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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 
 
 
Library of Congress 
 
 Two Copies Rfceivfd 
 JAN 21 1901 
 
 Copyright entry 
 
 FIRST COPY 
 
 J 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Copyrighted 
 
 By J. W. BUTLER PAPER COMPANY 
 
 January, 1901 
 
THE STORY OF 
 PAPER-MAKING 
 
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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 i 
 
 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 preeminently 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 his- 
 tory of paper-making mark also the period during 
 which the J. W. Butler Paper Company, or its 
 immediate predecessors, have been associated with 
 
 vii 
 
Vlll 
 
 Preface 
 
 the industry in this country. It has therefore 
 seemed to the present representatives of the com- 
 pany 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 Tenny- 
 son's verse, that we are the heirs of the ages, the 
 inheritors of all that has gone before us. 
 
 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 re- 
 ward of their labors." We have profited by their We are 
 striving and aspiration. All the wisdom of the f " e heirs 
 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." 
 
 But to what agency do we owe the preserva- 
 tion of our inheritance? What conservator has 
 
i The Story of Paper-Making 
 
 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 tradi- 
 tion, passing from father to son, and from 
 generation to generation, sought to keep alive the 
 memory of great achievements and valorous 
 
 Tradition deeds. But tradition proved itself untrustworthy. 
 
 untrust- Reports were often imperfect, misleading, exag- 
 ^ gerated. 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 with- 
 out 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 igno- 
 rance and inexperience. 
 
 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 
 
Articles Supplanted by Paper 3 
 
 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 obe- 
 lisks, 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 Egyp- 
 tian sky, and for ages their shadows passed with 
 the sun over the restless, shifting sands of the 
 desert. Most of the ancient obelisks have Hiero- 
 crumbled to dust beneath Time's unsparing hand, gfypb'c 
 but a few fragmentary specimens are still in 
 existence, while the British Museum is so fortu- 
 nate 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 sug- 
 gested by the derivation of the word itself, which 
 comes from the Greek, teres, a priest, and glypha, 
 a carving. 
 
 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 prob- 
 
4 The Story of Paper-Making 
 
 lem, so it in turn was superseded. The temples 
 were sacred places, and especially fitted to become 
 the repositories of the records that were to pre- 
 serve 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, 
 Inscriptions continued to make use of the stone tablets, but 
 on stone 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 endur- 
 ing, 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 tab- 
 lets of clay, forming thus a faithful transcript of 
 
Articles Supplanted by Paper 5 
 
 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 prop- 
 erty, public records, statements of private nego- 
 tiations, and memoranda of astronomical observa- 
 tions. 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 fash- 
 ioned and inscribed so long ago give to us the 
 best histories of Chaldea, Babylonia, and Assyria. Assyrian, 
 One of the largest collections of these clay- Babylonian 
 
 writings is now in the British Museum and was a ," a ~ , 
 , r ,.- . . . , . , dean records 
 
 taken from a great edifice in Assyria, which was 
 
 probably the residence of Sennacherib. Several 
 series of narratives are comprehended in the col- 
 lection ; 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 ex- 
 
6 The Story of Paper-Making 
 
 istence, while a third relates to the deluge and the 
 story of the Assyrian Moses. But however in- 
 teresting 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. 
 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 ex- 
 ceedingly fine terra-cotta. Such prisms were fre- 
 quently deposited by the Assyrian kings at the 
 Inscriptions corners of temples, after having been inscribed 
 on prisms w } t | 1 accounts of the notable events in their lives, 
 interspersed with numerous invocations. Appar- 
 ently 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 depos- 
 ited in the corner-stones of public or other 
 important buildings. The prisms used as tab- 
 lets 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 
 
Articles Supplanted by Paper 7 
 
 the ruins of the ancient city of Ashur the inscrip- 
 tions 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 nao 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 sur- 
 rounding peoples, and his reign was filled with 
 stirring events and brilliant achievements. Small 
 wonder that it was necessary to crowd the inscrip- Economy of 
 tions upon the prism! Rawlinson's "Ancient s P ace 
 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 por- 
 tion of their surface impressions of seals, mytho- 
 logical 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 
 
8 The Story of Paper-Making 
 
 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. I.) 
 
 We get a glimpse of another side of that ancient 
 life in a tablet of Nile clay, preserved in the Brit- 
 ish 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. 
 
 In the early efforts of men to find a means of 
 preserving in lasting and convenient form the rec- 
 ords 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 
 The works works of Homer, preserved in one of the great 
 of Homer Egyptian libraries in the days of the Ptolemies, 
 were written in letters of gold on the skins of ser- 
 
Articles Supplanted by Paper 9 
 
 pents. 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, accord- 
 ing 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 coat- 
 ing 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, Old mate- 
 and other trees, which were prepared by being cut rta ^ neces ~ 
 in strips, soaked in boiling water, and then rubbed ,. j j 
 over wood to make them soft and pliable. 
 
 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 increas- 
 ing rapidly; they were advancing in the arts and 
 sciences, and in the experiences that inspire thought, 
 
io The Story of Paper- Making 
 
 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. 
 
 What was to take the place of the old and cum- 
 bersome materials? Even at a very early date 
 men were asking this question, and it was the good 
 
Articles Supplanted by Paper n 
 
 fortune of Egypt to be able to give answer. Along Discovery 
 the marshy banks of the Nile grew a graceful °fP a Py rus 
 water-plant, now almost extinct, which was pecul- 
 iarly 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 impos- 
 sible, even in those remote days when printing was 
 still many centuries beyond the thoughts or dreams 
 of men. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 PAPYRUS AND PARCHMENT 
 
 The graceful water-plant whose plumy, droop- 
 ing 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 chil- 
 dren 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 pro- 
 posed to maintain his army from the sale of this 
 The bulrush product alone. The plant was the familiar bulrush 
 °f . 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 pre- 
 serving to the world the life of the greatest law- 
 
 12 
 
Papyrus and Parchment 13 
 
 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 thou- 
 sand years after they were first promulgated to his 
 own people, the wandering tribes in the desert. 
 
 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 Many uses 
 soft, cellular substance found in the interior of f or P a Py rm 
 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 to- 
 gether and covering them with a sort of resinous 
 matter. At a very early day, judging from sculp- 
 tures of the fourth dynasty, Egypt made a similar 
 use of the papyrus, employing it in the construc- 
 tion 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 
 
14 The Story of Paper- Making 
 
 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. 
 
 In the manufacture of this Egyptian paper, 
 
 papyrus, the outer rind of the stem was first 
 
 The prep- removed, exposing an interior made up of numer- 
 
 aration of ous success i ve fiber layers, some twenty in number. 
 
 papyrus „. . . , . . . 
 
 r r I hese 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 
 
Papyrus and Parchment 15 
 
 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 improve- 
 ment in the sheets by sizing them with flour, to 
 which a few drops of vinegar were added, and then 
 beating the surface smooth. The Chinese, far Early 
 
 away to the East, also learned some of the secrets ^ inese _ 
 
 r . . T • 1 i- 11 • 1 discoveries 
 
 or 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. 
 
 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 x a P a(7(TW > 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 
 
1 6 The Story of Paper-Making 
 
 liberties. In the course of manufacture, twenty 
 sheets of papyrus were glued together into a 
 scapus by the glutinatorie, the first known book- 
 binders, 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. 
 
 The rolls, or papyri, are said to have become 
 known in Europe through the French expedition 
 into Egypt in 1798, and specimens were repro- 
 duced 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 
 Extensive the twelfth century. The extent to which it was 
 use °f employed may be judged by the fact that nearly 
 papyrus j^goo rolls were unearthed in the ruins of Hercu- 
 laneum, 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 service- 
 able 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- 
 
Papyrus and Parchment 17 
 
 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. 
 
