_With the compliments of the_
GEO. W. WHEELWRIGHT PAPER CO.,
BOSTON, MASS.
FROM
PAPER-MILL TO
PRESSROOM
[Illustration: ANCIENT PAPER-MAKING
_The tools of the primitive paper-maker consisted of a pulp vat for the
fiber-laden water, a frame, or mold across which was stretched a mesh
of closely-spaced wires, and a removable frame known as the deckle;
hence the term “deckle edged.” The beating was done by iron shod
hammers which were raised and released by cams on a shaft turned by
water power: this machine called a stamper is shown in the foreground
of this picture._]
FROM
PAPER-MILL TO
PRESSROOM
_By_
WILLIAM BOND WHEELWRIGHT
_Author of “How Paper is Made,” etc._
The Collegiate Press
GEORGE BANTA PUBLISHING COMPANY
MENASHA, WISCONSIN
1920
COPYRIGHTED 1920
BY
WILLIAM BOND WHEELWRIGHT
PRINTED AND BOUND BY
GEORGE BANTA PUBLISHING CO.
MANUFACTURING PUBLISHERS
MENASHA, WISCONSIN
TO MY FATHER
GEORGE WILLIAM WHEELWRIGHT
AND TO THE MEMORY OF HIS FATHER
WHO ENTERED THE PAPER BUSINESS IN 1834
THESE PAGES ARE
RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED
TABLE OF CONTENTS
_Chapter_
INTRODUCTION ix
I. Tradition and History of Paper-Making 1
II. Raw Materials 10
III. Future Fiber Possibilities 18
IV. The Constituents of Paper 24
V. The Constituents of Paper 32
VI. Paper-Making 41
VII. Paper-Making 51
VIII. The Physical and Chemical Aspects of Paper 60
IX. Appraising and Testing Paper 67
X. Pressroom Difficulties 76
XI. The Paper Trade 89
XII. Importance of a Knowledge of Printing 97
INDEX 101
NOTE--_This book is printed on Wheelwright’s “B.P.F.” paper 25x38-70._
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
ANCIENT PAPER-MAKING Frontispiece
RAGROOM, PIONEER MILL, CRANE & CO. 23
RAG BOILER ROOM, CRANE & CO. 25
WOOD GRINDER 30
WET MACHINES, THE BROWN CO. 33
CYLINDER MACHINE FOR DRYING PULP, THE BROWN CO. 35
THE BEATER-ROOM, CRANE & CO. 37
FOURDRINIER MACHINES, CRANE & CO. 45
FOURDRINIER MACHINE, S. D. WARREN & CO. 50
CYLINDER VATS, MADE BY THE PUSEY & JONES CO. 53
COATING ROOM, APPLETON COATED PAPER CO. 57
FINISHING-ROOM, CRANE & CO. 58
SUPERCALENDER STACKS, APPLETON COATED PAPER CO. 66
INTRODUCTION
In the following pages I have endeavored to present a treatise on paper
free from confusing technicalities, yet sufficiently intimate to be of
service alike to the manufacturer, the salesman, and the consumer of
paper viewing the subject in a broad way from the paper mill to the
pressroom. The manufacturer and the consumer may notice the omission
of some details, as I have aimed to touch mainly on such points as are
essential to a good understanding of the work-a-day problems of paper
after it reaches the printer.
I am convinced that in many cases the problems of the pressroom are
too slightly understood by the “paperman,” while the technicalities of
paper-making are only too vaguely comprehended by the printer. I also
feel that both should have at least an acquaintance with the history
and progress of paper-making.
WILLIAM BOND WHEELWRIGHT.
Appleton, Wisconsin,
January, 1920.
CHAPTER ONE
THE TRADITION AND HISTORY OF PAPER-MAKING
It would be difficult to single out among the diversified objects
of human investigation,” wrote John Murray in his remarks on “Modern
Paper” (published in 1829), “a question more curious or interesting
than the medium which bears the symbols that register the circumstances
and events of past ages.... It is through such wonderful media that we
are introduced into the multitudinous throng of a world’s tenantry, and
from their inscription learn what they thought, and said and did.... In
deciphering these transcriptions of ideas and memorials of humanity we
virtually converse with minds long since numbered with those who people
the world of spirits; and even the mummy from his cerements in his
sycamore coffin, recovered from the vaults of eternal pyramids, talks
with us by virtue of the roll of papyrus which he holds in his hand.”
From this substance of Egyptian origin is derived the name of its
modern successor--paper. Paper, which in convenience and varied utility
is as much in advance of its forerunner as papyrus was in advance of
brick, stone, lead, copper, brass, leaves, bark, wood and skins, the
successive media for the transcription of human thought.
