her own family at heart, will patronize them by
    saving their rags and sending them to their Manufactory, or to
    the nearest Storekeeper--for which the Subscribers will give a
    generous price.

                    HENRY WISWALL,
                    ZENAS CRANE,
                    JOHN WILLARD.

    Worcester, Feb. 8, 1801.

♦The Butler mills of early days♦

A few years later, but yet early in the life of the nineteenth
century, Zebediah Butler, Sr., and his son, Zebediah Butler, Jr., were
interested in a paper-mill at Hubbell’s Falls, Vt., and it was here
that Oliver Morris Butler, elder brother of J. W. Butler, learned his
trade--here, too, J. W. Butler was born. The paper made was of the
kind now known as Straw Wrapping. Later this mill became the property
of James I. Cutler, and Oliver Morris Butler went south to Lee,
Massachusetts, to perfect his knowledge of the paper industry, there
having been erected at Lee a large and modern plant representative
of the latest and best ideas then known to the art of paper-making.
In 1840 Oliver Morris Butler returned to Hubbell’s Falls, and, being
unable to collect certain obligations due him, took paper in part
payment--this particular invoice of finished paper he brought west to
Chicago. The venture, while not profitable, is yet of much interest, as
it practically marks the beginning of the present J. W. Butler Paper
Company.

♦The Butler mills the first in the West♦

In 1841 Oliver Morris Butler moved west into Illinois, locating at St.
Charles, a town about thirty miles from Chicago and situated upon the
Fox River. Here he immediately built a wrapping-paper mill; later, and
upon the opposite bank of the same stream, he erected a print-paper
plant, the first of its kind west of Pittsburg. It is also recorded in
the Atlas Biographical Dictionary that Simeon and Asa Butler, members
of another branch of the Butler family, made the first letter-paper,
the product of an American mill, that was used in the Senate of the
United States.

♦The great Fourdrinier machine♦

The desire for improvement in material conditions, for better
implements and better methods, has marked every stage of man’s
advance. The same spirit that led primitive man to seek a better and
more convenient medium of expression than the cumbersome bowlder or
the carved obelisk, manifested itself again, centuries later, in the
untiring zeal with which manufacturers sought to improve a product that
may be considered the final successor of the bowlder and the obelisk.
The beginning of the century saw many improvements in the methods of
paper-making. In 1804 Messrs. Henry and Seely Fourdrinier, enterprising
and public-spirited stationers doing business in England, brought to
a good degree of perfection the great machine which bears their name,
and which is described at some length in a subsequent chapter dealing
with the methods of modern paper manufacture. The machine had been
invented, though not perfected, a year or two previously, by a Mr.
Roberts in France; in 1805, Mr. Donkin, the engineer of the Fourdrinier
Brothers, who had built the machine, further improved it by altering
the position of the cylinders so as to dispense with an upper web.
By this change the process was so simplified that the work of six
vats could be done in twelve hours. These improvements were made in a
paper-mill at Two Waters, England; but the machine that can now do in
a day the work that formerly required three months was not immediately
introduced into this country.

♦Many new mills♦

The increase of paper-mills in the United States had been so rapid
that in 1810 the number in the country was stated to be 185. In 1811,
Zenas Crane, who had built the first mill at Dalton, since known as
the Berkshire Mills, erected a new mill at the lower falls of the
Housatonic. These pioneers gave a great impetus to the manufacture,
and paper-mills sprang up as if by magic along all the swift-flowing
mountain streams of New England.

A paper-mill, the first built in the British American provinces, was
erected at what is now Bedford, and in the same year, 1816, a paper
factory was put into operation at Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. It was
operated by a 16 horse-power steam-engine, employed forty persons, and
with an annual output valued at only $20,000 required the consumption
of 10,000 bushels of coal and the use of 120,000 pounds of rags,
showing that the method must have been slow and cumbersome, and the
margin of profit small.

♦Duty on books♦

It is believed that the Gilpins, who were celebrated paper-makers
on the Brandywine, near Philadelphia, were the first to introduce
paper machinery from France and England, about the year 1820, but the
experiment proved so expensive that it met with little encouragement
at that time. Some interesting facts were brought out during this
year by a petition to Congress from the paper-makers of Pennsylvania
and Delaware, who asked for a duty on paper, claiming that seventy
paper-mills, with ninety vats, employing 950 persons, and using 2,600
tons of rags, with an annual output of $500,000 in value, had by
foreign competition been reduced to seventeen vats. The allied trades
of printing and publishing were so closely connected with paper-making
that what affected one affected all; it was this community of interests
that led representatives of the three industries to unite, in 1822, in
a memorial to Congress, urging that the duty on books should not be
reduced, as the books, entirely of American products and manufacture,
which were issued in the country, amounted in value to more than
$1,000,000 per annum.

[Illustration:

  CUT--PAGE 59    WASHED--PAGE 62    BLEACHED--PAGE 63

RAGS IN VARIOUS STAGES]

♦The calender invented♦

Notwithstanding foreign competition, possibly because of that
stimulus, improvements were constantly being made in methods and
machinery. The agitator now used on paper machines, consisting of a
semi-cylindrical cradle vibrating so as to prevent the fibers from
being arranged parallel one to another, the result of which would
be to make the paper weaker in one direction than in the other, was
patented by Reuben Fairchild of Trumbull, Connecticut, in 1829. In
the following year Thomas Gilpin of Philadelphia invented what are
called “calenders,” for giving the polished surface to paper. These are
described later, in Chapter V. True cylinders were first made in this
same year by an inventor in England. The result was gained by grinding
the rollers together while a stream of water flowed over them, this
operation requiring many weeks. Through these various inventions and
improvements, and through the introduction of machinery from Europe,
by means of which the coarsest of rags and other materials were
cleaned, bleached, and purified, and increased three hundred per cent
in value, a decided impetus was imparted to the manufacture. ♦Improved
machinery♦ The advance in the industry during the following years was
so marked that in 1842, according to an estimate made at a meeting
of paper-makers held in New York City in that year, the paper-mill
property of the United States was valued at $16,000,000, and the annual
output at $15,000,000, while the value of rags imported from Europe
amounted to $468,230, and the raw stock, rags, and other material
collected in the United States to $6,000,000. With the adoption, in
1843, of the devices for a rotating strainer, for draining water from
the pulp in the washing or beating vats, came another advance in the
process of paper-making.

♦The first paper-house in Chicago♦

In 1844 a jobbing house was opened in Chicago by Oliver Morris Butler
to dispose of the paper made at his St. Charles Mill. Several years
later J. W. Butler, the present head of the J. W. Butler Paper Company,
was placed in sole charge of the Chicago branch. Oliver Morris Butler
was also a part owner and president of the Lockport Paper Company, of
Lockport, Illinois, a successful plant erected for the manufacture
of Straw Board, and he remained active in the trade up to the time
of his death, which occurred in 1888. ♦Genealogy of the Butlers as
paper-makers♦ The store which he established in 1844 and put under
the management of his younger brother, J. W. Butler, touches closely,
through him, his ancestors, and their earlier years as paper-makers,
nearly the whole of the nineteenth century in the line of the paper
industry in this country. That this direct branch of the Butler
family may have had even earlier identification with paper-making is
not improbable; the family line is clearly and directly traceable
as continuous residents in America back to the earlier half of the
seventeenth century, only a few years subsequent to the Pilgrims’
landing, but the meager records of our earliest settlers seldom speak
of their vocations, and our first positive knowledge of the Butler
family’s connection with the paper industry is early in the nineteenth
century.




CHAPTER IV

EARLY METHODS OF PAPER-MAKING


“As far as the East is from the West,” so great is the difference
between the methods and processes of the slow-going Orient and those
that prevail in the Occident.

It is fully a century and a half since Berkeley gave expression to his
faith in the high destiny of the West:

   “Westward the course of empire takes its way;
      The four first acts already past,
    A fifth shall close the drama with the day;
      Time’s noblest offspring is the last.”

♦Progress of the West♦

As the years followed each other swiftly in the past, it became
strikingly evident that the world must look to the Occident for
industrial activity and progress, and for the practical application
of new inventions and discoveries. And yet, through the inevitable
exception that proves the rule, we occasionally find East and West
working along strikingly similar lines. The making of paper by hand, as
carried on in our own country in early days, and to a limited extent
at the present time, furnishes such an exception. In many respects,
the process is not unlike that followed by the Chinese in making paper
from the bark of the mulberry-tree, which has already been described in
the preceding chapter. In either case, whatever the material employed,
the first step, which was of prime importance, was to remove from the
fibers all glutinous, resinous, or other superfluous matter. The fibers
are the slender, elongated cells, the enduring portion of the plant
that gives to the paper its strength, toughness, and elasticity.

♦Decomposition of rags♦

Before the science of chemistry had been called upon to furnish its
potent aid in the process of paper-making, the rags used were moistened
and piled together in some warm, damp place, often in a cellar, where
they were left to decay for a period--twenty days or more. During this
time, the perishable portion, sometimes spoken of as vegetable gluten,
fermented or decayed to such an extent that it could be washed from the
fibrine, or long, white elastic filaments. Before being submitted to
the process of decomposition, the rags were of course dusted, and, as
far as possible, cleansed from all mineral, foreign, or indissoluble
substances, after which they were cut into small pieces. When the
fermentation engendered by heat and moisture had done its important
work, the rags were boiled and washed, and finally beaten to a smooth
pulp by the use of mallets.

In the early days of paper-making, before the discovery of the use
of chemical agents to remove the coloring matter, the color of the
paper was determined by that of the rags or other material, modified
somewhat by the boiling and washing. When it was discovered that
certain chemicals would dissolve or separate the coloring matter from
the tissue, one great factor in the cost of making white paper was
eliminated. Lye, lime, solutions of chlorine and of chloride of lime
were employed for the purpose.

♦Hand-made process♦

The fibers having been separated, by this slow and tedious method, from
all foreign matter, they were placed in a vat, with a proper admixture
of water to form a soft, slightly cohering mass of “pulp.” The next
step in the process was the forming of the paper sheets. For this
purpose the paper-maker employed a fine wire screen, or cloth, called
the “mold,” which was oblong in shape, and supported by a light frame
underneath. Above this was placed a very shallow frame known as the
“deckel,” which in size and shape corresponded exactly with the mold.
Dipping the mold into the mass of pulp, the operator filled it even
with the top of the deckel, the thickness of the paper being determined
by the depth of the deckel-frame. Then as the water from the pulp
drained through the wire cloth, the operator moved the mold back and
forth, giving a constant, even, and gentle motion to the mass within.

♦The watermark♦

The manner in which the wires of the mold were arranged gave to certain
papers their distinguishing characteristics. In some molds the wire was
woven like cloth, and the product was therefore known as “wove” paper;
in others, the small wires ran only one way, straight and very close
together, and were crossed by stronger wires an inch or so apart, the
paper in this case being called “laid” paper. At some point in the wire
of the mold a small figure was worked out, also in wire, and as the
pulp was shaken it became a little thinner over the design, leaving the
impress known as the “watermark.”

When the pulp had been properly drained, and matted together, the mold
was passed on to another operator, who was known as the “coucher,”
from the fact that his work was the turning of the moist sheet of pulp
upon a sheet of felt stretched over a board termed a “couch.” Over this
first layer of pulp was placed another sheet of felt, then another mold
full of the pulp, and so on until there was obtained a pile, or “post,”
as it was called, several quires in thickness. The layers were then
subjected to heavy pressure, by which as much of the water as possible
was squeezed out, when the sheets of felt were removed, and pressure
was applied a second time to the paper that remained. The sheets of
paper on being taken out were hung over ropes or poles to dry, in some
room or loft.