 Following the making of papyrus came the Parchment 
 
 manufacture of parchment, the use of which in a substltute 
 ... . . 11-1 for papyrus 
 
 diplomas and certain public documents con- J 
 
 tinues 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, re- 
 fused 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 
 
1 8 The Story of Paper-Making 
 
 refused papyrus, set about manufacturing a sub- 
 stitute, which came to be known among the 
 Romans as "pergamena," from which comes our 
 word parchment. 
 Manufac- The skins of sheep and goats were employed 
 
 ture of j n ^g joking of parchment. These were steeped 
 
 parchment ... , . , .. . c . 
 
 in pits impregnated with lime, and arterward 
 
 stretched upon frames, where their thickness was 
 reduced by paring and scraping them with sharp 
 instruments. To obtain the fine, uniform, vel- 
 vety 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 re- 
 duced 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 sub- 
 stance 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 docu- 
 
Papyrus and Parchment 19 
 
 ments, 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." 
 
 For many years parchment was used in Eng- 
 land 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 papy- 
 rus and parchment. With the next step for- The advent 
 ward came paper, and the improvements in its °/P a P er 
 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 
 
 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 dis- 
 covered 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 
 Paper from family. From its bark they made, by a process 
 mulberry tnat mus t have seemed to them something akin to 
 magic, a material which, in its developed and im- 
 proved 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. 
 Compared with modern methods of paper- 
 
 20 
 
Origin and Early History of Paper 21 
 
 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 Chinese 
 into a pulp, which was spread on a table and beaten me ™ods 
 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. 
 
 It has been suggested that in regions where the 
 water-plant called the conferna grows, Nature her- Nature's 
 self teaches the method of making paper from process 
 vegetable fibers beaten to a pulp. The plant con- 
 sists of slender green filaments, similar to what is 
 called frog-spittle. The fibers are disintegrated 
 
ii The Story of Paper-Making 
 
 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 resist- 
 lessly 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. 
 
 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 
 Crusaders followers of the Cross, many of whom were grossly 
 learn ignorant and superstitious, went east to christian- 
 
 paper- j 1 con q Uest tne inhabitants of these ancient 
 making r . 
 
 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. 
 
 It was in 11 89 a. d. that the art of making 
 
 paper from pulp was introduced into France. At 
 
Origin and Early History of Paper 23 
 
 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 French and 
 prosecuted this art with such zeal and industry ^ utc " im ~ 
 that they were soon in a position to supply not ' 
 only the wants of France, but those of surround- 
 ing countries as well. The people of the Neth- 
 erlands 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 pro- 
 duced in Europe. 
 
 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 manip- 
 ulated, existed in England nearly two hundred 
 years before any patent was issued for its manu- 
 facture. 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 
 
24 The Story of Paper-Making 
 
 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: 
 
 u 
 
 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 This mill is said to have been located at Hart- 
 
 paper-milh ford, England, and the print of the watermark 
 used is given in Herbert's "Typographic Antiqui- 
 ties," Vol. I, page 20, as an eight-pointed star sur- 
 rounded by a circle. John Tate died in 1498. 
 
 In the year 1558 appeared "Sparks of Friend- 
 ship," 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 
 
Origin and Early History of Paper 25 
 
 is often said to have been the first mill in Eng- 
 land, 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 Recognition 
 a fitting honor and reward for the noble work of h royalty 
 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 the 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 
 
16 The Story of Paper-Making 
 
 entirely dependent upon France for their supply 
 of the indispensable fabric, its manufacture, if car- 
 ried on at all in their own country, meeting with 
 but slight success. In the " History of Comme- 
 ret," by Anderson, published in 1690, it is 
 claimed that this was the date of the first manu- 
 facture 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 occa- 
 sioned 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 perma- 
 nent benefit. The way was opened for the home 
 manufacturer, and the opportunity was soon im- 
 proved by French Protestant refugees, who, flee- 
 ing from persecution in their own land, settled in 
 England and established paper-mills. In 1687 
 appeared a proclamation for the establishment of 
 White a mill for the making of white writing-paper ; in 
 writing- t h e following year it was stated, in an article in 
 * r 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 
 
 
Origin and Early History of Paper 27 
 
 up to the time when the patents of 1675 an d 
 1685 were granted, the industry was in anything 
 but a prosperous condition, existing only in brief 
 and isolated attempts at manufacture, and com- 
 prehended merely the crudest products. 
 
 The first British patent for paper-making was Early 
 granted to Charles Hildegard, February, 1665, ^ n S^ s " 
 for "the way and art of making blue paper used 
 by sugar bakers and others." A decade later, in 
 January, 1675, was g ran ted 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 king- 
 doms or dominions." Another decade inter- 
 vened 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 Eng- 
 lish 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 VII., where Jack Cade, in 1450, makes the 
 accusation against Lord Say : "Thou hast most 
 traitorously corrupted the youth of the realm in 
 
28 The Story of Paper-Making 
 
 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 scrib- 
 bled o'er should undo a man?" thus making it 
 evident that parchment and not paper was in 
 general use. Since, however, Shakespeare delin- 
 eated Cade as a low, ignorant rebel, we are not 
 compelled to believe that he was necessarily truth- 
 ful 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. 
 
 Water- There is always some dispute as to exact dates. 
 
 mark of \ t j s claimed that about 1540, Henry VIII. of 
 y ' 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 Nether- 
 
Origin and Early History of Paper 29 
 
 lands, or it may have been made by foreign set- 
 tlers who returned to their own country, so that 
 the trade was afterward lost for a time in Eng- 
 land, and its manufacture was not known to the 
 authorities that granted the patents. 
 
 Long before this, paper-making had been in- Spanish and 
 
 troduced into Spain by the hordes of Saracenic lta '- ian 
 , , . r \ r • makers 
 
 invaders, who, coming over from Africa on a 
 
 plundering expedition, had ended by making con- 
 quest of the whole peninsula. When, however, 
 the long struggle between Christian and Moor 
 ended in the downfall of the latter, and his ex- 
 pulsion 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. 
 
 The beginning of the industry in America was America's 
 almost coincident with the granting of patents fi rst man ~ 
 for the manufacture of paper in England. A ^ 
 paper-mill was established by William Ritten- 
 house, a native of Holland, at Germantown, 
 Pennsylvania, in the year 1690, one of the build- 
 ers and owners being William Bradford, a Phila- 
 delphia printer, who was afterward the owner of 
 
30 The Story of Paper-Making 
 
 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 sub- 
 sequently called Paper-mill Run, which empties 
 into the Wissahickon. In 1697, William Brad- 
 ford, 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 quan- 
 tity 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 17 10 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. 
 Russian It is stated by several authorities that in the 
 mills vear iy I2 Peter the Great of Russia visited 
 Dresden, and was so pleased with the process of 
 paper-making as he witnessed it there that he se- 
 cured workmen and sent them to Moscow, where 
 
Origin and Early History of Paper 31 
 
 they erected a paper-mill with many valuable 
 royal grants and privileges. The following year, 
 17 13, 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. 
 
 In 1 7 14 a Mr. Wilcox, who, it is stated, fur- 
 nished paper to Benjamin Franklin, erected a 
 paper-mill in Delaware. The date of the erec- 
 tion 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- Rapid 
 mills in the states of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, advance- 
 
 and Delaware. The advance among the leading . 
 
 & . & Amer 
 
 nations of Europe during the same period was 
 equally rapid. The manufacture was introduced 
 into Massachusetts in 171 7, 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. 
 
 tea 
 
32 The Story of Paper-Making 
 
 A bill which came before the New York Leg- 
 islature 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 encour- 
 aged to make paper, while all other persons were 
 to be prohibited from manufacturing it in the 
 province during a period of fifteen years. 
 
 Man's untiring endeavor, his constant effort 
 through the centuries to find something better 
 suited to his needs, had in a figurative sense suc- 
 ceeded 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, 
 Pulp from that stone, the primitive material on which had been 
 stone 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. 
 