The exact date of the origin of paper-making has probably yet to
be discovered, though the researches of Dr. Aurel Stein and others
have traced its antiquity back into the second century, B. C. (see
Encyclopædia Britannica).
According to R. W. Sindall (“The Manufacture of Paper,” 1908), the
earliest reference to the manufacture of paper is to be found in the
Chinese Encyclopædia, wherein it is stated that Ts’ai-Lun, a native of
Kuei-yang, entered the service of the Emperor Ho-Ti in A. D. 75, and,
devoting his leisure hours to study, suggested the use of silk and
ink as a substitute for the bamboo tablet and stylus. Subsequently
he succeeded in making paper from bark, tow, old linen and fish-nets
(A. D. 105).
The art thus originated and nurtured by the Chinese remained to be
transmitted to Europe by the Arabs after their conquest of Samarkand in
A. D. 751.
The first centers of the industry founded in the eleventh century were
in Spain, at Toledo, Valencia and Xativa. From Spain the craftsmen
migrated to Sicily, Italy, France and the Netherlands.
A mill was established at Hainault, France, as early as 1190.
The oldest-known document on cotton paper is a deed of King Roger of
Sicily, dated 1102. It is probable that the famous mills of Fabriano
sprang from Sicilian sources; their establishment was followed in 1360
by a mill in Padua, and later in Treviso, Bologna, Palma, Milan and
Venice, while the first paper-mill of Germany was that of Ulman Stromer
at Mainz in 1320.
A most interesting account of this period of paper-making is given
as follows by Harold Bayley in his volume, “A New Light on the
Renaissance:”
“In the Dark Ages there existed in the south of France a premature
civilization far in advance of that of the rest of Europe. Among the
arts and industries that flourished in Provençe and the surrounding
districts, paper-making was one of the foremost. Not only was this
district the cradle of European paper-making, but for many centuries it
remained the center of this industry.
“The freedom and prosperity of Provençe attracted large numbers of
persecuted Jews and heretics, who took refuge there, and by their
industry and intellect augmented the power and influence of the
country. So deeply, indeed, did heresy enter into the politics of
Provençe, that in 1209 the Church of Rome considered it necessary to
launch a crusade against the infected district.
“During a period of twenty years the heretical inhabitants were either
extirpated or driven into perpetual exile. Those who escaped carried
with them a passionate affection for their destroyed fatherland, and an
undying hatred against the tyranny of the Church of Rome.
“It will be shown that from the appearance of the first water-mark in
1282 these mysterious marks are, speaking broadly, the traditional
emblems of Provençe.
“From the fact that fundamentally the same designs were employed all
over Europe, we can deduce the inference that Provençal refugees
carried their art throughout Europe, just in the same way as at a later
period and under somewhat similar circumstances Huguenots carried new
industries into strange countries. It will also be shown that the same
code which unlocks many of the obscurities of paper-marks elucidates
the problems of printers’ marks, and evidence will be brought forward
that paper-makers and printers were originally in close touch with each
other, held similar views, and were associated in identical aims.”
Gradually the secrets of the craft pursued their northward trail into
the Netherlands. Saardam, in the Duchy of Holland, became in the
eighteenth century an important center, employing, it is said, one
thousand persons.
In England, which for many years imported all its paper, the first mill
was erected about 1498, as is attested by an entry for that year in
the privy-purse expenses of King Henry VII. Further corroboration is
also to be found in the following quaint verse from Wynken de Worde’s
edition of “De Proprietatibus Rerum”:
And John Tate the younger Joye mote he broke,
Which late hathe in England doo make this paper thynne
That now in our Englyshe this book is written inne.
England, however, achieved no reputation for fine papers until the
establishment of the famous James Whatman, in 1760.
In the meantime, the trade had taken root in our own country when,
in 1690, William Rittenhouse started the first American mill on the
Wissahickon river at Roxborough, near Philadelphia, and thirty years
later New England’s first mill was established by David Hinchman at
Milton, Massachusetts.
The migratory characteristics of the trade were made possible by the
simplicity of the machinery which was required in these times. Pictures
of early mills depict a mortar and pestle in which to macerate the rags
to pulp, a small vat for the paper stuff, a mold on which the paper was
formed, and a screw press with which to squeeze out the water from the
new-formed sheets.
Mechanical improvements came with painful slowness, and no doubt each
small advance was a jealously guarded secret.
The mortar and pestle were succeeded by a machine mechanically
imitating the handwork of beating the rags to pulp. This was called a
stamper. The old mortar remained, but the beating was done by iron-shod
hammers, which were raised and released by cams on a shaft turned by
water-power. Note the stamper in the foreground of the picture of
Ancient Paper-making on page II.