♦Sizing♦

At this point in the process the paper would be open and porous, and
would naturally absorb ink, instead of carrying it in lines or letters
upon its surface. To overcome this defect, the paper was dipped in
a solution made of clippings of hides, horns, or hoofs, or in the
gelatine prepared from leather and parchment clippings. The process
was, and is still, termed “sizing,” while the material is known as
“size,” and is used to render the paper non-absorbent, also to fill
up the pores and give an even surface. After being dipped in this
solution, the sheets were pressed again, and for a second time hung up
to dry; if a smoother surface was desired, it was obtained by passing
the paper between metal rollers.

♦Bank of England notes♦

Hand-made paper is now made to a limited extent in America, and to a
still greater extent in England. All Bank of England notes are printed
on hand-made paper, two notes to a sheet, so that three edges of every
note are rough. Working under the old method, it took three men a day
to mold, press, and hang up to dry, or finish, four thousand small
sheets of paper, while the process from beginning to end required about
three months. ♦From tree to paper in a day♦ In these modern days, as
will be seen later, paper can be made in twenty-four hours from a tree
standing in the forest, in the glory of its full strength and vigor;
though in actual practice a longer time is taken in covering all the
different processes. Truly the times are changed, and everything is
changed with them!

[Illustration:

  AFTER LEAVING THE BEATERS--PAGE 64    AFTER LEAVING THE JORDAN--PAGE 71

RAG PULP]




CHAPTER V

MODERN PAPER-MAKING


♦The modern mill♦

Though the steady march of progress and invention has given to the
modern paper-maker marvelous machines by which the output is increased
a thousand-fold over that of the old, slow methods, he still has many
of the same difficulties to overcome that confronted his predecessor.
While the use of wood pulp has greatly changed the conditions as
regards the cheaper grades of this staple, the ragman is to-day
almost as important to the manufacturer of the higher grades as he
was one hundred years ago, when the saving of rags was inculcated as
a domestic virtue and a patriotic duty. Methods have changed, but the
material remains the same. In a complete modern mill, making writing
and other high-grade papers, the process begins with unsightly rags as
the material from which to form the white sheets that are to receive
upon their spotless polished surface the thoughts of philosophers
and statesmen, the tender messages of affection, the counsels and
admonitions of ministers, the decisions of grave and learned judges,
and all the

    “Wisdom of things, mysterious, divine,” that
    “Illustriously doth on paper shine,”

as was duly set forth in rhyme by the “Boston News Letter” in 1769.
“The bell cart will go through Boston about the end of next month,”
it announced, and appealed to the inhabitants of that modern seat of
learning and philosophy to save their rags for the occasion, and thus
encourage the industry.

♦The methods of to-day♦

The rags do not come to the mammoth factories of to-day in “bell
carts,” but by the carload, in huge bales, gathered from all sections
of this great Republic, as well as from lands beyond the eastern and
the western oceans. The square, compact, steam-compressed bundles are
carried by elevators well up toward the top of the building, where
they await the knife of the “opener.” When they have been opened,
the “feeder” throws the contents by armfuls into the “thrasher.” The
novice or layman, ignorant of the state in which rags come to the
mill, will find their condition a most unpleasant surprise, especially
disagreeable to his olfactory nerves. Yet the unsavory revelation
comes with more force a little farther on, in the “assorting-room.”
♦The thrasher♦ The “thrasher” is a great cylindrical receptacle,
revolving rapidly, which is supplied with long wooden beaters or arms,
passing through a wooden cylinder, and driven by power. ♦The sorting
room♦ When the rags have been tossed in, there ensues a great pounding
and thrashing, and the dust is carried off in suction air-tubes, while
the whipped rags are discharged and carried to the “sorting” and
“shredding” room. Here the rags are assorted as to size, condition,
and the presence of buttons, hooks and eyes, or other material that
must be removed. Then those that need further attention are passed on
to the “shredders,” these as well as the “sorters” being women. The
“shredders” stand along a narrow counter; in front of each one there
is fastened a long scythe-blade, with its back toward the operator and
its point extending upward, the shank being firmly fixed to the table
or operating board. Here buttons, hard seams, and all similar intruders
are disposed of, and the larger pieces of rags are cut into numerous
small ones on the scythe-blades. The rags thus prepared are tossed by
the women into receptacles in the tables. The work in this room is
the most disagreeable and unwholesome of any in the entire process of
manufacture, and this despite the fact that these rags, too, have been
thrashed, and freed from an amount of dust and dirt beyond ordinary
belief.

♦The higher grades♦

While watching the operations carried on here, it is impossible to
repress the wish that rags might be bought otherwise than by the pound,
for, unfortunately, filth, dust, and dirt weigh, and to wash rags only
reduces the weight. While this is a true reflection of the condition in
the average mill, it is pleasant to know, however, there are others of
the higher class that are decided exceptions, as far as dust and dirt
are concerned. Such are the mills making high-grade ledger and bond
papers, as well as the mill manufacturing the paper that is used for
the printing of our “greenbacks,” to which further reference will be
made later. In these exceptional mills everything is neat and perfectly
clean, all the stock used being new and fresh from the cotton or linen
mills, or from factories producing cloth goods, like shirt and corset
factories, and others of the same sort. The sorting and shredding room
is always large and light, with windows on all sides, and is well
ventilated, offering a decided contrast in many respects to the less
cleanly mills first referred to, where the women must wear bonnets or
hoods for the protection of the hair. In either case the process is
certainly an improvement over the old plan of leaving the rags to decay
in a cellar to expedite the removal of the glutinous matter.

♦The cutter♦

From the “sorting” and “shredding” room the rags are conveyed to the
“cutter,” where they are cut and chopped by revolving knives, leaving
them in small pieces and much freer from dust and grit. Various
ingenious devices are employed for removing metal and other hard and
injurious matter, magnetic brushes serving this purpose in some mills.
♦The devil♦ When the “cutter” has finished its work, the still very
dirty rags go for a further cleansing to the “devil,” or “whipper,”
a hollow cone with spikes projecting within, against which work the
spikes of a drum, dashing the rags about at great speed. Human lives
are often freed of their baser elements and restored to purity and
beauty through the chastening influences of tribulation or adversity;
in like manner the “whipper” carries the rags forward a step in the
process of purification that is necessary before they can be brought to
their highest usefulness. But the cleansing process, which is only a
preparation for what is to follow, does not end with the “whipper,” the
latter having served merely to loosen, not to dislodge, a great deal
of dust and dirt. ♦The duster♦ The final operation in the preliminary
cleaning is performed by the “duster” proper, which is a conical
revolving sieve. As the mass of rags is tossed and shaken about the
loosened dust is carried away by the suction of the air, which draws
the dust particles into tubes furnished with suction fans. In most
modern mills the rags are carried forward from the “duster” on an
endless belt, and a careful watch is kept upon them as they emerge to
detect the presence of unchopped pieces, buttons, or other foreign
substances. The journey of the rags over this endless belt or conveyor
terminates in a receiving-room, in the floor of which there are several
openings, and immediately below these the mouths of the “digesters,”
which are in a room beneath. ♦The digester♦ The “digesters,” as they
are suggestively and appropriately termed, are huge revolving boilers,
usually upright, which often have as great a diameter as eight feet,
with a height of twenty-two feet, and whose digestive capacity is
upward of five tons of rags each. ♦Cooking of rags♦ The rags that are
to be “cooked” are fed into the “digesters” through the openings in the
floor, and the great movable manhole plates are then put in place and
closed, hermetically sealing the openings or mouths through which the
boilers have been fed, these having first been charged with a mixed
solution of lime and soda, and with live hot steam in lieu of gastric
juice as a digesting fluid and force. In some mills the boilers are
placed in a horizontal position, while in others they are in the form
of a large ball or globe, in either case being operated in the manner
described; those of upright form, however, are most commonly in use.
The rags are boiled under steam pressure of about forty pounds to the
square inch, and the cooking is continued from twelve to fourteen hours.

[Illustration: THE MODERN FOURDRINIER MACHINE--PAGE 73]

♦The washers or Hollanders♦

It is here that the process of cleaning begins in earnest; and as the
mass of rags is tumbled about in its scalding bath of steam-heated
lime-water, or “milk of lime,” the coloring and glutinous matters,
as well as all other impurities, are loosened from the fibers, which
are in the end so cleansed and purified as to come forth unstained
and of virgin purity. Having been sufficiently boiled and digested,
the mushy material, still looking dark and forbidding, is emptied
onto the floor below or into receptacles placed directly beneath the
boilers, where the color and dirt are allowed to drain off. The mass
is then conveyed to the “washers,” great tub-like receptacles, which
are shown among the illustrations, and which are known as “Hollanders,”
from the fact that these rag engines were invented in Holland, about
the year 1750 A. D. They are oval-shaped tubs, about twenty feet long,
nine feet wide, and three feet high, varying somewhat according to
the conditions. Each tub is divided for two-thirds of its length by
an upright partition, or “mid-feather,” as it is called, which makes
a narrow course around the vat. On one side of the partition the tub
is raised in a half-circle, close to which revolves an iron roll about
three or four feet in diameter, and covered with knives; in the bottom
of the tub, and directly under the revolving roll, is another set of
knives called a “bed-plate,” which is stationary, and against which the
roll can be lowered. But not to anticipate. When the emptyings from
the boiler have been thrown into the “washer” a continuous stream of
water is turned in at one end, the knife-roll having been adjusted so
as to open up the rags as they are set in motion. These then begin a
lively chase around the edge of the vat, through the racecourse formed
by the “mid-feather,” and under the rag-opening knives, where the water
is given a chance to wash out all impurities; then on up the incline
over the “back fall,” so-called from the elevation in the tub. A
cylinder of wire cloth, partly immersed in the moving mass, holds back
the now rapidly whitening fibers, while the dirty water escapes into
buckets inside the wire cloth drum, and is discharged into and through
an escape-spout. The heavy particles of dirt settle into what is termed
a “sand-trap” at the bottom of the tub.

♦Bleaching material♦

As the water clears, the roll is lowered closer and closer to the
bottom of the bed-plate, in order to open up the fibers more thoroughly
for the free circulation of the water among them. When the several
agencies of the “washer” have accomplished their purpose, and the
water runs clear and unsullied, a bleaching material is put into the
mass, which in the course of from two to six hours becomes as white as
milk. The dirty offscourings of all ragdom, first seen in the original
bales, and gathered from the four quarters of the globe, have endured
many buffetings, many bruisings and tribulations, and having been
washed come forth pure, sweet, and clean. From the washers the rags
are precipitated through a trap into drainers, which are chambers made
of stone and brick, with a false bottom, through which the water is
allowed to drain. This rag pulp, now called half stock, is kept in this
receptacle until the water and liquor are thoroughly drained off, when
it becomes a white and compact mass of fibers.

♦The drainers♦

The rags should stand in the drainers for at least one week, though
better results are obtained if they are left for a period two or
three times as long, as the fibers become more subdued. The process
of paper-making, as it has already been described, applies more
particularly to papers made from rags. To-day a very large proportion
of the cheaper papers are made from wood, either entirely or in part,
and these wood-made papers are subjected to a different treatment, to
which further reference will be made in this chapter.

♦The beaters♦

From the drainer the mass is carted to the beating engine, or “beater,”
which is very similar in construction to the washer just described. The
knives on the roll in the beater are grouped three together instead
of two, and are placed nearer the bottom or bed-plate in order to
separate more thoroughly the fibers. In the beater are performed many
and varying manipulations, designed not only to secure a more perfect
product, but also to produce different varieties of paper. It is the
theory of the beating process that the fibers are not cut, but are
drawn out to their utmost extent. In watching the operations of the
“beater,” one notices on the surface of the slowly revolving mass of
fibers, floating bluing, such as the thrifty housewife uses to whiten
fine fabrics. This familiar agency of the laundry is introduced into
the solution of fibers with the same end in view that is sought in the
washtub--to give the clear white color that is so desirable. Many of
the inventions and discoveries by which the world has profited largely
have been due primarily to some fortunate accident, and according to
a pretty story upon which paper-makers have set the seal of their
belief for more than one hundred and fifty years, the use of bluing
was brought about in the same way. ♦The bluing story♦ About the year
1746, so runs the story, a Mrs. Buttonshaw, the wife of an English
paper-maker, accidentally dropped into a tub of pulp the bag of bluing,
or its contents, which she was about to use in a washing of fine
linen. Frightened at what she had done, and considering it the part
of wisdom to keep silence, she discreetly held her peace and awaited
results. But when her husband had expressed great wonder and admiration
over the paper made from that particular pulp, and had sold it in
London at an advance of several shillings over the price of his other
paper, which had not met with any such accident, she realized that the
time for silence had passed. Her account of the happy accident led her
grateful husband to purchase a costly scarlet cloak for her on his next
visit to London town. This accident brought about another result which
was to prove of inestimable value to the future paper-maker--the use of
bluing in paper when especial whiteness is desired.