Origin and Early History of Paper 33 
 
 The year 1728, which marked the establish- 
 ment 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 Leg- 
 islature of Massachusetts granted a ten-year patent A state 
 to a company for the exclusive right to manufac- S rant 
 ture paper. By the terms of this grant the com- 
 pany 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 qual- 
 ities 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 173 1 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 
 
34 The Story of Paper-Making 
 
 people for gathering rags, of which he had already 
 received several pounds weight, in response to a 
 request in a previously published advertisement. 
 Crude During these early days of the industry both 
 
 methods and me thods 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 Bos- 
 ton. 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 dura- 
 tion to enable him to get the mill into running 
 order once more. The state of Connecticut showed 
 its appreciation of the important industry by issu- 
 ing a special charter to the mill at Norwich, already 
 mentioned as having been built in 1768, and by 
 
Origin and Early History of Paper 35 
 
 the payment of a bounty to the manufacturer, 
 Christopher Leffingwell. 
 
 There were constant appeals for rags in this Scarcity of 
 early stage of the industry. The Boston News ra S s 
 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 Nor- 
 wich for two years, but withdrew its special en- 
 couragement in 1770, having paid Leffingwell a 
 bounty of 2d. per quire on 4,020 quires of writ- 
 ing-paper, and id. a quire on 10,600 quires of 
 printing-paper. 
 
 In the South, the industry was not established Mills in the 
 as early as in New England and the Middle South 
 States, and the first mills were encouraged by 
 loans and rewards. The Maryland convention 
 
36 The Story of Paper- Making 
 
 in 1775 resolved that ^4°° be granted and ad- 
 vanced 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 
 X5°° 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 Hart- 
 ford, 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- With the outbreak of hostilities came a keener 
 
 makers realization of the importance of the paper inter- 
 
 exemp jrm Q . an( j ^g greatest care was exercised in provid- 
 
 military . 
 
 service in S ^ or a ^ details of the manufacture. In 1776 
 
 Massachusetts provided by law for the appoint- 
 ment 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 small- 
 est quantity of rags. In anticipation of the com- 
 ing conflict, New York, in the same year, by 
 special enactment, exempted from military service 
 
Origin and Early History of Paper 37 
 
 the master workman and two attendants at each 
 paper-mill. The Council of Public Safety of 
 Pennsylvania went a step further. The Conti- 
 nental 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. 
 
 These various provisions and enactments fur- 
 nish a striking object-lesson as to the value of 
 paper, even to the public safety. The wisdom of 
 these precautions soon became evident. Notwith- 
 standing all the care that had been exercised, the 
 supply ran low, and after advertising for paper, and A sermon 
 ordering the people to produce all they had, it was effectively 
 found necessary, just before the battle of Mon- 
 mouth, to send files of soldiers to search for the 
 indispensable article wherever there was a likeli- 
 hood 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 Ten- 
 ant, upon " Defensive War," which had been 
 printed by Franklin. These were used for mus- 
 ket cartridges and "wadding," and in the battle 
 that raged about old Tenant church, where fought 
 representatives from every one of the thirteen 
 
 delivered 
 
38 The Story of Paper-Making 
 
 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. 
 Great As the war advanced, the scarcity of paper 
 
 scarcity of causec [ mucn inconvenience. It was on this ac- 
 count 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 Ben- 
 nington, in the state of Vermont. The product 
 was frequently brought from the mill on horse- 
 back, and although it was very coarse and un- 
 bleached 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 
 
< 
 
 3h 
 
 'Si ■ 
 
 m 
 
 « 
 
 Q 
 Z 
 
 t/3 
 
 W 
 
 X 
 
 'Si 
 
 < 
 
 W 
 X 
 H 
 
Origin and Early History of Paper 39 
 
 and deftly done that in old copies of the "Reg- 
 ister," preserved in the Albany Institute, the 
 patching can be seen only by holding the paper 
 to the light. 
 
 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 appeal for 
 press contributes more to the diffusion of knowl- ra & s 
 edge 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 incul- 
 cated 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 chil- 
 
mills 
 
 40 The Story of Paper-Making 
 
 dren 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 pros- 
 perous enterprise of prudence." 
 The estab- Zenas Crane, of Worcester, Massachusetts, 
 lishment of se eking a favorable site for a paper-mill, visited 
 Berkshire County in 1799, and finally decided 
 upon a location on the south branch of the Housa- 
 tonic, 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 beau- 
 tiful hill county famous, both for the importance 
 and extent of the manufacture and for the excel- 
 lence 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, 
 
Origin and Early History of Paper 41 
 
 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 manufac- 
 turer. 
 
 The following appeal, issued by Zenas Crane 
 and his associates to the people of Worcester in 
 1 801, shows how great was the scarcity of rags at 
 that time, and helps to complete the history lead- 
 ing up to the erection of the new mill at Dalton: 
 
 AMERICANS ! 
 
 ENCOURAGE YOUR OWN MANUFACTORIES, AND 
 THEY WILL IMPROVE. 
 
 LADIES, SAVE YOUR RAGS. 
 
 As the subfcribers have it in contemplation to 
 
 ere£t a paper mill in Dalton the enfuing fpring ; 
 
 and the bufinefs being very beneficial to the 
 
 community at large, they flatter themfelves that 
 
 they fhall meet with due encouragement. A rag 
 
 And that every woman who has the good of famine 
 
 her country and the intereft of her own family 
 
 at heart, will patronize them by faving their 
 
 rags and fending them to their Manufactory, 
 
 or to the neareft Storekeeper — for which the 
 
 Subfcribers will give a generous price. 
 
 Henry Wiswall, 
 
 Zenas Crane, 
 
 John Willard. 
 Worcefter, Feb. 8, 1801. 
 
42 The Story of Paper-Making 
 
 The Butler A few years later, but yet early in the life of 
 mills of tne 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 per- 
 fect 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 Chi- 
 cago. The venture, while not profitable, is yet 
 of much interest, as it practically marks the begin- 
 ning of the present J. W. Butler Paper Company. 
 The Butler In 1841 Oliver Morris Butler moved west 
 mills the mto minois, locating at St. Charles, a town about 
 pf/ est thirty miles from Chicago and situated upon the 
 
 Fox River. Here he immediately built a wrap- 
 ping-paper mill; later, and upon the opposite 
 
Origin and Early History of Paper 43 
 
 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 desire for improvement in material condi- 
 tions, 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 improve- 
 ments in the methods of paper-making. In 1804 The great 
 Messrs. Henry and Seely Fourdrinier, enterprising Fourdrinier 
 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, 
 
44 The Story of Paper-Making 
 
 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 immedi- 
 ately introduced into this country. 
 
 The increase of paper-mills in the United States 
 had been so rapid that in 18 10 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 pio- 
 neers gave a great impetus to the manufacture, 
 Many new a nd paper-mills sprang up as if by magic along all 
 the swift-flowing mountain streams of New Eng- 
 land. 
 
 A paper-mill, the first built in the British 
 American provinces, was erected at what is now 
 Bedford, and in the same year, 18 16, a paper 
 factory was put into operation at Pittsburg, Penn- 
 
Origin and Early History of Paper 45 
 
 sylvania. 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 1 20,000 pounds of rags, showing that the 
 method must have been slow and cumbersome, 
 and the margin of profit small. 
 
 It is believed that the Gilpins, who were cele- 
 brated paper-makers on the Brandy wine, near 
 Philadelphia, were the first to introduce paper 
 machinery from France and England, about the 
 year 1 820, 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 Duty on 
 of printing and publishing were so closely con- books 
 nected 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 
 
4-6 The Story of Paper-Making 
 
 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. 
 
 Notwithstanding foreign competition, possibly 
 because of that stimulus, improvements were 
 constantly being made in methods and machinery. 
 The agitator now used on paper machines, con- 
 sisting 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 follow- 
 ing year Thomas Gilpin of Philadelphia invented 
 The what are called "calenders," for giving the pol- 
 caknder j sne d 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 
 
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Origin and Early History of Paper 47 
 
 materials were cleaned, bleached, and purified, Improved 
 and increased three hundred per cent in value, a mac " iner y 
 decided impetus was imparted to the manufac- 
 ture. 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. 
 
