Where Does Paper Come From?
Egyptians were the first people to make what would today be called
paper. They made it from a plant called papyrus and that is where the
name comes from.
This plant is a species of reed. The Egyptians took stalks of reed cut
into as thin slices as they could, laid them side by side; then they
arranged another layer on top with the slices the other way and put
this in a press. When dried and rubbed until smooth, it made a kind of
paper, which could be written upon.
One of the first substances used for making the kind of paper we have
today was cotton. Paper was made from cotton about 1100 A. D. From this
thin cotton paper our present papers are a development, i.e., paper
today is largely made of vegetable fibers. Vegetable fibers consist
mostly of cellulose surrounded by other things which hold the short
vegetable fibers together.
The fibers best adapted for making paper are those of the cotton and
flax plants, and while the uses of paper were few, no other material
was needed when it was once learned that cotton and linen fibers would
do for making paper. All we had to do was to save all the old rags and
sell them to the paper man.
In making paper from rags, the rags were allowed to rot to remove the
substances that incrust the cellulose, and then beaten into a pulp,
to which a large quantity of water was added. This pulp was put into
a sieve, until the greater part of the water had been drained off by
shaking, and the fibers remaining formed a thin layer on the bottom of
the sieve. This layer of fiber was put into a pile with other similar
layers, and the whole pile was placed under a press, where more of
the water was removed. When they were dry, we had a very fair kind of
paper which was, however, not much better than blotting paper and could
not be written on with ink because it was loose in texture and very
absorbent.
To give it good writing surface it was necessary to fill the pores.
This was done by sizing which gave the paper great firmness. Paper was
sized by drawing the layers of paper through a solution of alum and
glue, or some similar substances, and then drying them, then finally
passed between highly polished rollers to iron it. This gave it the
necessary smooth hard surface.
In the modern method of making rag paper by machinery, the rags are
boiled with caustic soda, which separates the cellulose fibers, and
placed in a machine in which rollers set with knives tear the rags
to pieces and mix them with water to form a pulp. This is called a
breaker. The pulp is then bleached with chloride of lime, and is passed
on to the sizing machine. This machine mixes the pulp with alum and
with a kind of soap, made from suitable resins which serves the purpose
better than glue.
[Illustration: NOT A WOOD YARD BUT THE OUTSIDE OF A PAPER MILL.
This shows the great piles of trunks and limbs of trees near a wood
pulp paper mill used in making paper for newspapers, books, magazines,
etc.]
How Is the Water Mark Put Into Paper?
The pulp, which is now ready to be made into paper, is poured out upon
an endless cloth made of fine brass wire. This cloth travels constantly
in one direction, by means of rollers, and is given at the same time
a sort of vibratory motion, to cause the paper fibers to become more
closely felted together. On the wire cloth web are usually woven words,
or designs, in wire, that rise above the rest of the surface. These
are transferred to the paper, and are called water marks. The machine
then winds the finished paper into rolls, so that it may be handled
conveniently.
~HOW PAPER IS NOW MADE FROM WOOD~
During the past few years the uses for paper have increased so greatly
that there have not been enough rags available to meet the demand for
material, and a successful effort was made to find other material from
which paper could be made. Many fibers were tried before it was found
that wood pulp could be used. Straw and esparto grass, a plant that
grows wild in North America, were found to yield cellulose having the
desired qualities and were used to some extent. But the problem was
solved when it was learned that pulp made from trunks and limbs of
trees would serve even then. At first the powder formed by grinding up
logs was used, but the paper produced was not strong, and could be used
for very few purposes.
[Illustration: GREAT FORESTS TURNED INTO PAPER