♦Engine-sizing♦

Important as the bluing or coloring is, however, it is only one of the
numerous operations or manipulations that take place in the beater.
Many of these, such as engine-sizing and body-coloring, require skill
and constant watchfulness. Here, too, if anywhere, adulteration takes
place. It is sometimes necessary to secure a fine-appearing paper
at small cost, and it is profitable to add to its weight. In such
cases, a process of “loading” takes place here, and clay or cheap,
heavy fibers are added. Clay is of value not only to increase the
weight, but also to render the paper more opaque, so as to prevent
type or illustrations from showing through, while at the same time it
makes possible a smoother surface by filling the pores in the paper.
But while it adds to the weight, clay must, of necessity, weaken the
paper. In engine-sizing, which is done in the beater, the size is
thoroughly incorporated with the fibers as these revolve or flow around
the engine. This sizing renders the paper more nearly impervious to
moisture. The difference between a paper that is sized, and that has
a repellent surface which prevents the ink from settling into it when
it is written upon, and an ordinary blotting-paper with its absorbent
surface, is due entirely to the fact that the former is most carefully
treated with sizing, both in the beating engine and in the size tub
or vat referred to later, whereas in the latter paper it is omitted.
♦Body-coloring♦ If the paper is to be tinted or body-colored, colors
made from aniline are generally used. Only in the highest grade of
writing-paper, and in some few papers that demand colors fast to the
light, is any other order of coloring matter employed. As may be
easily imagined, considerable skill is required to secure exactly the
desired tint, and to get the coloring matter so evenly mixed that each
small fiber shall receive its proper tint, thus insuring that the paper
when finished shall be of uniform color and not present a mottled
appearance.

♦Machine for making continuous web♦

When the operations of the beating engine have been completed, a most
interesting process begins, which marks a vast advance over the earlier
method of forming the sheets of paper with mold and deckel, straining
off the water, and shaking the frame with a quick motion to mat the
fibers together. The patient striving toward something better, which
has marked all the centuries since man first learned to carve his
rude records, finds its consummation in the process of making paper
in a continuous web. This result is accomplished by a machine first
invented by Louis Robert, a workman in a mill at Enonnes, France, who
obtained a French patent, with a bounty of eight thousand francs for
its development. This he later sold to M. Didot, the proprietor of the
mill, and the latter crossed the Channel into England, where, with the
aid of a skilled mechanic, the machine was in a measure perfected,
and then sold to Henry and Sealy Fourdrinier. They, with the further
aid of Bryan Donkin, their employe and expert engineer, made many
additional improvements, and sunk in the enterprise some sixty thousand
pounds sterling, for which their only reward was blighted hopes and
embittered lives. In 1847 the London “Times” made a fruitless appeal
on behalf of the surviving brother, who was eighty years of age,
and in great poverty. It is seldom that the world voluntarily makes
return to those who have bestowed upon it great material or moral
benefits, though it is ever ready to expend its treasure for engines
of destruction, and to magnify and reward those who have been most
successful in destroying human life.

♦First machine mill♦

The first “machine” mill was started at Frogmore, Hertz, England, in
1803, which was the year of the great Louisiana Purchase by the United
States, and it is not difficult to say which event has been productive
of the greater and more beneficial results to this nation. Through this
invention and its improvements the modern newspaper and magazine, with
their tens and hundreds of thousands of copies daily, have been made
possible, and men of all classes have been brought in touch with the
best thought of the day. Whatever makes for greater intelligence and
enlightenment throughout a nation makes for the greater stability of
the national life, and gives new emphasis to Bulwer’s words:

                        “Take away the sword;
    States can be saved without it--bring the pen.”

♦The power of the pen♦

If to-day the power of the pen over the sword is greater than
it has ever been before, its increased and increasing influence
must be credited in large measure to the inventive genius and the
public-spirited enterprise that has made possible the great output
of our modern paper-mills. So thoroughly did these forces do their
work in the beginning, that in the century that has elapsed since the
Fourdrinier brothers sacrificed themselves and their means in the
perfecting of their machine, there have been really no changes in the
fundamental principle. Those that have been made have been in the
nature of further development and improvement, such as increasing the
speed and widening the web, thereby multiplying the product many fold.

[Illustration: THE FIRST PRESS ROLLS--PAGE 75]

♦The Jordan engine♦

But to resume the interesting journey of the rags, which had reached
a state of purification and perfection as pulp, and which we left in
the beaters. In some grades of paper the perfected and prepared
pulp is taken from the beaters and passed through what is known as a
“refining” or “Jordan” engine; this for the purpose of more thoroughly
separating the fibers and reducing them to extreme fineness. The
refining engines, are, however, used only in the manufacture of certain
grades of paper. ♦The stuff chest♦ The pulp is next taken from the
beater or refining engine, as the case may be, to what is called a
“stuff-chest,” an inclosed vat partly filled with water, in which a
contrivance for shaking and shifting, properly called an “agitator,”
keeps the fibers in suspension.

♦The screen♦

From the stuff-chest the mixture is pumped into what is known as
the “mixing” or “regulating” box. Here the stream first passes
over the “sand-tables” in a continuous flow. These are composed of
little troughs with cross-pieces, and are covered at the bottom with
long-haired felt, to catch any sand or dirt that may still adhere after
the numerous operations to which the pulp has been subjected. The flow
is then forced through the “screen,” which is a horizontal piece of
metal pierced with slots. For very fine paper, these slots are so small
as to be only one one-hundredth of an inch in width. They are usually
about a quarter of an inch apart. Through these tiny apertures the
fibers must find their way, leaving behind in their difficult passage
all lumps, dirt, or knotted fibers which would mar the perfection of
the product toward which they are tending. A vibrating motion is given
to the screen as the flow passes over it, or revolving strainers may be
used.

♦The flow onto machine♦

When the screen has finished its work, the water carrying the pulp in
solution flows in an even stream, whose volume varies according to the
width of the web of paper to be produced, through a discharge-cock
onto the Fourdrinier or cylinder machine, as the case may be, each of
which will be duly described. This stream has a filmy appearance, and
is of diverse color, depending upon the shade of paper to be produced.
From its consistency, which is about that of milk, it is difficult to
imagine that it floats separate particles of fiber in such quantities
as, when gathered on the wire cloth and passed to a felt blanket and
then pressed between rollers, to form in a second of time a broad web
of embryo paper sufficiently strong and firm to take definite form.
Man’s mastery of the process by which this startling and wonderful
change is effected has come as one of the rewards of his long and
patient study.

The Fourdrinier machine, which preserves at least the name of the
enterprising developers of the invention, takes up the work that was
formerly done by the molder. The wire cloth upon which the fibers
are discharged as described is an endless belt, the full width of
the paper machine. Upon this the fibers spread out evenly, being
aided by a fan-shaped rubber or oil cloth, which delivers the smooth
stream under a gate regulated to insure perfect evenness and to fix
uniformly the fibers of the web now commencing its final formation.
♦Deckel-straps♦ Deckel-straps of india-rubber are fastened on both
sides of the wire screen, and move with it, thus holding the watery
pulp in place. The deckel-straps are adjustable, and fix or regulate
the width of the paper. These and the gate, or “slicer,” are attached
to what is termed the deckel-frame, which corresponds to the deckel
used by paper-makers in the days when the manufacture was carried on by
hand. ♦Endless wire cloth♦ As the stream flows onto the endless belt
of wire cloth, the water which has borne the fibers filters into the
trough beneath. Being charged with very fine fibers, size, coloring
matter, and other similar ingredients, it is carried back into the
pulp-chest, to save these materials, as well as to contribute again
to the extra supply of water needed. ♦The save-all♦ For this reason
the trough into which it falls from the revolving “wire” is called the
“save-all.” A shaking motion is imparted to the “wire” from the frame
upon which rest the rolls that keep it in its never-ending round. This
aids in draining away the water, and mats or interlaces the fibers
together. At the end of the “save-all,” where the fibers are to leave
the “wire” for the next stage of their journey, suction-boxes are
placed, provided with an air-pump to take up the surplus water that
has not yet found its way through the meshes. ♦The dandy roll♦ Between
these suction-boxes above the wire is a wire-covered roll, which
impresses the newly formed sheet; this impression cylinder is called a
“dandy roll,” and it is from this that the web receives the markings
or impressions that characterize different papers. All watermarks,
patterns, and designs which it is desired to have appear in the paper
are put upon this roll, and here impressed upon the soft sheet, which
is clarified and left transparent at the points of contact. Thus the
impression is permanently fixed in the fiber, so that it can be
seen at any time by holding the sheet to the light. The power of
suggestiveness is a quality which is highly esteemed wherever it is
found, and which frequently furnishes a standard of judgment. Judged
by such a criterion, the impression cylinder, or “dandy roll,” has an
added value, for in all probability its operation suggested the idea of
printing from cylinders, as in our present web or perfecting presses.

♦The press-rolls♦

The matted pulp, now having sufficient body, passes on between two
rolls covered with felt, which deliver the web of damp paper upon an
endless belt of moist felt, while the “wire” passes under and back to
continue a fresh supply. The paper is as yet too fragile to travel
alone, and the web felt carries it between two metal rolls called the
first press-rolls. These squeeze out more water, give a greater degree
of compactness to the fibers, smooth the upper surface, and finally
deliver the web of paper to a second felt apron, which carries it
under and to the back of the second press-rolls. In this way the under
surface comes to the top, and is in its turn subjected to the smoothing
process. A delicate scraper or blade, the length of the press-rolls,
is so placed on each roll that should the endless web from any cause
be broken, the blade may operate with sufficient force to prevent the
wet paper from clinging to the rolls and winding about them. From this
point the paper travels alone, having become firm and strong enough
to sustain its own weight; passing above the second press-rolls, it
resumes its onward journey around the drying cylinders, passing over
and under and over and under. ♦The dryers♦ The drying cylinders are
hollow and heated by steam, their temperature being regulated according
to requirements. These driers, made from iron or steel, are usually
from three to four feet in diameter, and vary in length according to
the width of the machine. There are from twelve to fifty of these
cylinders, their number depending upon the character and weight of the
paper to be produced, very heavy sheets requiring many more drying
cylinders than sheets of lighter weight.