 In 1 844 a jobbing house was opened in Chicago The first 
 by Oliver Morris Butler to dispose of the paper P a P^- hmse 
 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 
 
48 The Story of Paper-Making 
 
 he remained active in the trade up to the time 
 
 of his death, which occurred in 1888. The store 
 
 which he established in 1 844 and put under the 
 
 management of his younger brother, J. W. Butler, 
 
 touches closely, through him, his ancestors, and 
 
 Genealogy their earlier years as paper-makers, nearly the 
 
 of the whole of the nineteenth century in the line of the 
 Butlers as . . • 1 • <-r«i 1 • i« 
 
 taker- P a P er industry in this country. 1 hat this direct 
 
 makers branch of the Butler family may have had even 
 earlier identification with paper-making is not im- 
 probable ; 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 connec- 
 tion with the paper industry is early in the nine- 
 teenth 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." 
 
 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 Progress of 
 and progress, and for the practical application of st 
 
 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 
 
 49 
 
So The Story of Paper-Making 
 
 early days, and to a limited extent at the pres- 
 ent 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 de- 
 scribed 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. 
 
 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 
 Decomposi- piled together in some warm, damp place, often 
 twn of ma 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 decomposi- 
 tion, the rags were of course dusted, and, as 
 far as possible, cleansed from all mineral, foreign, 
 
Early Methods of Paper-Making 51 
 
 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. 
 
 The fibers having been separated, by this slow Hand-made 
 and tedious method, from all foreign matter, they p rocess 
 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 under- 
 
52 The Story of Paper- Making 
 
 neath. Above this was placed a very shallow 
 frame known as the " deckel," which in size and 
 shape corresponded exactly with the mold. Dip- 
 ping the mold into the mass of pulp, the operator 
 filled it even with the top of the deckel, the thick- 
 ness 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 manner in which the wires of the mold 
 were arranged gave to certain papers their distin- 
 guishing characteristics. In some molds the wire 
 was woven like cloth, and the product was there- 
 fore 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 
 The called "laid" paper. At some point in the wire 
 
 watermark f tne m old 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," 
 
Early Methods of Paper-Making S3 
 
 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. 
 
 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 pro- 
 cess was, and is still, termed " sizing," while the Sizing 
 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 
 
54 The Story of Paper-Making 
 
 for a second time hung up to dry ; if a smoother 
 
 surface was desired, it was obtained by passing 
 
 the paper between metal rollers. 
 
 Hand-made paper is now made to a limited 
 
 extent in America, and to a still greater extent in 
 
 Bank of England. All Bank of England notes are printed 
 
 England on hand-made paper, two notes to a sheet, so that 
 notes 
 
 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 
 
 From tree to months. In these modern days, as will be seen 
 
 paper in a ] a t erj 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 ! 
 
c 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 MODERN PAPER-MAKING 
 
 Though the steady march of progress and 
 invention has given to the modern paper-maker 
 marvelous machines by which the output is in- 
 creased 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, The modern 
 making writing and other high-grade papers, the mi ^ 
 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 ten- 
 der messages of affection, the counsels and admo- 
 
 55 
 
56 The Story of Paper-Making 
 
 nitions 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 en- 
 courage the industry. 
 The methods The rags do not come to the mammoth fac- 
 of to-day tories of to-day in "bell carts," but by the car- 
 load, 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 build- 
 ing, 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 con- 
 dition a most unpleasant surprise, especially dis- 
 agreeable to his olfactory nerves. Yet the 
 
room 
 
 Modern Paper-Making 57 
 
 unsavory revelation comes with more force a little 
 farther on, in the "assorting-room." The 
 "thrasher" is a great cylindrical receptacle, re- The 
 volving rapidly, which is supplied with long tf}ras " er 
 wooden beaters or arms, passing through a 
 wooden cylinder, and driven by power. 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 The sorting 
 "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 atten- 
 tion are passed on to the " shredders," these as 
 well as the "sorters" being women. The "shred- 
 ders " 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 
 
58 The Story of Paper-Making 
 
 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. 
 
 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- 
 The higher grade ledger and bond papers, as well as the mill 
 grades manufacturing the paper that is used for the 
 
 printing of our "greenbacks," to which further 
 reference will be made later. In these excep- 
 tional 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 shred- 
 ding room is always large and light, with windows 
 on all sides, and is well ventilated, offering a 
 
Modern Paper-Making 59 
 
 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. 
 
 From the "sorting" and "shredding" room 
 the rags are conveyed to the " cutter," where The cutter 
 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. When the " cutter " has 
 finished its work, the still very dirty rags go for a 
 further cleansing to the " devil," or " whipper," The devil 
 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 chas- 
 tening influences of tribulation or adversity ; in 
 like manner the " whipper " carries the rags for- 
 ward a step in the process of purification that is 
 necessary before they can be brought to their 
 
60 The Story of Paper-Making 
 
 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 final opera- 
 tion in the preliminary cleaning is performed by 
 
 The duster the " duster " proper, which is a conical revolv- 
 ing 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, but- 
 tons, 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 
 
 The digester below these the mouths of the "digesters," 
 which are in a room beneath. 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. 
 
Modern Paper-Making 61 
 
 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, Cooking of 
 and with live hot steam in lieu of gastric juice ra S $ 
 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, how- 
 ever, 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. 
 
 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 gluti- 
 nous 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 look- 
 
washers or 
 Hollanders 
 
 61 The Story of Paper-Making 
 
 ing 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 
 The 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 condi- 
 tions. 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 
 
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Modern Paper-Making 63 
 
 in motion. These then begin a lively chase 
 around the edge of the vat, through the race- 
 course 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. 
 
 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 Bleaching 
 into the mass, which in the course of from two materia l 
 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, 
 
64 The Story of Paper-Making 
 
 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 re- 
 ceptacle until the water and liquor are thoroughly 
 drained off, when it becomes a white and com- 
 pact mass of fibers. 
 The The rags should stand in the drainers for at 
 
 drainers l eas t 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 treat- 
 ment, to which further reference will be made in 
 this chapter. 
 
 From the drainer the mass is carted to the 
 
 The beating engine, or " beater," which is very similar 
 
 beaters j n cons truction to the washer just described. The 
 
 knives on the roll in the beater are grouped three 
 
Modern Paper-Making 6$ 
 
 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 per- 
 formed 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. About the year 1 746, so runs The bluing 
 the story, a Mrs. Buttonshaw, the wife of an stor y 
 English paper-maker, accidentally dropped into a 
 tub of pulp the bag of bluing, or its contents, 
 
66 The Story of Paper-Making 
 
 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 won- 
 der 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. 
 
 Important as the bluing or coloring is, how- 
 ever, it is only one of the numerous operations or 
 manipulations that take place in the beater. Many 
 Engine- of these, such as engine-sizing and body-coloring, 
 sizing 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 
 
Modern Paper-Making 67 
 
 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. If the paper is to be tinted 
 or body-colored, colors made from aniline are Body- 
 generally used. Only in the highest grade of coloring 
 writing-paper, and in some few papers that demand 
 colors fast to the light, is any other order of col- 
 
68 The Story of Paper-Making 
 
 oring matter employed. As may be easily im- 
 agined, 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. 
 
 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 cen- 
 turies since man first learned to carve his rude 
 Machine for records, finds its consummation in the process of 
 making con- ma ki n g 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 ma- 
 chine was in a measure perfected, and then sold 
 
Modern Paper-Making 69 
 
 to Henry and Sealy Fourdrinier. They, with the 
 further aid of Bryan Donkin, their employe and 
 expert engineer, made many additional improve- 
 ments, and sunk in the enterprise some sixty 
 thousand pounds sterling, for which their only 
 reward was blighted hopes and embittered lives. 
 In 1847 tne 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 ex- 
 pend its treasure for engines of destruction, and 
 to magnify and reward those who have been most 
 successful in destroying human life. 
 