The Dutch improved upon this device by the invention of the Holland
beating engine about 1770, which in its essentials is practically the
same thing to-day on a much larger scale.
Until the year 1798 there had been no further advance in mechanical
inventions for paper-making, but let us pause a moment for a
consideration of the paper itself.
The early raw material consisted solely of cotton and linen rags, and
there was very little variety of output. Until 1750 all the paper
was made on molds, the seats of which were made by fine parallel
wires supported by heavier wires, which ran at right angles to them.
Consequently all the paper was what is called “laid.” In 1750, at the
instance of the famous Printer Baskerville, a mold was made with a
woven-wire seat, and the first “wove” paper was used in his famous
Edition of Virgil.
The characteristics of the earlier paper are well summed up by Mr.
De Vinne in an article on woodcut printing which appeared in Volume
XIX, No. 6, of _Scribner’s Magazine_, a reading of which impresses
one with the limitations of ancient paper-making as contrasted with
the complexity of modern paper-making, and all the study which its
variations impose upon the modern printer who seeks proficiency.
“Much of the paper made in the sixteenth century,” he says, “was
unsuitable for woodcuts. By far the larger portion was made of linen
stock, hard and rough as to surface, laid, or showing the marks of the
wires upon which the pulp had been crushed, or ragged edges, unsized
and very sensitive to dampness, uneven in thickness, usually thin in
the center and thick at the edges....
“The paper selected was, in most cases, too rough and hard to be
forcibly impressed against the delicate lines of fine woodcuts. It was
the usage everywhere to soften the paper by a careful dampening.
“When the paper was sized it was more weakened by this dampening, which
really lightened the labor of the pressman. But unsized paper was only
about half the price of sized, and the inducement to use it was great.
The unsized paper was dampened with difficulty, it greedily sucked
up water, and when fully wet became flabby and unmanageable. Under
searching pressure of the woolen blanket which was always put between
the paper to be printed and the printing surface, this flabby paper was
forced around the finer lines of the cut, making them much thicker than
was intended.”
Let those whose shallowness leads them to regard modern paper-making as
an abortion of a once noble art take thought!
The transition from the old ways of paper-making to modern processes
was sudden. The century which gave them to us stands out in radiance
against the dark ages of heavy toil at the vat and press.
First came the mechanic whose genius caused tons to be produced in the
time that pounds were made of yore. Next came the chemist who developed
unthought-of raw materials to supply the ever-growing demands of
“papivorous” civilization, until it has been said with so much truth
that ours is the paper age.
In 1798 an obscure French workman, Louis Robert, of Essonne, announced
that he “had discovered a way to make, with one man, and without fire,
by means of machines, sheets of paper of a very large size, even twelve
feet wide and fifty feet long.”
Times were hard on the continent, yet the Government of France,
recognizing the importance of the invention, awarded Robert eight
thousand francs and a patent for fifteen years. Furthermore, permission
was given to carry over the small working model to England, with the
hope of interesting British capital.
A successful attempt to make paper on Robert’s machine having been
made in the mill of François Didot, in France, Leger Didot purchased
the patent and, accompanied by an Englishman of the appropriate name
of John Gamble, proceeded to England and employed Mr. Bryan Donkin to
construct a machine.
Being in need of funds, they interested two wealthy London stationers,
Messrs. Henry and Sealy Fourdrinier, in their proposition, and in 1804
the first successful machine was started at Frogmore. Much credit is
due Mr. Donkin, by whose ingenuity the mechanical difficulties were
mastered, but the Fourdriniers, for whom the machine was named, are no
less entitled to the honor, as their persistent faith in the machine
finally led them into bankruptcy.
After having expended sixty thousand pounds and being reduced to
penury, they finally petitioned Parliament for compensation for their
losses. Their labors were fortunately appreciated, and a sum of seven
thousand pounds was voted them.
Surely all these early pioneers deserve a place in the hall of fame
beside that of Gutenberg.
In 1812 the type of machine known as “cylinder” was invented by John
Dickinson, whose name is still associated with paper-making, and so
different is the machine in principle that Dickinson’s name should
also be placed alongside of Robert’s as a benefactor to mankind.
Neither of these machines had any means for drying paper, consequently
their production was decidedly limited. This lack was supplied by
the invention of driers by T. B. Crompton in 1821, who later took
out a patent for slitter-knives. Suction boxes were contributed by
the ingenuity of M. Canson, a Frenchman, in 1826. John Wilks, an
Englishman, produced the first dandy roll in 1830, while Thomas Barratt
conceived the idea of making water-marks by means of this roll.