♦Tensile strength♦

Strange, almost phenomenal, conditions come about in the transformation
from filmy pulp to finished paper. A sheet which, though formed, is
at the first press-roll too fragile to carry its own weight, becomes
possessed of a final strength and power that is almost incredible. The
myriad of minute fibers composing the sheet, upon drying uniformly,
possesses great aggregate strength. A sheet of paper yields readily to
tearing, but the same sheet, when a perfectly even tension is applied,
will demonstrate that it is possessed of wonderful resisting power.
In evidence may be cited an instance that seems almost beyond belief.
Through some curious mishap a web of heavy paper, in fact, bristol
board, which had been thoroughly formed, was suddenly superheated and
then cooled while still on the driers. This was caused by a difference
in temperature of the driers and resulted in the sudden contraction of
the web of bristol; the strain on the machine was so great that not
only were the driving-cogs broken on two of the driers around which
the paper was at the moment passing, but the driers themselves were
actually lifted out of place, showing a resisting power in the paper
of at least several tons. ♦The calenders♦ The paper now passes to the
upright stack of rolls shown in the illustrations, which are known
as “calenders.” The word is derived from calendra; a corruption of
cylindrus, a roller or cylinder, they are simply rollers revolving in
contact, and heated from the interior by steam. These calenders are
used for giving to the paper a smooth and even surface, and are also
employed in the smoothing and finishing of cloth. ♦Speed of machines♦
The speed with which the paper passes through these cylinders is
remarkable, from one hundred to five hundred feet running through and
over the machine in a minute; and in some of the most recent mills the
web is as wide as one hundred and fifty-six inches (thirteen feet);
this is very nearly double the average machine width of a few years
ago, while the speed has increased in proportionate ratio; only a very
few years ago the maximum speed was from two hundred and fifty to three
hundred feet per minute; at this writing (1900) there are machines
in operation which run as high as five hundred feet per minute. But
great as has been the increase in the production of paper, the demand
has kept pace steadily. The wonderful product of the rag-bag holds an
invincible position in the world’s economy.

[Illustration: THE SIZE-TUB--PAGE 81]

♦Five miles in a roll♦

For machine-finished book and print papers, as well as for other
cheaper grades, the process ends with the calenders, after which the
paper is slit into required widths by disk-knives, which are revolving,
and so cut continuously. Paper intended for web newspaper presses is
taken off in continuous rolls of the widths required, varying from
seventeen to seventy-six inches, according to the size of the paper to
be printed. These reels contain from fifteen to twenty-five thousand
lineal feet of paper, or from three to five miles. The amount of paper
used in disseminating the news of the day is enormous; sometimes one
or two mills are required to manufacture the supply for a single
metropolitan daily, while one New York newspaper claims to have used
four hundred and fifty tons of paper in one Christmas edition, which is
about four times the amount of its regular daily consumption.

After having been slit into the proper widths by the revolving knives,
ordinary flat and book papers are cut into sheets by a straight knife
revolving at proper intervals on a horizontal drum. The paper, in
sheets, is carried by a traveling apron onto a receiving table at
the end of the machine, where the sheets as they fall are carefully
examined by experts, usually women, who remove any that may be
imperfect.

♦The immensity of modern machines♦

The entire length of a paper machine, from the screens to the
calenders, is about one hundred and twenty-five feet, while the
height varies, the average being about ten feet. The machines, while
necessarily of the finest adjustment, are ponderous and heavy, weighing
in some cases as much as four hundred tons, this being the weight of
the machine itself, exclusive of its foundations. The machine-room is
of necessity well lighted and thoroughly ventilated, and should be kept
clean throughout, as cleanliness is an essential factor in the making
of good paper.

♦Deckel edging♦

While the same general process applies to all classes of paper made,
the particular character of any paper that is to be produced determines
exactly the details of the process through which it shall pass, and
regulates the deviations to be made from the general operations in
order to secure special results. For example, some papers are wanted
with a rough or “antique” finish, as it is called; in such cases
calendering is omitted. Another special process is that by which the
paper is made with a ragged or “deckel edge”; this result is obtained
in some mills by playing a stream of water upon the edge of the pulp,
crushing and thinning it, and thus giving it a jagged appearance. At
the present time this “deckel-edge” paper is being quite extensively
used in high-class bookwork.

In the case of writing-papers, as has already been stated in the
description of the beating engines, a vegetable sizing made from
resinous matter is introduced into the paper pulp while it is still
in solution, and mixes with it thoroughly, thus filling more or less
completely the pores of the pulp fibers. This is found sufficient for
all ordinary book-papers, for papers that are to be printed upon in
the usual way, and for the cheapest grades of writing-paper, where
the requirements are not very exacting, and where a curtailment of
expense is necessary. For the higher grades of writing-paper, however,
a distinctly separate and additional process is required. ♦Tub sizing♦
These papers while on the machine in web form are passed through a vat
which is called the size-tub, and which is filled with a liquid sizing
made of gelatine from clippings of the horns, hides, and hoofs of
cattle, this gelatine or glue being mixed with dissolved alum and made
fluid in the vat. Papers which are treated in this way are known as
“animal,” or “tub-sized.”

♦Loft drying♦

We have duly described machine-dried papers, but these higher grades
of writing-papers are dried by what is known as loft, or pole-dried
process. Such paper is permitted to dry very slowly in a loft specially
constructed for the purpose, where it is hung on poles several days,
during which time the loft is kept at a temperature of about 100°
Fahrenheit.

Another detail of considerable importance is that of the “finish” or
surface of the paper. When paper with a particularly high or glossy
surface is desired it is subjected to a separate process after leaving
the paper machine, known as supercalendering.

♦Supercalendering♦

“Supercalendering” is effected by passing the web through the stack
of rolls shown in the illustration, which are similar to the machine
calenders already described. These rolls are composed of metal
cylinders, alternating with rolls made of solidified paper or cotton,
turned exactly true, the top and bottom rolls being of metal and
heavier than the others; a stack of supercalenders is necessarily
composed of an odd number of rolls, as seven, nine, or eleven. The
paper passes and repasses through these calenders until the requisite
degree of smoothness and polish has been acquired. ♦Electricity in
paper♦ The friction in this machine produces so much electricity
that ground wires are often used to carry it off, in order that the
paper may not become so highly charged as to attract dust or cause
the sheets to cling together. When the fine polish has been imparted,
the rolls of paper go to the cutting machines, which are automatic in
action, cutting regular sheets of the required length as the paper
is fed to them in a continuous web. In the manufacture of some high
grades of paper, such as linens and bonds, where an especially fine,
smooth surface is required, the sheets after being cut are arranged in
piles of from twelve to fifteen sheets, plates of zinc are inserted
alternately between them, and they are subjected to powerful hydraulic
pressure. ♦Plating♦ This process is termed “plating,” and is, of
course, very much more expensive than the process of supercalendering
described above.

♦Sorting♦

From the cutters, the sheets are carried to the inspectors, who are
seated in a row along an extended board table, before two divisions
with partitions ten or twelve inches high, affording spaces for the
sheets before and after sorting. The work of inspection is performed by
women, who detect almost instantly any blemish or imperfection in the
finished product as it passes through their hands. If the paper is to
be ruled for writing purposes, it is then taken to the ruling machines,
where it is passed under revolving disks or pens, set at regular
intervals. These convey the ruling ink to the paper as it passes on
through the machine, and thus form true and continuous lines. ♦Ruling
and folding♦ If the paper is to be folded after ruling, as in the
case of fine note-papers, the sheets pass on from the ruling machine
to the folding machines, which are entirely automatic in their action.
The paper is stacked at the back of the first folding guide, and is
fed in by the action of small rubber rollers, which loosen each sheet
from the one beneath, and push it forward until it is caught by the
folding apparatus. Man’s mechanical ingenuity has given to the machines
of his invention something that seems almost like human intelligence,
and in the case of the folding machine, the action is so regular
and perfect that there seems to be no need of an attendant, save to
furnish a constant supply of sheets. The folding completed, cutting
machines are again brought into requisition, to cut and trim the
sheets to the size of folded note or letter paper, which is the final
operation before they are sent out into the world on their mission
of usefulness. The finished paper may or may not have passed through
the ruling and folding process, but in either case it goes from the
cutters to the wrappers and packers, and then to the shipping-clerks,
all of whom perform the duties indicated by their names. The wonderful
transformation wrought by the magic wand of science and human
invention is complete, and what came into the factory as great bales of
offensive rags, disgusting to sight and smell, goes forth as delicate,
beautiful, perfected paper, redeemed from filth, and glorified into a
high and noble use. ♦Beauty of perfected paper♦ Purity and beauty have
come from what was foul and unwholesome; the highly useful has been
summoned forth from the seemingly useless; a product that is one of the
essential factors in the world’s progress, and that promises to serve
an ever-increasing purpose, has been developed from a material that
apparently held not the slightest promise. Well might the “Boston News
Letter” of 1769 exclaim in quaint old rhyme:

   “Rags are as beauties which concealed lie,
    But when in paper, charming to the eye!
    Pray save your rags, new beauties to discover,
    For of paper truly every one’s a lover;
    By the pen and press such knowledge is displayed
    As would not exist if paper was not made.”

And well may man pride himself on this achievement, this marvelous
transformation, which represents the fruitage of centuries of striving
and endeavor!

[Illustration: BLOWPIPES COOLING CALENDER ROLLS]

♦Wood pulp♦

Up to this point the reference has been almost entirely to paper
made from rags, but radical improvements have been made, caused by
the introduction of wood pulp, and these are of such importance that
the account would not be complete without some mention of them. These
changes are mainly in the methods of manipulating the wood to obtain
the pulp, for when that is ready, the process, from and including the
“washers” and “beaters,” is very similar to that already described. All
papers, whether made from rags or wood, depend upon vegetable fiber
for their substance and fundamental base, and it is found that the
different fibers used in paper-making, when finally subdued, do not
differ, in fact, whether obtained from rags or from the tree growing in
the forest. In the latter case the raw wood is subjected to chemical
treatment which destroys all resinous and foreign matters, leaving
merely the cellular tissue, which, it is found, does not differ in
substance from the cell tissue obtained after treating rags. In either
case, this cellular tissue, through the treatment to which the raw
material is subjected, becomes perfectly plastic or moldable, and while
the paper made from one differs slightly in certain characteristics
from the paper made from the other, they are nevertheless very similar,
and it might be safe to predict that further perfecting of processes
will eventually make them practically alike.

♦Mechanical wood♦

The woods used for this purpose are principally poplar and spruce, and
there are three classes of the wood pulp: (1) mechanical wood, (2)
soda process wood, and (3) sulphite wood pulp. The first method was
invented in Germany in 1844. The logs are hewn in the forest, roughly
barked, and shipped to the factory, where the first operation is to
cut them up by steam saws into blocks about two feet in length. Any
bark that may still cling to the log is removed by a rapidly revolving
corrugated wheel of steel, while the larger blocks are split by a steam
splitter. The next stage of their journey takes these blocks to a great
millstone, set perpendicularly instead of horizontally. Here a very
strong and ingenious machine receives one block at a time, and with an
automatically elastic pressure holds it sidewise against the millstone,
which, like the mills of the gods, “grinds exceeding fine,” and with
the aid of constantly flowing water rapidly reduces these blocks to a
pulpy form. This pulp is carried into tanks, from which it is passed
between rollers, which leave it in thick, damp sheets, which are folded
up evenly for shipment, or for storage for future use. If a paper-mill
is operated in connection with the pulp-mill, the wood pulp is not
necessarily rolled out in sheets, but is pumped directly from the tanks
to the beaters.

In the preparation of pulp by the other processes, the blocks are first
thrown into a chipping machine with great wheels, whose short, slanting
knives quickly cut the blocks into small chips.

♦The soda process♦

In the soda process, invented by M. Meliner in France in 1865, the
chips from spruce and poplar logs are boiled under pressure in a strong
solution of caustic soda.

♦The sulphite process♦

When sulphite wood pulp is to be prepared, the chips are conveyed from
the chipper into hoppers in the upper part of the building. Here they
are thrown into great upright iron boilers or digesters charged with
lime-water and fed with the fumes of sulphur, which is burned for the
purpose in a furnace adjoining the building, and which thus forms acid
sulphide of lime. The sulphite process was originally invented by a
celebrated Philadelphia chemist, but was perfected in Europe.

The “cooking,” or boiling, to which the wood is subjected in both the
soda and sulphite processes, effects a complete separation of all
resinous and foreign substances from the fine and true cell tissue, or
cellulose, which is left a pure fiber, ready for use as described. In
the case of all fibers, whether rag or wood, painstaking work counts,
and the excellence of the paper is largely dependent upon the time and
care given to the reduction of the pulp from the original raw material.