 The first " machine " mill was started at Frog- 
 more, Hertz, England, in 1803, which was the First 
 year of the great Louisiana Purchase by the mac hine 
 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 
 
70 The Story of Paper-Making 
 
 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." 
 
 If to-day the power of the pen over the sword is 
 greater than it has ever been before, its increased 
 The power an d increasing influence must be credited in large 
 of the pen 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 funda- 
 mental 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. 
 
 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 
 
HI 
 O 
 f 
 
 I 
 •Si 
 
 _l 
 
 _1 
 
 o 
 Pi 
 
 1/3 
 
 w 
 pi 
 
 3h 
 
 pi 
 ft. 
 
Modern Paper-Making 71 
 
 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 The Jordan 
 thoroughly separating the fibers and reducing en S tne 
 them to extreme fineness. The refining engines, 
 are, however, used only in the manufacture of 
 certain grades of paper. 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 The stuff 
 a contrivance for shaking and shifting, properly c " est 
 called an "agitator," keeps the fibers in sus- 
 pension. 
 
 From the stuff-chest the mixture is pumped 
 into what is known as the "mixing" or "regu- 
 lating" 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 ad- 
 here after the numerous operations to which the 
 pulp has been subjected. The flow is then forced 
 through the " screen," which is a horizontal piece The screen 
 of metal pierced with slots. For very fine paper, 
 these slots are so small as to be only one one- 
 
72 The Story of Paper-Making 
 
 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, leav- 
 ing 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. 
 
 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 flow the width of the web of paper to be produced, 
 onto 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, depend- 
 ing 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 
 
Modern Paper-Making 73 
 
 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 for- 
 merly 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 forma- Deckel- 
 tion. Deckel-straps of india-rubber are fastened s ra * s 
 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 
 " sheer," 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. As the stream flows . , ,, 
 
 J t wire cloth 
 
 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, 
 
74 The Story of Paper-Making 
 
 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. For this reason 
 the trough into which it falls from the revolving 
 The " wire " is called the " save-all." A shaking 
 
 save-all mo tion 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. Be- 
 tween these suction-boxes above the wire is a wire- 
 covered roll, which impresses the newly formed 
 The sheet ; this impression cylinder is called a " dandy 
 
 dandy roll YO \\" an d 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 
 
Modern Paper-Making 75 
 
 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 cylin- 
 der, 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 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 sup- 
 ply. 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 The 
 squeeze out more water, give a greater degree of press-rolls 
 compactness to the fibers, smooth the upper sur- 
 face, 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 
 
y6 The Story of Paper-Making 
 
 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 drying cylinders are hollow 
 and heated by steam, their temperature being regu- 
 The dryers lated 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. 
 
 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 
 
Modern Paper-Making 77 
 
 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 Tensile 
 resisting power. In evidence may be cited an in- stren i 
 stance 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 resist- 
 ing power in the paper of at least several tons. 
 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 ; The 
 a corruption of cylindrus, a roller or cylinder, calenders 
 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. The 
 
78 The Story of Paper-Making 
 
 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 
 Speed of maximum speed was from two hundred and fifty 
 machines 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. 
 
 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, vary- 
 ing from seventeen to seventy-six inches, according 
 to the size of the paper to be printed. These 
 
Pi 
 I 
 
 a 
 P 
 
 H 
 
 W 
 N 
 
 on 
 
 W 
 
 X 
 
Modern Paper-Making 79 
 
 reels contain from fifteen to twenty-five thousand 
 lineal feet of paper, or from three to five miles. Five miles 
 The amount of paper used in disseminating the tn a 
 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 regu- 
 lar 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 trav- 
 eling 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 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 The 
 average being about ten feet. The machines, while immemit J 
 necessarily of the finest adjustment, are ponder- * » ■ ern 
 ous and heavy, weighing in some cases as much 
 as four hundred tons, this being the weight of the 
 
80 The Story of Paper-Making 
 
 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. 
 
 While the same general process applies to all 
 classes of paper made, the particular character of 
 any paper that is to be produced determines ex- 
 actly 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. 
 Deckel Another special process is that by which the paper 
 edging 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, crush- 
 ing 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 
 
Modern Paper-Making 81 
 
 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 cheap- 
 est grades of writing-paper, where the require 
 ments are not very exacting, and where a curtail- 
 ment of expense is necessary. For the higher 
 grades of writing-paper, however, a distinctly 
 separate and additional process is required. 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 Tub 
 hoofs of cattle, this gelatine or glue being mixed slzin i 
 with dissolved alum and made fluid in the vat. 
 Papers which are treated in this way are known 
 as "animal," or "tub-sized." 
 
 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 Loft 
 process. Such paper is permitted to dry very " r y in g 
 slowly in a loft specially constructed for the pur- 
 pose, where it is hung on poles several days, 
 during which time the loft is kept at a temper- 
 ature of about ioo° Fahrenheit. 
 
82 The Story of Paper-Making 
 
 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. 
 Super- " Supercalendering" is effected by passing the 
 
 calendering we ^ tnroU gh t h e stack of rolls shown in the illus- 
 tration, 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. 
 The friction in this machine produces so much 
 Electricity electricity that ground wires are often used to 
 in paper carry it off, in order that the paper may not be- 
 come so highly charged as to attract dust or cause 
 the sheets to cling together. When the fine pol- 
 ish has been imparted, the rolls of paper go to 
 the cutting machines, which are automatic in 
 action, cutting regular sheets of the required 
 
Modern Paper-Making 83 
 
 length as the paper is fed to them in a con- 
 tinuous 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. This 
 process is termed " plating," and is, of course, Plating 
 very much more expensive than the process of 
 supercalendering described above. 
 
 From the cutters, the sheets are carried to the 
 inspectors, who are seated in a row along an ex- 
 tended 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, Sorting 
 who detect almost instantly any blemish or im- 
 perfection 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 revolv- 
 ing 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. If the paper is to 
 
84 The Story of Paper-Making 
 
 be folded after ruling, as in the case of fine 
 note-papers, the sheets pass on from the rul- 
 Ruling and ing machine to the folding machines, which are 
 jolding 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 fold- 
 ing 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, cut- 
 ting 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 
 
Modern Paper-Making 85 
 
 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, re- 
 deemed from filth, and glorified into a high and 
 noble use. Purity and beauty have come from Beauty of 
 what was foul and unwholesome ; the highly perfected 
 useful has been summoned fouth from the seem- r a P er 
 ingly useless; a product that.i^o'he of the essen- 
 tial 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 achieve- 
 ment, this marvelous transformation, which rep- 
 resents the fruitage of centuries of striving and 
 endeavor ! 
 
 Up to this point the reference has been almost 
 
86 The Story of Paper- Making 
 
 entirely to paper made from rags, but radical im- 
 provements have been made, caused by the intro- 
 Wood pulp duction of wood pulp, and these are of such 
 importance that the account would not be com- 
 plete without some mention of them. These 
 changes are mainly in the methods of manipulat- 
 ing the wood to obtain the pulp, for when that is 
 ready, the process, from and including the " wash- 
 ers " and " beaters," is very similar to that already 
 described. All papers, whether made from rags 
 or wood, depend upon vegetable fiber for their sub- 
 stance and fundamental base, and it is found that 
 the different fibers used in paper-making, when 
 finally subdued, do not differ, in fact, whether ob- 
 tained 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 sub- 
 stance 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 
 
BLOWPIPES COOLING CALENDER ROLLS 
 

Modern Paper-Making 87 
 
 safe to predict that further perfecting of processes 
 will eventually make them practically alike. 
 