♦Components of print-paper♦

Chemical wood pulp of the best quality makes an excellent product,
and is largely used for both print and book paper; it is frequently
mixed with rag pulp, making a paper that can scarcely be distinguished
from that made entirely from fine rags, though it is not of the proper
firmness for the best flat or writing papers. All ordinary newspapers,
as well as some of the cheaper grades of book and wrapping paper, are
made entirely from wood, the sulphite or soda process supplying the
fiber and ground wood being used as a filler. In the average newspaper
of to-day’s issue, twenty-five per cent of sulphite fiber is sufficient
to carry seventy-five per cent of the ground wood filler. The value of
the idea is an economical one entirely, as the ground wood employed
costs less than any other of the component parts of a print-paper sheet.

The cylinder machine, to which reference was made earlier in the
chapter, was patented in 1809 by a prominent paper-maker of England,
Mr. John Dickinson. In this machine, a cylinder covered with wire cloth
revolves with its lower portion dipping into a vat of pulp, while by
suction a partial vacuum is maintained in the cylinder, causing the
pulp to cling to the wire until it is conveyed to a covered cylinder,
which takes it up and carries it forward in a manner similar to the
system already described. This machine is employed in making strawboard
and other heavy and cheap grades of paper.

♦Esparto♦

Generous Mother Nature, who supplies man’s wants in such bountiful
fashion, has furnished on her plains and in her forests an abundance
of material that may be transformed into this fine product of human
ingenuity. Esparto, a Spanish grass grown in South Africa, has entered
largely into the making of print-paper in England. Mixed with rags it
makes an excellent product, but the chemicals required to free it from
resin and gritty silica are expensive, while the cost of importation
has rendered its use in America impractical. Flax, hemp, manila,
jute and straw, and of course old paper that has been once used, are
extensively employed in this manufacture, the process beginning with
the chemical treatment and boiling that are found necessary in the
manipulation of rags. The successful use of these materials has met
demands that would not otherwise have been supplied. As a result, the
price has been so cheapened that the demand for paper has greatly
increased, and its use has been extended to many and various purposes,
which are mentioned in the following chapter, in an enumeration of the
various kinds of paper.

Many additional items of interest might be described in connection with
the methods of manufacturing paper, but as this work is intended for
the general reader, rather than for the manufacturer, those wishing
further information are referred to technical works on the subject.

♦Government bank-note paper♦

The best linen rags are used for the highest grades of writing and
bond papers, while ordinary note, letter, and flat papers are made
from cotton rags. In some mills, such as the government mill at
Dalton, Massachusetts, where government paper is made for bank-notes,
and in others where the finest ledger papers are manufactured, none
but new, clean linen rags are used. These come from the remnants
left in the making of linen goods. In the government mill where is
made the paper for our national currency, or “greenbacks,” there is
a special attachment on the machine for introducing into the paper
the silk threads that are always to be seen in our paper money. This
attachment is just above the “wire” on the machine, and consists of a
little conducting trough, through which flows, from a receptacle near
the machine, a stream of water holding the silk threads in solution.
The trough extends across the machine, and is provided at intervals
with openings, through which the short pieces of silk thread are
automatically released, and sprinkled continuously onto the web of pulp
as it passes beneath. ♦To prevent counterfeiting♦ The paper is thus
distinguished, and infringement and possible counterfeiting are made
extremely difficult by the fact that the government absolutely forbids
the making of paper by others under a similar process, as well as the
production of any paper containing these silk threads. The laws of
the United States pertaining to anything that borders on infringement
of our various money issues, both metal and currency, are most rigid;
anything approaching a similarity of impression is prohibited, and
a cut, stamp, or impression of any character that approaches in its
appearance any money issue of our government is considered a violation
of the law against counterfeiting, and is dealt with severely. The
government takes the same uncompromising position in regard to the
fabrics used in printing its paper-money issues, and it will be quickly
seen that the silk thread process above described is so great a
variation from anything required in the mercantile world that it would
be difficult to produce a paper at all similar without an ulterior
purpose being at once apparent. For this reason, the silk thread
interspersion is in reality a very effective medium in preventing
counterfeiting, not only on account of its peculiar appearance, but
also because of the elaborate methods necessary in its production.

In those mills making the finest grades of paper, much of the process
of thrashing, beating, dusting, and cleaning necessary in the ordinary
mill is omitted. The cleanliness and brightness which are reached only
at the “washer” and “beater” engines in the process of manufacturing
the lower grades of paper from cheaper rags, prevail at every step in
these higher grade mills.

♦Pure water necessary♦

One of the first requisites in making good paper, especially the
better grades, is an abundance of pure water, and spring-water, where
available, is preferred.

The effort has been made in the description given to cover the process
of making paper from the crudest rags. In enumerating the several
kinds of paper, in another chapter, brief reference will be made to
the varying methods required in their manufacture. In this chapter, no
attempt has been made to cover more than the principal divisions or
varieties of paper--writing, print, and wrapping papers.

♦The center of the industry♦

The United States, with characteristic enterprise, leads the world in
paper-making, supplying about one-third of all that is used on the
globe. The city of Holyoke, in Massachusetts, is the greatest paper
center in the world, turning out each working-day some two hundred
tons of paper, nearly one-half of which is “tub-sized,” “loft-dried”
writings. The region in the vicinity of Holyoke is dotted with
paper-mills, and within a few miles of the city is made about one-half
of all the “loft-dried” writings produced in the United States. The
tiny acorn planted two centuries ago has waxed with the years, gaining
strength and vigor with the increasing strength of the nation, till now
it has become a giant oak, whose branches extend to the lands beyond
the seas.

[Illustration: SLITTING AND WINDING--PAGE 78]




CHAPTER VI

WATER-MARKS AND VARIETIES OF PAPER


♦Importance of water-marks♦

Though the water-mark in a sheet of paper may at first thought seem
a comparatively unimportant detail, the story of water-marks and
the part they have played in momentous transactions would easily
furnish material for a volume. Especially is this true of the early
water-marks, with which there is connected much interesting history.
They have even become important witnesses in the courts of justice,
where their silent but eloquent testimony has brought confusion to
seemingly clever criminals. The proof of the time when a water-mark
was introduced has been the means of fixing the crime of forgery,
where the forger, in order to reach the end sought through the forged
document, dated the same back, and unconsciously used a paper bearing
a water-mark of a later date. As the early water-marks have suggested
the names of many varieties of paper, the two subjects are fittingly
coupled.

It is not known exactly how long a history the water-mark has; the
first evidence of one, in the form of a ram’s horn, is said to have
been found in a book of accounts in 1330. Simple designs of common
objects, such as a pot, urn, or jug, were popular forms of the
water-mark in early days. Mention has already been made of Henry VIII.
and the curious method he adopted of showing his contempt for the
Pope, by having his paper marked with a hog wearing a miter. ♦Origin
of “fool’s cap”♦ Then followed the coat-of-arms of the king, and when
Charles I. was driven from the throne and beheaded, the “fool’s cap”
and bells was in derision substituted for the royal arms, followed
later by the figure of Britannia. Changing water-marks in those days
meant stirring history. “Pot” paper had a tankard for its water-mark,
and the “fool’s cap” gave its name to a larger sized paper, which has
borne the name to the present day. “Post” was the old size made for
letters, and bore a “post-horn” as its water-mark, the name being
preserved to-day in the United States by “folio-post.” “Crown” paper,
as its name suggests, bore the water-mark of a crown.

In recent years, water-marks have been used as a means of designating
the manufacturer, rather than for the purpose of distinguishing the
paper itself. The crane, for instance, appropriately designates the
paper made by the Cranes, a family whose name has been long and
prominently associated with the industry in this country.

♦Paper in the mechanical arts♦

The many and divers uses to which the paper product can be put have
opened up a practically unlimited field to the originality and genius
of the paper manufacturer, who has learned to so manipulate his raw
materials as to permit of the finished product’s being substituted
for iron, lumber, cloth, etc., and in many cases it better serves the
desired purpose.

As has already been stated, paper, considered in reference to its
general quality and the method of manufacture, falls into three main
divisions, viz., writing, print, and wrapping papers, but these
divisions give only an inadequate idea of the many varieties. The most
of these are obtained by the varying manipulations of paper already
complete in one or another of the three forms. The various kinds of
boards furnish an interesting example of one of the most comprehensive
classes of paper. Bristol board, so named from the place where it was
first manufactured, cardboard, pressboard, binder’s board, trunk-board,
and the like, all hold very prominent positions in this, one of the
most important of industries. The heavier of these boards are made by
combining as many sheets of paper as are necessary to give the desired
thickness, and then by using paste or applying hydraulic pressure,
consolidating them. The number of sheets used is indicated by the word
“ply,” used as a suffix, as two-ply, three-ply, four-ply, and so on.

Like other articles of the commercial world, papers take their
names from varying circumstances, and there is a large class whose
designations have been derived from the materials or processes employed
in their manufacture, as well as from the purposes for which they are
to be used.

♦Coated paper♦

Coated paper, or paper having an enameled surface, is made by applying
a mixture of clay and glue to ordinary paper. When referred to in
connection with coated paper, this ordinary paper is called raw stock
or body paper. It is manufactured in the regular way, but is made
slack-sized and sent to the coating factory in web or roll form, and
before it has been calendered. The clay used is pure kaolin or china
clay, formed by the disintegration of feldspathic rock. The clay is
largely found near Cornwall, England, and the pure white variety,
principally used, is known as leemore clay, while the finest is called
blanc fixe. The clay is ground to the fineness of fine wheat flour and
mixed into solution of about the consistency of milk. Its purpose in
the paper-coating process is to cover the body paper, giving it an even
surface, susceptible of a high and glossy finish. The glue used is of
the ordinary sort so well known in the regular market. Its presence
renders the clay solution very adhesive when applied to the body paper.

♦Extreme smoothness required♦

The cost of illustrations having been greatly reduced through the
perfection of photogravure or half-tone processes, a large and
increasing demand exists for a paper of extremely smooth, firm,
and sensitive surface, suitable for the reproduction of the finest
half-tone cuts; a paper with such delicate fineness and susceptibility
that the minute lines of a photogravure cut--so minute in instances as
to be indistinguishable to the touch of the finger--will be perfectly
reproduced when printed upon its enameled surface.

Large factories are devoted entirely to the coating process. They do
not necessarily make their own body paper, but frequently purchase it
from outside sources. At first, this clay solution was carried to and
spread upon the surface of paper by the use of a fine hair brush. This
was applied to one side or surface of the paper at a time, the same
process being repeated on the opposite side, if both were to be coated.
Since its earlier introduction, the process of surface-coating paper
has undergone great improvement, and the method to-day in vogue, while
seemingly complete and exceedingly rapid, is yet readily understood,
and the machinery required is quite simple. This consists of:

♦Parts of coating machine♦

First--A vat, to hold the enameling solution.

Second--Rollers, to regulate its distribution upon the web of paper.

Third--Brushes, to work out small lumpy particles and overcome any
tendency to unevenness of coating.

Fourth--An automatic carrier, to convey the coated web through a
drying-room; after which it is calendered to the surface wanted and cut
into sizes required.

A roll of body paper ready to be enameled is placed before the vat
which contains the coating solution. The end of the paper-web is
started through the solution by being passed under a wooden roller hung
in the vat--the purpose of the roller is to insure an even tension
and uniform immersion of the web. After passing under the roller the
paper-web leaves the vat, and is passed between two rollers that
regulate the thickness of the coating and remove all surplus. From the
rollers the web passes forward through two sets of brushes, one above
and one below, both sets working back and forth transversely upon the
top and bottom of the coated web. ♦Distribution of coating♦ Each set
of brushes is comprised, first, of a coarse, then intermediate, and
finally of extremely delicate brushes, made usually of camel’s hair,
which as they play upon the coated surface work out all roughness or
small lumpy particles, and reduce the coating to uniform fineness.
♦Carrier♦ Upon leaving the brushes, the paper reaches an automatic
carrier. This consists of wooden slats conveyed at intervals upon two
endless chains that pass at either side of the machine just outside
of the coated web, the chains supporting the slats at their ends. As
the paper reaches the slats it falls upon one, which by an ingenious
device is carried forward and upward, permitting the coated web of damp
paper to fall in long loops or folds--succeeding slats follow upon the
carrier at regular intervals, and prevent any marring of the damp
surface by keeping it from foreign contact. The slats upon the carrier
convey the web in this festooned form through a drying-room, kept at
a temperature of about 140° Fahrenheit, thus thoroughly drying the
coated web. The paper, dried by its passage through the drying-room,
is rerolled upon reels, and is then finished by being passed rapidly
between alternate steel and paper rollers, after the ordinary method of
calendering paper. ♦The gloss or finish♦ The rollers are susceptible
to regulation or adjustment, so that almost any degree of gloss can be
put upon the coated surface; hence, for the highest finished paper the
rolls are set slightly closer together, giving greater pressure; and
if necessary, the web can be run through a second or third time. After
calendering, the paper is cut to sizes required, this being done in the
same manner all rolled paper is cut into sheets, except that if three
or four rolls are run through the cutter at once--as is frequently the
case to facilitate rapid cutting--a device is used that causes the
sheets from each roll to fall in separate piles, so that all of the
sheets in each pile will be from one roll, insuring uniformity.

[Illustration: THE SUPERCALENDERS--PAGE 82]

The quality and value of coated paper depend upon the quality of the
body paper, the fineness of the clay and other ingredients used in
the coating, together with the perfection of its manufacture.

♦Glazing processes♦

Glazed paper is one of the most interesting and useful forms of coated
paper. The glazing is done by two processes, known as friction and
flint glazing. In either process the method of coating, up to and
including the drying, is practically the same as that followed in the
coating of other papers, except that wax is mixed with the coating
to act as a lubricator, and to permit of securing the desired glassy
finish.

In friction-glazing, the paper is passed through a friction calender,
which consists of a cotton roll and a chilled iron roll, the latter
revolving at much greater speed than the former, the friction generated
giving the paper a very high polish.

In the flint process, the paper is fed into a special burnishing
machine, and passes over a groove in which operates a flint-stone,
fitting closely in the groove and working back and forth upon and
across the sheet. As will readily be seen, this is a very slow process
as well as expensive, although it produces a finish, higher and more
lasting, than can be secured by the friction method.

Paper made by the two processes can be distinguished by the lines
appearing on the flint-paper made by the stone in its travels across
the sheet.

Glazed papers are used largely in the manufacture of boxes and numerous
fancy articles.

♦Lithographic stock♦

Lithographic paper is a product especially prepared to take impressions
from stones in lithographing. For ordinary use, common book or
print papers are employed, but these are usually given extra care
and attention in the course of their manufacture; the stock is so
manipulated as to not only secure the desired quality and finish, but
also to counteract the tendency of the paper to stretch, which if not
overcome is apt to destroy the register and injuriously affect the
quality of the work. The better grades of lithographing-paper are made
by applying a clay coating especially prepared to bring about the
desired results.

Asbestos-paper is made by combining paper pulp and the mineral
amianthus. Its fireproof and non-conducting qualities make it a staple
commodity for many purposes, such as drop-curtains for theaters,
insulation of electric wires, packing of steam-pipes, etc.

Tar-paper is a coarse, thick paper soaked with a tar product, and used
for covering roofs and lining walls, to secure warmth and dryness.

Paper coated with the white of eggs is known as albumen-paper, and is
employed as a vehicle for silver prints in photography.

♦Photographic♦

Paper which has been so chemically treated that the color of its
surface may be altered by the action of light is known as sensitized
paper. Under this general designation are included numerous papers
differing from each other in the details of manufacture, though the
name is most commonly applied to paper that has been floated in a bath
of nitrate of silver, or coated with an emulsion of silver-nitrate of
chloride. ♦For blue-prints♦ One of the most common of papers included
under the general term is that known in general trade as blue-process
paper, which is prepared by floating white paper in a solution of
potassium ferrocyanide. It is used for copying plans and maps, as well
as for printing photographic negatives. After exposure to the light
for the proper length of time, under the subject to be reproduced,
the print is finished by immersion in several changes of clean water.
Very similar to the blue-process paper is the blue or ferro-prussiate
paper, which is sensitized or made sensitive by being treated with a
solution in water of red prussiate of potash and peroxide of iron.
This may be applied as a coating to the surface of the paper, or the
latter may be floated upon the solution. When exposed to light under a
drawing, those parts of the sheet to which the light has access through
the transparent portions of the drawing are more or less affected,
according to the greater or less transparency, as well as to the length
of the exposure. When this printing has proceeded as far as desired,
the sheet is washed in clear water, and those parts that have been
protected from the light, become white, while those exposed to the
light and affected by it take on, when dry, a permanent blue.

♦Other sensitized papers♦

Another variety of what may properly be termed sensitized paper is the
arrowroot-paper used in photography for positive prints. It is plain
or non-glossy, and is coated with a weak solution of arrowroot in
water, with sodium, chloride, and a trace of citric acid. Photographic
paper, as such, includes a great variety of these sensitized papers,
employed in various processes of the art; albumenized, salted, coated
with emulsion, or otherwise treated. One of these, known as Pizzighelli
paper, a sensitized platinum-paper, gives a neat surface, and soft,
clear, gray tones, which are most artistic and pleasing for many
subjects.

♦Carbon or transfer♦

Other papers are so treated chemically as to produce certain effects
under the application of pressure, instead of by the action of light.
Such is the transfer-paper used for transferring a design mechanically,
which is prepared by coating the sheet with adhesive pigments of
lampblack, vermilion, indigo, or other chemical. The carbon-paper
universally used in typewriting when more than one copy of a letter or
paper is desired, is paper faced with carbon or lampblack. Alternate
sheets of writing and carbon paper, placed one above the other, are put
into the typewriter, and the impression of the letter on the surface of
one sheet serves to print three or four sheets underneath.

♦Manifold♦

Manifold writing or copying papers are made from strong unsized papers
adapted to receive writing or printing, and to transfer this readily
under pressure to another sheet which has been dampened. It is the
common rule to-day to make permanent record of correspondence and
business transactions by the use of this system of impression-copying.
The manifold paper largely used by railroads is very thin, making
possible a large number of copies from a single impression, thus
effecting a great saving of time and labor.

♦Stencil♦

Stencil-paper is produced by giving to a sheet of fibrous paper, as
fine and thin as gauze, a thick, even coating of paraffin, and from
this the stencil may be prepared in two different ways. Either it may
be placed in the typewriter, from which the ink-pad or ribbon has
been removed, and the stencil cut by allowing the type to strike the
wax sheet, or it may be placed upon a flat steel plate, the surface
of which is cut into multitudinous microscopic steel points, and then
written upon by a stylus, a steel pencil made especially for the
purpose, which cuts the wax without tearing the gauzy body of the
sheet. Copies are produced in the same manner as with other stencils,
viz., by placing the blank sheet under the stencil and then passing an
inked roller over the latter.

Luminous paper is prepared by compounding the pulp with gelatine and
phosphorescent powder.

♦Transparent paper♦

Transparent papers are made by several different methods. The usual one
employed is to apply a thin coating of a solution of Canada balsam in
turpentine, or a solution of castor or linseed oil in absolute alcohol,
the alcohol in the latter case being permitted to evaporate, thereby
rendering the paper transparent. Such paper is largely used for tracing
purposes, and may be restored to its original state of opacity, with
the tracings left unchanged, by removing the oil with a fresh bath of
alcohol.

♦Safety♦

Safety-paper is a paper so treated or coated with chemicals that any
ink-writing upon its surface cannot be erased, effaced, or removed
without leaving indelible marks on the paper. As its name implies, it
is used for safety in bank-checks or other commercial paper, to protect
against alteration.

Gunpowder-paper is prepared by spreading an explosive substance on
paper, which is then dried and rolled up in the form of a cartridge.

♦Sand and emery♦

Sand and emery papers are produced by coating a stout paper with glue,
and then sprinkling sand or emery-dust upon the surface. Man’s skill
has devised for this purpose an ingenious machine. This first coats the
paper with glue from a revolving brush, which plays over the surface
of melted glue in a steam gluing-pot below. Having accomplished this
result, it softens the glue with a spray of steam, and sifts the sand
upon the surface, all surplus sand dropping into a box below as the
sanded or emery-surfaced paper passes over a roller. Other loose
particles are blown off by a fan, while the remaining ones are still
more firmly fixed by a second jet of steam.

♦Cork♦

Cork-paper, an American invention, is made by coating one side of a
thick, soft and flexible paper with a preparation of glue, gelatine,
and molasses, and covering it with finely ground cork lightly rolled
in. This paper is used for packing bottles, glassware, etc.

♦Slate♦

Slate-paper, which takes its name from the fact that it can be cleansed
like a slate, is prepared from the regular product, of the required
thickness and consistency, by the use of benzine, followed by a
preparation made of lead, zinc oxide, turpentine, seed-oil, copal, and
sandarach.

Soft plate-paper is a thick unsized paper, especially adapted to
receive impressions for fine engravings printed from steel and other
plates.

♦Filter♦

Filtering-paper, much used by chemists and druggists, is simply unsized
open or porous paper. With such paper, of course, the process of
manufacture ceases at the first drying or crushing rollers, all the
finishing or hardening operations being omitted.

[Illustration: CUTTING FROM THE ROLL--PAGE 82]

♦Waterproof♦

Waterproof papers comprise a large and most useful class. It is
practically only within the past twenty-five years that a process
has been known and employed for rendering a paper waterproof by
destroying its absorptive properties. At the present time there are
many and various methods used in waterproofing, such as soaking the
stock in dissolved shellac and borax. This method is found especially
satisfactory in waterproofing heavy paper and boards. Another process
is by brushing the surface of the paper with boiled oil, and paper thus
prepared was formerly used largely in lieu of bladders and gut-skins
for wrapping butter, covering fruit-jars, etc., but it has been almost
entirely superseded by the introduction of parchment-paper, of which
mention will be made later.

♦Paraffin♦

Since the invention of the process of clay-coating paper, it has been
found possible to incorporate in the coating solution certain materials
which render it waterproof. The application of wax or paraffin to paper
to make it waterproof is a common method; and although this product is
largely used, the process has never reached the state of development
expected. A great amount of time and money has been spent in the
endeavor to perfect the process, and at the same time cheapen the
cost, but so far with only indifferent success, and the experiment has
usually proved very discouraging and expensive to its supporters.

In its simplest form, this method consists in dipping the paper in a
bath of melted paraffin, the paper being at a temperature lower than
the melting-point of the paraffin, and promptly removing it from the
bath, whereby the adhering paraffin is prevented from entering the
paper to any considerable extent, and forms a thin coating upon its
surface. This paper is odorless, and is used for wrapping meats, fish,
butter, candies, etc.

♦Vegetable parchment♦

Parchment-paper, which is almost like the real parchment made from the
skins of animals, is prepared from unsized rag-paper by immersing it
for a few seconds in a solution of two parts of sulphuric acid, or oil
of vitriol, in one part of water, at a temperature of 60° Fahrenheit,
then washing it in cold water and removing any remaining traces of the
acid by dipping it in a weak solution of ammonia. By this treatment
it is rendered tough, translucent, glossy, and almost impervious to
water. It is known as vegetable parchment, and is extensively used in
wrapping lard, butter, meats, etc., and also to hermetically seal jars
and pots for preserving fruit.

♦Grass-bleached♦

Silver tissue, or what is known to the trade as grass-bleached tissue,
is extensively used for wrapping silverware. It is specially treated to
remove all chemicals that would tend to corrode or tarnish silver. The
best qualities of this paper are made in England.