 The woods used for this purpose are princi- 
 pally 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 Mechanical 
 in 1 844. The logs are hewn in the forest, roughly wo °" 
 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 
 
88 The Story of Paper-Making 
 
 future use. If a paper-mill is operated in con- 
 nection 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 pro- 
 cesses, 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 In the soda process, invented by M. Meliner 
 process - m p rance m 1865, the chips from spruce and 
 poplar logs are boiled under pressure in a strong 
 solution of caustic soda. 
 
 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 
 The thus forms acid sulphide of lime. The sulphite 
 
 sulphite process was originally invented by a celebrated 
 p Philadelphia chemist, but was perfected in Europe. 
 
 The "cooking," or boiling, to which the wood 
 is subjected in both the soda and sulphite pro- 
 cesses, effects a complete separation of all resinous 
 and foreign substances from the fine and true cell 
 
Modern Paper-Making 89 
 
 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. 
 
 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 supply- 
 ing the fiber and ground wood being used as a 
 filler. In the average newspaper of to-day's issue, Components 
 twenty-five per cent of sulphite fiber is sufficient °f P rtnt 
 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 
 
90 The Story of Paper-Making 
 
 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 suc- 
 tion a partial vacuum is maintained in the cylin- 
 der, 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. 
 
 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 
 Esparto 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 im- 
 practical. 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 
 
Modern Paper-Making 91 
 
 boiling that are found necessary in the manipula- 
 tion 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 vari- 
 ous 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 manu- 
 facturer, those wishing further information are 
 referred to technical works on the subject. 
 
 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 Government 
 the finest ledger papers are manufactured, none <> an k-note 
 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 "green- 
 
92 The Story of Paper-Making 
 
 backs," 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 
 To prevent passes beneath. The paper is thus distinguished, 
 counterfeit- an( j 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 per- 
 taining to anything that borders on infringement 
 of our various money issues, both metal and cur- 
 rency, are most rigid ; anything approaching a 
 similarity of impression is prohibited, and a cut, 
 stamp, or impression of any character that ap- 
 proaches in its appearance any money issue of our 
 government is considered a violation of the law 
 
Modern Paper-Making 93 
 
 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 pro- 
 dude 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, pre- 
 vail at every step in these higher grade mills. 
 
 One of the first requisites in making good Pure water 
 paper, especially the better grades, is an abundance necessary 
 of pure water, and spring-water, where available, 
 is preferred. 
 
94 The Story of Paper-Making 
 
 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 United States, with characteristic enter- 
 The center prise, leads the world in paper-making, supplying 
 of the 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 cen- 
 turies 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. 
 
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CHAPTER VI 
 
 WATER-MARKS AND VARIETIES OF PAPER 
 
 Though the water-mark in a sheet of paper 
 may at first thought seem a comparatively unim- 
 portant detail, the story of water-marks and the 
 part they have played in momentous transactions Importance 
 would easily furnish material for a volume. Es- ofwater- 
 pecially is this true of the early water-marks, mar s 
 with which there is connected much interesting 
 history. They have even become important wit- 
 nesses 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 varie- 
 ties 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 
 
 95 
 
96 The Story of Paper-Making 
 
 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. 
 Then followed the coat-of-arms of the king, 
 and when Charles I. was driven from the throne 
 Origin of and beheaded, the " fool's cap '" and bells was 
 "fool's cap" \ n derision substituted for the royal arms, fol- 
 lowed later by the figure of Britannia. Chan- 
 ging 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 
 
Water-Marks and Varieties of Paper 97 
 
 paper itself. The crane, for instance, appro- 
 priately designates the paper made by the Cranes, 
 a family whose name has been long and promi- 
 nently associated with the industry in this country. 
 
 The many and divers uses to which the paper Paper in 
 product can be put have opened up a practically . mechan- 
 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, lum- 
 ber, 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 compre- 
 hensive 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 
 
98 The Story of Paper-Making 
 
 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 pres- 
 sure, 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 circum- 
 stances, and there is a large class whose designa- 
 tions 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, or paper having an enameled 
 surface, is made by applying a mixture of clay 
 Coated and glue to ordinary paper. When referred to 
 paper \ n 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, 
 
Water-Marks and Varieties of Paper 99 
 
 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 mar- 
 ket. Its presence renders the clay solution very 
 adhesive when applied to the body paper. 
 
 The cost of illustrations having been greatly 
 reduced through the perfection of photogravure 
 or half-tone processes, a large and increasing de- 
 mand exists for a paper of extremely smooth, Extreme 
 firm, and sensitive surface, suitable for the repro- smoot bness 
 duction 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 
 
ioo The Story of Paper-Making 
 
 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-coat- 
 ing paper has undergone great improvement, and 
 the method to-day in vogue, while seemingly 
 Parts of complete and exceedingly rapid, is yet readily 
 
 coating understood, and the machinery required is quite 
 machine . , „, r 
 
 simple. 1 his consists or: 
 
 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 uneven- 
 ness 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 
 
Water-Marks and Varieties of Paper 101 
 
 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. Each set of 
 brushes is comprised, first, of a coarse, then Distribution 
 intermediate, and finally of extremely delicate °J coatin S 
 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. Upon leaving 
 the brushes, the paper reaches an automatic car- 
 rier. 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 Carrier 
 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 
 
102 The Story of Paper-Making 
 
 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 rollers are susceptible to 
 regulation or adjustment, so that almost any 
 The gloss degree of gloss can be put upon the coated sur- 
 er finish f aC e; 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 calender- 
 ing, 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. 
 
 The quality and value of coated paper depend 
 upon the quality of the body paper, the fineness 
 
THE SUPERCALENDERS — Page 82 
 
Water-Marks and Varieties of Paper 103 
 
 of the clay and other ingredients used in the 
 coating, together with the perfection of its manu- 
 facture. 
 
 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 Glazing 
 flint glazing. In either process the method of P rocesses 
 coating, up to and including the drying, is practi- 
 cally 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 expen- 
 sive, although it produces a finish, higher and 
 more lasting, than can be secured by the friction 
 method. 
 
104 The Story of Paper-Making 
 
 Paper made by the two processes can be dis- 
 tinguished 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 manu- 
 facture of boxes and numerous fancy articles. 
 Lithograph- Lithographic paper is a product especially pre- 
 ic stock pared to take impressions from stones in litho- 
 
 graphing. 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 espe- 
 cially 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-cur- 
 tains for theaters, insulation of electric wires, 
 packing of steam-pipes, etc. 
 
 Tar-paper is a coarse, thick paper soaked with 
 
Water-Marks and Varieties of Paper 105 
 
 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. 
 
 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 Photo- ^ 
 commonly applied to paper that has been floated £ ra P" tc 
 in a bath of nitrate of silver, or coated with an 
 emulsion of silver-nitrate of chloride. One of the 
 most common of papers included under the gen- 
 eral 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 ex- 
 posure 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 sensi- 
 tized or made sensitive by being treated with a 
 
106 The Story of Paper-Making 
 
 solution in water of red prussiate of potash and 
 For peroxide of iron. This may be applied as a 
 
 blue-prints coa ting to the surface of the paper, or the latter 
 may be floated upon the solution. When ex- 
 posed 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 trans- 
 parency, 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 per- 
 manent blue. 
 
 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 
 
 Other sensitized papers, employed in various processes 
 
 sensitized f tne art ; albumenized, salted, coated with 
 
 paper. emulsion, or otherwise treated. One of these, 
 
 known as Pizzighelli paper, a sensitized platinum- 
 
Water- Marks and Varieties of Paper 107 
 
 paper, gives a neat surface, and soft, clear, gray 
 tones, which are most artistic and pleasing for 
 many subjects. 
 
 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 car- Carbon or 
 bon-paper universally used in typewriting when trans J er 
 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 type- 
 writer, and the impression of the letter on the 
 surface of one sheet serves to print three or four 
 sheets underneath. 
 
 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 Manifold 
 make permanent record of correspondence and 
 business transactions by the use of this system of 
 impression-copying. The manifold paper largely 
 
108 The Story of Paper- Making 
 
 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. 
 irans- Transparent papers are made by several different 
 taker met hods. The usual one employed is to apply a 
 thin coating of a solution of Canada balsam in 
 turpentine, or ai solution of castor or linseed oil 
 in absolute alcohol, the alcohol in the latter case 
 
 paper 
 
Water-Marks and Varieties of Paper 109 
 
 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-paper is a paper so treated or coated 
 with chemicals that any ink-writing upon its 
 surface cannot be erased, effaced, or removed Safety 
 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 papers are produced by coat- 
 ing a stout paper with glue, and then sprinkling 
 sand or emery-dust upon the surface. Man's Sand and 
 skill has devised for this purpose an ingenious emer y 
 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 soft- 
 ens the glue with a spray of steam, and sifts the 
 sand upon the surface, all surplus sand drop- 
 
no The Story of Paper- Making 
 
 ping 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 remain- 
 ing ones are still more firmly fixed by a second 
 jet of steam. 
 
 Cork-paper, an American invention, is made 
 by coating one side of a thick, soft and flexible 
 Cork 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-paper, which takes its name from the 
 fact that it can be cleansed like a slate, is pre- 
 Slate pared 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. 
 
 Filtering-paper, much used by chemists and 
 druggists, is simply unsized open or porous 
 Filter paper. With such paper, of course, the process 
 of manufacture ceases at the first drying or crush- 
 ing rollers, all the finishing or hardening opera- 
 tions being omitted. 
 
w 
 
 2i 
 
 O 
 
 H 
 
 U 
 
Water-Marks and Varieties of Paper in 
 
 Waterproof papers comprise a large and most 
 useful class. It is practically only within the 
 past twenty-five years that a process has been Waterproof 
 known and employed for rendering a paper 
 waterproof by destroying its absorptive proper- 
 ties. 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 for- 
 merly 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 men- 
 tion will be made later. 
 
 Since the invention of the process of clay- 
 coating paper, it has been found possible to incor- 
 porate in the coating solution certain materials 
 which render it waterproof. The application of 
 wax or paraffin to paper to make it waterproof Paraffin 
 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 en- 
 
ii2 The Story of Paper-Making 
 
 deavor to perfect the process, and at the same 
 time cheapen the cost, but so far with only indif- 
 ferent 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. 
 
 Parchment-paper, which is almost like the real 
 parchment made from the skins of animals, is 
 prepared from unsized rag-paper by immersing it 
 Vegetable for a few seconds in a solution of two parts of 
 parchment su ]p nur i c 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 re- 
 maining 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 
 
Water-Marks and Varieties of Paper 113 
 
 lard, butter, meats, etc., and also to hermetically 
 seal jars and pots for preserving fruit. 
 
 Silver tissue, or what is known to the trade 
 as grass-bleached tissue, is extensively used for Grass- 
 wrapping silverware. It is specially treated to bleached 
 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 in- 
 delible. 
 
 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 Litmus 
 treatment with a peculiar coloring matter that 
 gives its name to the paper. It is of a blue or yel- 
 low tint, according to the chemical employed in 
 its preparation, and changes color under the in- 
 fluence 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 
 
ii4 The Story of Paper-Making 
 
 and perfected by centuries of study and toil. 
 Widespread as is its use in the various depart- 
 ments 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. 
 
 One of its most curious uses in this field is in 
 the manufacture of car-wheels. The material is 
 Paper calendered rye-straw board, or thick paper, and 
 car-wheels tne credit of the invention belongs to Richard N. 
 Allen, a locomotive engineer. The paper is sent 
 to the car-wheel shops in circular sheets measur- 
 ing 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' pres- 
 sure, 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 
 
Water-Marks and Varieties of Paper 115 
 
 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 pro- 
 tect 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 is another curious form of the Paper 
 staple. It is produced by making the ordinary lumber 
 strawboard on a cylinder machine, running it 
 through a vat of resin and other waterproofing 
 heated to a temperature of 350 ° Fahrenheit, then 
 
n6 The Story of Paper-Making 
 
 placing together the sheets so resined and subject- 
 ing 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. 
 
 A product of the paper-mill has been used 
 quite extensively the last few years for clothing. 
 Chamois It is called chamois fiber or mangled fiber. It is 
 fi° er made from a long-fibered, strong sulphite stock, 
 and is passed through a specially constructed 
 machine which mangles or crushes the fiber, giv- 
 ing 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 possess- 
 ing folding properties. 
 
 Papier-mache is another product of paper 
 
Water-Marks and Varieties of Paper 117 
 
 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 Papier- 
 and mixed with a strong size of glue and paste. mac e 
 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-mache 
 is an exceedingly strong, tough, durable sub- 
 stance, 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 bo- 
 tanical models, artists' lay-figures, picture-frames, 
 panels, and other mural ornaments. It has also 
 
1 1 8 The Story of Paper- Making 
 
 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 manufac- 
 ture. The use of moistened papier-mache in 
 electrotyping, and the method followed, is too 
 well known to need description. 
 
 In the use of paper for wall-hangings, the 
 artistic and practical come together. From the 
 earliest days when men made for themselves per- 
 manent abodes, mural decoration of one form or 
 Wall-paper 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 possi- 
 bilities, 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 
 
Water-Marks and Varieties of Paper 119 
 
 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 pro- 
 duced 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. 
 These skins were stamped and embossed, having Embossed 
 been first covered with silver-leaf and varnished e M ects 
 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 
 
120 The Story of Paper-Making 
 
 an elastic cloth sieve charged with tempera pig- 
 ments. 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 out- 
 Block lines. In "block" and gold and silver printing 
 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. 
 
 Reference has been made to the process of 
 coloring paper by mixing the colors in the engine, 
 Surface but wall-papers and many others are surface- 
 tinting tinted by being run through a color-vat. An 
 iridescent or " rainbow " surface is given by treat- 
 ing the paper with a wash containing sulphates of 
 iron and of indigo, and then exposing quickly to 
 ammoniacal vapors. 
 
 Mother-of-pearl paper is produced by a some- 
 
w 
 a 
 
 3* 
 I 
 
 in 
 
 H 
 
 W 
 
 w 
 
 2 
 
 DQ 
 
 Q 
 W 
 
 Z 
 O 
 
 z 
 
 H 
 
 o 
 
vr 
 
 Water-Marks and Varieties of Paper 121 
 
 what 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, used largely in binding, is Marbled 
 prepared from a shallow bath of gum tragacanth, P a P e 
 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 pat- 
 tern. The marbling is done by deftly laying the 1 
 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 mar- 
 ble a number of volumes. Paper is also colored, 
 
122 The Story of Paper-Making 
 
 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 Commercial note ----- 
 
 •writing Letter ______ 
 
 paper Flat cap ______ 
 
 Crown cap - 
 
 Demy ------- 
 
 Folio post _____ 
 
 Double cap _--__. 
 Medium ------ 
 
 Royal ------- 
 
 Super royal - 
 
 Double demy - 
 
 Double folio ----- 
 
 Double medium - 
 
 Imperial ------ 
 
 Elephant __..__. 
 Double royal ----- 
 
 Columbier ------ 
 
 Atlas ------ 
 
 Antiquarian ------ 
 
 5 x 
 
 8 
 
 8 x 
 
 10 
 
 14 X 
 
 17 
 
 15 X 
 
 19 
 
 16 X 
 
 21 
 
 17 X 
 
 22 
 
 17 X 
 
 28 
 
 18 X 
 
 2 3 
 
 19 X 
 
 24 
 
 20 X 
 
 28 
 
 21 X 
 
 32 
 
 22 X 
 
 34 
 
 23 X 
 
 36 
 
 23 X 
 
 3 1 
 
 23 X 
 
 28 
 
 24 X 
 
 38 
 
 23 X 
 
 34 
 
 26 X 
 
 33 
 
 31 X 
 
 53 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 THE EXTENT OF THE BUSINESS IN THE 
 UNITED STATES 
 
 The century just past has witnessed a marvel- 
 ous growth in the paper industry. As a seedling 
 oak, first struggling for root-hold and then push- 
 ing its way steadily upward through difficulties 
 and obstructions, it has assumed giant proportions, 
 being now firmly established beyond any possi- 
 bility of disturbance, and sending its branches in 
 every direction. Many causes have contributed 
 to this wonderful development. 
 