Metallic paper is paper washed with a solution of whiting, lime, and
zinc. Characters written on this paper with a pewter pencil are almost
indelible.

♦Litmus♦

Test or litmus papers are used in laboratories and factories for
indicating the presence of acids or alkalies and various liquids. It
is prepared by treatment with a peculiar coloring matter that gives
its name to the paper. It is of a blue or yellow tint, according to
the chemical employed in its preparation, and changes color under the
influence of different chemical agents. The blue litmus paper, for
instance, when thrust into an acid solution becomes red, but may be
restored to its normal color by being subjected to the action of an
alkali.

The enumeration already given by no means exhausts the uses of the
wonderful product evolved and perfected by centuries of study and
toil. Widespread as is its use in the various departments of chemistry,
and in all the graphic arts, it fills an equally wide field of
usefulness in the mechanic arts, where it has become a staple.

♦Paper car-wheels♦

One of its most curious uses in this field is in the manufacture of
car-wheels. The material is calendered rye-straw board, or thick
paper, and the credit of the invention belongs to Richard N. Allen,
a locomotive engineer. The paper is sent to the car-wheel shops in
circular sheets measuring from twenty-two to forty inches in diameter,
and over each of these is spread an even coating of flour paste. The
sheets are then placed one above the other until a dozen are pasted
together, when all are subjected to a hydraulic pressure of five
hundred tons or more. After two hours’ pressure, these twelve-sheet
blocks of paper are kept for a whole week in a drying-room heated to
a temperature of 120° Fahrenheit, after which a number are pasted
together, pressed, and dried for a second week; a third combining of
layers is then made, followed by a month’s drying, until there is
obtained a solid block, containing from one hundred and twenty to one
hundred and sixty thicknesses or sheets of the original paper. The
thickness is only from four and one-half to five and one-half inches,
and in weight, density, and solidity the block resembles more the
finest grained, heaviest metal than it does the original paper product.
It may be called car-wheel paper. To complete the wheel, there are
required a steel tire, a cast-iron hub, wrought-iron plates to protect
the paper on either side, and two circles of bolts, one set passing
through the flange of the tire, the other through the flange of the
hub, and both sets through the paper. The paper blocks are turned on a
lathe, which also reams out the center-hole for the hub; two coats of
paint are applied to keep out moisture; the cast-iron hub is pressed
through by hydraulic pressure; the other parts are forced into place,
and the paper center is forced into the steel tire by like hydraulic
power; and there, a product of human ingenuity, is a paper car-wheel,
which never is injured by vibrations, and is safer and longer-lived,
though costing more, than any other car-wheel made.

♦Paper lumber♦

Paper lumber is another curious form of the staple. It is produced
by making the ordinary strawboard on a cylinder machine, running it
through a vat of resin and other waterproofing heated to a temperature
of 350° Fahrenheit, then placing together the sheets so resined and
subjecting them to hydraulic pressure. The result is a paper board
three-sixteenths of an inch thick, and of a dark or blackish color.
It can be cut with a saw or chisel, is very hard and solid, and has
been marketed in slabs thirty-two inches in width by twelve feet in
length at forty dollars a thousand. It is used for the interiors of
railway-cars and for perforated chairs.

♦Chamois fiber♦

A product of the paper-mill has been used quite extensively the last
few years for clothing. It is called chamois fiber or mangled fiber.
It is made from a long-fibered, strong sulphite stock, and is passed
through a specially constructed machine which mangles or crushes the
fiber, giving it a soft and flexible character, like chamois. It
has been used in dress-skirts and for under-vests, and has an added
advantage over cloth in being practically impervious to air.

Paper boats are made of especially prepared paper pulp, molded and
pressed into shape.

Paper flour-barrels, water-pails, and other like articles are made by
stamping out their form from paper pulp or heavy cylinder-made paper
possessing folding properties.

♦Papier-maché♦

Papier-maché is another product of paper almost unlimited in its uses.
The materials of which it is made, for the commoner classes of work,
are old waste and scrap paper, repulped and mixed with a strong size
of glue and paste. To this are often added quantities of ground chalk,
clay, and lime. For the finest class of work, a method invented in 1772
by Henry Clay, of Birmingham, England, is followed. Sheets of specially
made paper are soaked together in a strong size of paste and glue,
molded into the desired shape and dried in an oven, other layers being
added, if necessary, to secure the required size and shape. The dried
object is hardened by being dipped in oil, and is then trimmed and
prepared for japanning and ornamentation. In delicate relief-work, a
pulp is prepared of scrap paper, which is dried, then ground to powder
and mixed with paste and a proportion of potash until a very fine, thin
paste is formed. Papier-maché is an exceedingly strong, tough, durable
substance, slightly elastic, and not liable to warp or fracture. The
articles for which it is used make a long list, including ornamental
boxes, trays, match-safes, dolls’ heads, toys, anatomical and botanical
models, artists’ lay-figures, picture-frames, panels, and other mural
ornaments. It has also been employed in the construction of coaches
and for door-panels, while under the name of carton pierre, which is
practically the same substance, are molded ornaments for walls and
ceilings. Ordinary roofing and carpet felts are similar in manufacture.
The use of moistened papier-maché in electrotyping, and the method
followed, is too well known to need description.

♦Wall-paper♦

In the use of paper for wall-hangings, the artistic and practical come
together. From the earliest days when men made for themselves permanent
abodes, mural decoration of one form or another has been known, and
every branch of painting, sculpture, and decorative art has been called
into service. It is not strange that paper, with its many adaptations
and wonderful possibilities, should, when it reached the proper stage
of development, find one of its principal uses in making beautiful
the walls of our homes. The eighteenth century was well advanced when
wall-papers came into use in Europe, but it is claimed that they were
used much earlier by the Chinese, who, with characteristic ingenuity,
have made clothing, handkerchiefs, napkins, and a great variety of
other useful articles out of paper. The first patterns were very
crude, but through the slow processes of development and improvement
a wonderful degree of perfection has been attained. Beauty and taste
in the decorative art find their highest exponent in the “repped
morocco” and fine colored papers. Repped or corded papers are those
having raised designs, which are produced by passing the web between
rollers on which the ribs or other devices have been cut or engraved.
The embossing of morocco and other paper of raised design is done
in the same way. The morocco and leather papers are imitations of
the old stamped leather hangings of earlier days, which were usually
made of the skins of goats and calves, cut into rectangular shape.
♦Embossed effects♦ These skins were stamped and embossed, having been
first covered with silver-leaf and varnished with a transparent yellow
lacquer that gave to the silver the appearance of gold. The reliefs
were painted by hand in many bright colors. Leather wall-papers are
treated in a similar manner, and are capable of being brought to any
desired degree of richness. The richer grades of flat-surfaced figured
wall-papers are printed with wooden blocks, upon which the designs are
cut in relief, there being a block for each color. These blocks are
applied by hand, after having been dipped in an elastic cloth sieve
charged with tempera pigments. Care is used to place each block on
exactly the right place, thus securing perfect register. In many cases
the figures on the block are inlaid with copper, especially in the thin
outlines. ♦Block printing♦ In “block” and gold and silver printing the
design is first printed in a strong size; the finely cut wool of the
required color, called “flock,” or the metallic powder imitating gold
or silver, is then sprinkled on by hand all over the paper, and adheres
closely to the size. Where the pattern is to stand out in relief,
the process is repeated until the desired results are obtained. The
cheaper sorts of wall-papers, as well as some that are very rich, are
printed by machinery from the web, on rollers or cylinders carrying the
designs, under which the paper passes.

♦Surface tinting♦

Reference has been made to the process of coloring paper by mixing
the colors in the engine, but wall-papers and many others are
surface-tinted by being run through a color-vat. An iridescent or
“rainbow” surface is given by treating the paper with a wash containing
sulphates of iron and of indigo, and then exposing quickly to
ammoniacal vapors.

[Illustration: SORTING OF FINISHED SHEETS--PAGE 83]

Mother-of-pearl paper is produced by a somewhat similar process.
Glazed paper is first floated on a solution of silver, lead, or other
metal, then, when dry, exposed to the vapors of sulphide of hydrogen,
after which collodion is poured over the surface, producing rich and
fascinating color effects.

♦Marbled paper♦

Marbled paper, used largely in binding, is prepared from a shallow bath
of gum tragacanth, or goat’s-horn, upon which the workmen sprinkle from
a flat brush the films of colors needed for the desired pattern. When
the whole surface is covered with bands and splashes of color, the
workman takes a huge comb, which he draws with a wavy motion the length
of the tub. The practiced marbler will so lay the colors and manipulate
the comb as to copy any desired pattern. The marbling is done by deftly
laying the smooth white paper on the bath for a moment, and then
removing it, when the entire film of color comes with the sheet, so
that a resprinkling of the bath is necessary. In marbling the edges of
the leaves of a book, the body of the book, without the covers, is so
held that the edges may be quickly dipped into the bath. In this case,
of course, one covering of coloring matter will marble a number of
volumes. Paper is also colored, as has been noted, by passing the web
through a coloring-bath.

The papers briefly described in this chapter have been classified
largely according to the methods of manufacture or chemical treatment,
or to the purposes for which they were to be used. Another basis for
classification is found in the size. In the United States, the usual
writing papers of commerce are divided, according to sizes, as follows:

♦Sizes of writing paper♦

  Commercial note      5 ×  8
  Letter               8 × 10
  Flat cap            14 × 17
  Crown cap           15 × 19
  Demy                16 × 21
  Folio post          17 × 22
  Double cap          17 × 28
  Medium              18 × 23
  Royal               19 × 24
  Super royal         20 × 28
  Double demy         21 × 32
  Double folio        22 × 34
  Double medium       23 × 36
  Imperial            23 × 31
  Elephant            23 × 28
  Double royal        24 × 38
  Columbier           23 × 34
  Atlas               26 × 33
  Antiquarian         31 × 53




CHAPTER VII

THE EXTENT OF THE BUSINESS IN THE UNITED STATES


The century just past has witnessed a marvelous growth in the paper
industry. As a seedling oak, first struggling for root-hold and then
pushing its way steadily upward through difficulties and obstructions,
it has assumed giant proportions, being now firmly established beyond
any possibility of disturbance, and sending its branches in every
direction. Many causes have contributed to this wonderful development.

♦Publications of 1776 compared with 1900♦

In no country of the world are books and newspapers read so extensively
as in the United States, whose people must be thoroughly cosmopolitan
if, as has been said, “every man who reads the newspaper is a citizen
of the world.” In 1776, the natal year of our independence, there
were in all the colonies thirty-seven publications, whose total
yearly output did not exceed as many thousands; in 1900, according to
tabulated statistics, the thirty-seven had increased to twenty thousand
eight hundred and six regular daily, weekly, and monthly publications,
and their aggregate output is counted not by thousands, nor even
millions, but by billions. This too has no reference whatever to the
myriad of publications which, while appearing intermittently, are
not issued at stated periods; it refers only to regular periodicals,
including our daily papers. ♦Illinois’ rank in number of publications♦
In an analysis of these interesting statistics we of Illinois find
occasion for great gratification, as it develops that in the number of
her publications Illinois outstrips all of her sister states except New
York, ranking a close second in the grand total, and even taking first
place in the number of her weekly issues. The following table shows the
exact figures and their divisions of the four leading states:

               Daily. Weekly. Monthly. Quarterly. Total.