 In no country of the world are books and 
 newspapers read so extensively as in the United 
 States, whose people must be thoroughly cosmo- 
 politan if, as has been said, "every man who reads Publications 
 
 the newspaper is a citizen of the world." In °f J 77^ 
 , , , - . , , , compared 
 
 1776, the natal year or our independence, there -^ f 
 
 were in all the colonies thirty-seven publications, 
 whose total yearly output did not exceed as many 
 thousands ; in 1 900, according to tabulated sta- 
 tistics, the thirty-seven had increased to twenty 
 thousand eight hundred and six regular daily, 
 
 123 
 
124 The Story of Paper-Making 
 
 weekly, and monthly publications, and their aggre- 
 gate output is counted not by thousands, nor even 
 millions, but by billions. This too has no refer- 
 ence 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. In an analysis of 
 Illinois' these interesting statistics we of Illinois find occa- 
 rank in s j on f or g rea t 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 : 
 
 publications 
 
 New York 
 
 Daily. 
 
 - 186 
 
 Weekly. 
 1086 
 
 Monthly. Quarterly. 
 592 46 
 
 Total. 
 I9IO 
 
 Illinois 
 Pennsylvania 
 Ohio - 
 
 180 
 
 - I96 
 I 7 I 
 
 I 1 09 
 
 9OO 
 
 785 
 
 3°5 
 221 
 
 180 
 
 18 
 12 
 12 
 
 l6l2 
 1329 
 II48 
 
 An increase of such phenomenal proportions as 
 indicated by these figures makes tremendous de- 
 mands 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 
 
The Business in the United States 125 
 
 one branch of the industry. The increase in the 
 publication of books, together with the multi- 
 plicity of commercial and industrial uses to which 
 paper may be put, as briefly outlined in the pre- 
 ceding 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. Presi- 
 dent Hugh J. Chisholm, in his annual report to 
 the American Paper and Pulp Association in New 
 York City, February 15, 1899, made the follow- 
 ing statement: 
 
 "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 Export 
 in the world, manufacturers in past years have naturally statistics 
 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 con- 
 quest of the foreign paper market. The amount of 
 paper exported during the eleven months ending with 
 November, 1897, was $4> OI 4>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 
 
126 The Story of Paper-Making 
 
 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 recog- 
 nized. This export trade also acts as a safety- 
 valve against overproduction, and by thus pre- 
 serving equality between supply and demand 
 lends stability and confidence to the industry. 
 Number There are to-day in the United States 762 
 
 of mills different concerns owning and now operating one 
 in operation , . . . , ... , 
 
 in U it d thousand and seventy paper and pulp mills ; these 
 
 States 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 out- 
 put of the United States. Next to the Empire 
 State comes Maine, with a daily capacity of 
 3,723,000 pounds, while Wisconsin and Massa- 
 chusetts 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 
 
The Business in the United States 127 
 
 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 2,8,100,000 pounds, 
 divided according to varieties as follows : 
 
 Writing ------ 1,074,000 Division of 
 
 Book ------- 2,650,000 product 
 
 News ------ 4,856,000 
 
 Wrapping ------ 3,617,000 
 
 Boards ------ 3,230,000 
 
 Miscellaneous, including varieties too nu- 
 merous 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 4,21 5,000 tons, which, allowing thirty thousand 
 pounds to a car, would make 281,000 carloads. 
 
128 The Story of Paper-Making 
 
 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 
 Estimated two just past. Estimating an average price on all 
 value of fjjg different classes of paper, not including pulp, 
 
 total OUtpUt , , , r i ' r 11 
 
 for 1000 to value or the output for 1900 would 
 
 amount to about $150,000,000. 
 
 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 2^ 
 
 for ipoo 
 
•n 
 
 W 
 
 U 
 3 
 
 
The Business in the United States 129 
 
 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 cur- 
 rent price of twenty-five years ago, it is yet greatly 
 improved in quality. As a staple in this coun- 
 try, paper has come to rank third in importance 
 in the list of man's wants. The products of Paper ranks 
 
 mother earth hold first place, including food- third t amon S 
 
 „. . . , . . staple com- 
 
 sturts, raiment, etc.; and the second place must be mQ( n t i es 
 
 given to iron and steel, the bulwark of our com- 
 mercial 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 busi- 
 ness. The conditions of civilization are such that 
 intelligent reading is one of the essentials in indi- 
 vidual progress. Affording as it does food for the 
 mind, and opening up the way to profitable em- 
 ployment 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, 
 
130 The Story of Paper-Making 
 
 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 pro- 
 duct, 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 The number of paper-making establishments 
 
 mills and j s pl ace d at 762, operating 1,070 mills, and the 
 
 their value , r , , • M 
 
 value of the plants is $107,759,974; 52,391 per- 
 sons find employment in the industry, and are 
 paid wages aggregating $23,575,950, while the 
 value of the material used reaches $78,067,882. 
 During the decade between 1880 and 1890 the 
 
The Business in the United States 131 
 
 number of paper plants proper had decreased from 
 
 692 to 567, 1 25 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 179,639. During the ten years that Average 
 
 followed, the average number of employes in a 0Ut P ut P< 
 
 factory rose to 53, and the average yearly output p ' 
 
 from each plant to 1131,056. 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 mar- 
 shaled 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 for- 
 
i^i The Story of Paper-Making 
 
 ward have occurred during the hundred years just 
 past. 
 
 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 
 Paper aids it not for its efficient service. Through man's 
 other inventive genius the utility of this valuable prod- 
 
 uct has been increased a hundred-fold, and its 
 wider use has been the means of broadening and 
 extending other manufactories. It has aided in- 
 vention, 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 high- 
 est 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 
 
The Business in the United States 133 
 
 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 melo- 
 dies of the great masters are brought within the 
 hearing of all. In art it has served as noble a Paper's 
 purpose as in literature and music. The fineness se [ vt " t0 
 and delicacy of surface, attained through modern 
 processes, make possible the half-tone and other 
 fac-simile reproductions, which cultivate an appre- 
 ciation 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 pub- 
 lications. 
 
 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, be- 
 comes an integral factor in the progression of the 
 race, the perfectability of man, his nature and 
 condition. 
 
 The advanced thinkers of to-day agree that 
 the hundred years just ended have been especially 
 remarkable from a humanitarian standpoint. They 
 
134 The Story of Paper-Making 
 
 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 sweet- 
 est. This century . . . freed the slave in Amer- 
 ica, elevated the pariahs in Asia, extinguished the 
 funeral pile in India, and crushed the last fire- 
 Paper aids brands at the martyr's stake in Europe." If we 
 
 S re ^ f ask how these great reforms were wrought, the 
 
 reforms . . . . . . 
 
 answer must be, in part at least, that their accom- 
 plishment was the result of public sentiment 
 properly educated and directed. This were surely 
 impossible without paper. By dint of the univer- 
 sality 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 
 
The Business in the United States 135 
 
 through the land, silent as snowflakes, but potent 
 as thunder." Power without an agency of ex- 
 pression 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 in- 
 spired words that stir men's hearts and prove the 
 heralds of " liberty, equality, and fraternity." 
 
 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 The power 
 glory of this century that mankind has been helped °f education 
 to a higher intellectual plane and the blessings of 
 truth and knowledge have been more widely dis- 
 seminated 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 
 
136 The Story of Paper-Making 
 
 the people and consecrates man." And this 
 broadened enlightenment, this deepened sense of 
 man's dignity and nobility, have in their turn con- 
 tributed 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 intel- 
 lectual 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 prog- 
 ress, 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. 
 
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