  New York      186    1086    592        46      1910
  Illinois      180    1109    305        18      1612
  Pennsylvania  196     900    221        12      1329
  Ohio          171     785    180        12      1148

An increase of such phenomenal proportions as indicated by these
figures makes tremendous demands upon allied and tributary industries,
but the increase in the production of paper of the variety required
has been sufficient to meet these demands. These conditions, however,
affect only one branch of the industry. The increase in the
publication of books, together with the multiplicity of commercial
and industrial uses to which paper may be put, as briefly outlined in
the preceding chapter, explain an expansion that would otherwise be
inexplicable. Another cause to be taken into account, a third factor
in the wonderful growth of the century, is the export trade. President
Hugh J. Chisholm, in his annual report to the American Paper and Pulp
Association in New York City, February 15, 1899, made the following
statement:

♦Export statistics♦

    “The past year has been one of marvelous expansion in the
    export trade of this country. Our industry has shared in this
    increase of foreign trade, but not to the extent that it ought.
    Our own markets being the best in the world, manufacturers in
    past years have naturally confined their efforts practically to
    them, but we have reached such proportions in our ability to
    manufacture all kinds of paper that it seems as though there
    was never a more opportune time to explore and make conquest of
    the foreign paper market. The amount of paper exported during
    the eleven months ending with November, 1897, was $4,014,842,
    and for the eleven months ending November, 1898, $5,143,055,
    showing an increase of $1,128,213.”

During the past two years there has been even a greater proportionate
increase. Considering the fact that ten years ago the exportation of
paper was practically unknown, it will be quickly seen that we are fast
forging to the front and taking the position in foreign fields which,
as the leading paper manufacturing country of the world, we now fully
merit. Our products are generally at a premium in foreign markets, and
American genius, enterprise, and versatility are everywhere recognized.
This export trade also acts as a safety-valve against overproduction,
and by thus preserving equality between supply and demand lends
stability and confidence to the industry.

♦Number of mills in operation in United States♦

There are to-day in the United States 762 different concerns owning
and now operating one thousand and seventy paper and pulp mills;
these are distributed through thirty-five different states. Of these,
New York shows the greatest output, the capacity of her mills being
7,854,000 pounds daily, or nearly one-quarter the total daily output
of the United States. Next to the Empire State comes Maine, with a
daily capacity of 3,723,000 pounds, while Wisconsin and Massachusetts
take third and fourth rank, their mills producing, respectively,
2,674,000 and 2,195,000 pounds daily. Massachusetts upholds her
literary reputation by ranking first in the production of both writing
and book papers. In the production of wood-pulp paper New York easily
outstrips all competitors, her output being nearly double that of any
other state, while Maine stands second and Wisconsin third. The total
daily capacity (not production) of the paper and pulp mills of the
United States is estimated at 28,100,000 pounds, divided according to
varieties as follows:

♦Division of product♦

  Writing                              1,074,000
  Book                                 2,650,000
  News                                 4,856,000
  Wrapping                             3,617,000
  Boards                               3,230,000
  Miscellaneous, including varieties
    too numerous to mention            1,707,000
  Ground wood and chemical wood pulp  10,966,000

The process of paper-making is continuous, owing to the great expense
involved in wiping or cleaning the machinery, an operation necessary
to prevent the pulp from drying to or rusting the many parts through
which it passes from the time of its entrance into the washer and
beater until it comes forth as a finished and perfect product. Allowing
three hundred working-days a year to each mill, the total annual output
possible would be 4,215,000 tons, which, allowing thirty thousand
pounds to a car, would make 281,000 carloads. According to statistics
gathered by the United States Commissioner of Labor for the first six
months of 1898, the seven hundred and twenty-three plants, many of them
having two or three separate mills, actually produced 1,733,019 tons
of paper and pulp. This would make 3,466,038 tons for the entire year,
although the mills were not run to their full capacity, by any means.
The six months from October 1, 1899, to March 31, 1900, mark probably
the greatest activity the paper trade ever experienced. The mills were
taxed to their utmost to supply demands which were fierce and exacting.
The difference between the actual production as estimated for the year
1898 and the present estimated capacity of the mills is 750,000 tons;
and as the increased demand has taken up a large proportion of this, it
is safe to assume that not for many years have the mills run so nearly
to their full capacity as during the two just past. ♦Estimated value of
total output for 1900♦ Estimating an average price on all the different
classes of paper, not including pulp, the total value of the output for
1900 would amount to about $150,000,000.

[Illustration: THE HYDRAULIC PRESS]

♦Paper ranks third among staple commodities♦

Statistics bring out the interesting fact that over one-quarter of
the paper output is roll and sheet news paper. If an average value of
2¼ cents per pound at the mills be allowed for this, it is evident
that the users of news paper pay out some thirty-two million dollars
every year for this important product. Notwithstanding the fact that
this paper is sold for one-sixth of the current price of twenty-five
years ago, it is yet greatly improved in quality. As a staple in this
country, paper has come to rank third in importance in the list of
man’s wants. The products of mother earth hold first place, including
foodstuffs, raiment, etc.; and the second place must be given to iron
and steel, the bulwark of our commercial life. Paper follows next, as
the keystone of our intellectual life, and promises in the years to
come to play even a more important part in the upbuilding of our modern
advancement and business. The conditions of civilization are such that
intelligent reading is one of the essentials in individual progress.
Affording as it does food for the mind, and opening up the way to
profitable employment through which the bodily wants are supplied,
reading might almost be classed as next in importance to the food that
nourishes and gives strength to the body. On account of its large
production of the higher grades of writing, book, and ledger papers,
Massachusetts leads in the value of the output; if our estimates are
correct, the value of the paper of all varieties manufactured in the
state was about $25,000,000 for the year 1900, or one-sixth of the
entire estimated product. New York follows with an almost equal amount
in the value of the product, while Maine, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania
will show about $10,000,000 each, the five states thus making, in
value, over one-half of the paper manufactured in the country. In
considering these figures it must be taken into account that by
increasing the width of the webs and the rate of speed at which the
paper passes over the machine, the possible output has in many plants
been more than quadrupled during the past ten years, which in part
explains the doubling of the value of the output since 1890, during
which year, according to the government census, the output amounted in
value to $74,308,388.

♦Number of mills and their value♦

The number of paper-making establishments is placed at 762, operating
1,070 mills, and the value of the plants is $107,759,974; 52,391
persons find employment in the industry, and are paid wages aggregating
$23,575,950, while the value of the material used reaches $78,067,882.

♦Average output per plant♦

During the decade between 1880 and 1890 the number of paper plants
proper had decreased from 692 to 567, 125 in all, or eighteen per cent.
In 1880 the average number of employes to each factory was thirty-five,
with an average yearly output from each plant of $79,639. During the
ten years that followed, the average number of employes in a factory
rose to 53, and the average yearly output from each plant to $131,056.
With a decrease of 125 mills during that period, there must have been
an increase of 5,831 employes and of $19,198,564 in the value of the
output.

While the stately array of figures already marshaled is an impressive
reminder of the wonderful development of the paper industry, which we
accept unthinkingly as one of the benefits of a marvelous century, mere
numerals can never tell the whole story. They must be forever silent as
to the aims and purposes, the patient efforts, the determination and
perseverance, the alternation of defeat and triumph which are embodied
in the perfected product of to-day. It is not for them to chronicle the
crude beginnings of the industry in the days of the dim and far-away
past, nor to trace the slow steps by which it has advanced to its
present commanding position. As our earlier chapters recount, its most
marvelous strides forward have occurred during the hundred years just
past.

♦Paper aids other industries♦

The century that has marked such material progress in the production of
paper has been pre-eminently one of vast intellectual and industrial
activity and advancement, and it is a fair statement that paper has
not only contributed largely to the general progression that has taken
place, but through it as a medium standards have been reached that
must have remained unknown were it not for its efficient service.
Through man’s inventive genius the utility of this valuable product
has been increased a hundred-fold, and its wider use has been the
means of broadening and extending other manufactories. It has aided
invention, and is the medium through which new discoveries, theories,
and conclusions have been proclaimed. It is the handmaid of literature
and music, and through its fostering agency the highest culture is
to-day placed within the possible reach of the masses. Formerly, any
considerable degree of learning was confined to the favored few--they
were the “wise men” and the “magi”; those who could read even the
simplest forms of language were the decided exception, and works to be
read were rare, and confined to the libraries of the great cities.
To-day, through the abundance and cheapness of publications, all men
may hold close communion with the minds of leading thinkers past and
present, and the melodies of the great masters are brought within
the hearing of all. ♦Paper’s service to the fine arts♦ In art it has
served as noble a purpose as in literature and music. The fineness and
delicacy of surface, attained through modern processes, make possible
the half-tone and other fac-simile reproductions, which cultivate an
appreciation of the beautiful and carry into even the humblest of homes
the refining influences of great works of art; reproductions used in
illustration also elucidate and render great assistance to the correct
interpretation of scientific and other publications.

But do these material attainments mark, in themselves, man’s greatest
achievements? Vast and complete as they are, our answer must be no.
Each, within itself a type of highest thought, becomes an integral
factor in the progression of the race, the perfectability of man, his
nature and condition.

♦Paper aids great reforms♦

The advanced thinkers of to-day agree that the hundred years just
ended have been especially remarkable from a humanitarian standpoint.
They have been made notable by movements tending toward man’s
elevation, toward the righting of his wrongs, and the alleviation of
his sufferings. Victor Hugo declares: “This century is the grandest
of centuries ... because it is the sweetest. This century ... freed
the slave in America, elevated the pariahs in Asia, extinguished the
funeral pile in India, and crushed the last fire-brands at the martyr’s
stake in Europe.” If we ask how these great reforms were wrought,
the answer must be, in part at least, that their accomplishment was
the result of public sentiment properly educated and directed. This
were surely impossible without paper. By dint of the universality
of its service to mankind the ruling minds of all thinking nations
are frequently placed upon a common plane, becoming possessed of
common convictions, and upon the sudden presentation of important
international problems, often act with a degree of unison that
strikingly illustrates how much of one mind we are, how nearly upon one
plane the thoughts of men are moving. As a force both in shaping and
giving expression to public opinion, the press wields a power that is
at once unquestioned and invincible. As Chapin says, the productions
of the press “go abroad through the land, silent as snowflakes, but
potent as thunder.” Power without an agency of expression is helpless,
and the paper sheet is the medium that makes possible the potency of
the press. On its white wings it bears abroad the inspired words that
stir men’s hearts and prove the heralds of “liberty, equality, and
fraternity.”

♦The power of education♦

When man has been set free from his fetters, whether they be the
physical ones of iron or the no less binding chains of caste and
custom, he is helpless until education and enlightenment restore to him
the manhood, independence, and self-reliance which he has been denied.
It is the chief glory of this century that mankind has been helped to
a higher intellectual plane and the blessings of truth and knowledge
have been more widely disseminated than ever before. “The statesman is
no longer clad in the steel of special education, but every reading man
is his judge.” Higher education has brought to man a quickened sense of
the inherent nobility of his nature, and has changed his conceptions of
the relations that exist between his own life and that which pulsates
about him. To quote again from the great French writer: “This century
proclaims the sovereignty of the citizen and the inviolability of
life; it crowns the people and consecrates man.” And this broadened
enlightenment, this deepened sense of man’s dignity and nobility, have
in their turn contributed to the humanitarian side of life, making it
easier to redress wrong and establish justice.

In all these great movements of the century, paper has been the means
of transmitting intellectual force; it has been the messenger and
herald of better things than the world had known. Its history has
always been closely linked with that of man; it has been the pace-maker
of his progress, in the realm of mechanics and of economics as well as
in music, literature, and art. They have come up together out of the
past; they are associated in noble and uplifting work in the present;
together they go forward to such broader fields of usefulness as the
future may disclose.




Transcriber’s Notes


Punctuation and spelling were made consistent when a predominant
preference was found in this book; otherwise they were not changed.

Simple typographical errors were corrected; occasional unbalanced
quotation marks retained.

Ambiguous hyphens at the ends of lines were retained; occurrences of
inconsistent hyphenation have not been changed.

Both “watermark” and “water-mark” occur frequently.

Text uses “Pittsburg”, not “Pittsburgh”.

Page 27: “Henry VI” was mis-printed as “Henry VII”; corrected here.





End of Project Gutenberg's The Story of Paper-making, by Frank O. Butler