And so, one after another, various useful additions came into
existence, until we have the modern paper-machine, which differs mainly
in width, length and productive power from the machines of the thirties.
In the meantime, researches for new paper-making materials had been
in progress. As early as 1719, Reamur, observing how wasps made their
nests from wood, threw out the hint to paper-makers, but for over a
century there was no important result.
In 1727, Dr. Brueckmann, a German naturalist, published a work on
stones, four copies of which are said to have been printed on paper
made with asbestos.
In 1751 M. Guettard in France published his experiments and showed
samples of paper made from bark, leaves and wood; while in 1765 Jacob
Christian Schaffers, of Ratisbon, published a volume, a copy of which
exists in the Smithsonian Library, upon the different sorts of paper he
could make without rags.[A]
[A] A copy of the second edition of this work is in the Library of
the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor.
Matthias Koops in 1801 printed some account of his patents for
utilizing waste papers, straw and wood. This volume, printed on straw
paper, with one signature on paper claimed to be made of wood, is well
worth reading, and is to be found both in the Boston Public Library and
in the Harvard College Library, and quite likely elsewhere.
These experiments are only interesting as forerunners. In their own
time they came to naught. Not until 1840 was ground wood-pulp invented
by Keller.
The production of cellulose from straw and esparto by the soda process
was discovered by Routledge, an Englishman, in 1860, while the first
patents for making wood soda pulp were those of Watt and Burgess in
1854.
To an American belongs the credit for the important invention of the
sulphite process, Benjamin C. Tilghmann, of Manayunk, Pennsylvania,
having taken out the first patents in 1866.
Although excellent fiber was obtained, the engineering difficulties
proved so serious that experiments were temporarily abandoned in the
United States. But the process was afterward put upon a successful
commercial basis by Fry and Ekman, at Berzwik, Sweden, in 1870.
Americans soon took up the problem with renewed energy, and the late
Charles S. Wheelwright, of Providence, Rhode Island, after a visit to
Sweden in 1882 on which he obtained the rights to the Ekman patents,
introduced the process at the plant of the Richmond Paper Company, in
Providence, and while a commercial success was not realized, it was
an important step in the development of the industry, and not many
years passed before the United States gained a leading position in the
production of wood-pulps.[B]
[B] See Little & Griffin, “The Chemistry of Paper-making.”
Thus in less than ninety years, from Robert’s invention of 1798 to the
early eighties, the world witnessed a complete revolution of the paper
industry, which had struggled along in the same old rut for some two
thousand years.
To-day the United States leads the world in the production of paper.
According to the census of 1909, we produced 4,216,708 tons, valued
at $232,741,049, an amount which exceeds in tonnage the combined
production of England, Germany, France, Austria and Italy.
Well may we be proud of this great industry, which after all is largely
the reflection of a nation’s intelligence and culture, and commercial
activity.
CHAPTER TWO
RAW MATERIALS
Paper has been defined as “an aqueous deposit of cellulose,” and
while this is incomplete as a catalogue of the materials composing a
sheet of modern paper, it is an excellent epitome of the foundation
of paper-making. Minute cellulose fibers, derivatives of various raw
materials, are deposited upon a wire cloth by the passage of a volume
of water in which they have been suspended. The pulpy film thus formed
becomes a sheet of paper, after the expulsion and evaporation of the
water which served as a medium for their deposit.
The minute fibers composing this hypothetical sheet of paper may have
been isolated from one of several sources of raw materials in present
commercial use, or the sheet may be composed of a mixture of different
fibers, all more or less pure cellulose, in accordance with the
preliminary treatment each has undergone.
The principal sources from which American paper fibers are derived are
cotton and linen rags, hemp, jute, wood, straw; and waste papers.
Previous to the year 1840, the sources were limited to rags. These are
almost wholly composed of pure cellulose fibers, which give up their
non-cellulose concomitants with slight resistance. The more severe
chemical treatments necessary for the isolation of cellulose fibers,
from wood, for example, half of which is non-cellulose in structure,
were unknown to early paper-makers, and only became possible after the
discovery of bleaching-powder by Tennant, and the manufacture of soda
by Le Blanc.
Although experiments in search of suitable substitutes for rags began
to be made in the eighteenth century, it was Keller’s invention of
ground wood in 1840, Routledge’s work on esparto grass and wood with a
soda process in 1854, and our own fellow countryman Tilghmann’s patent
of the sulphite process in 1866, from which we may date the beginnings
of the now extensive use of materials other than cotton and linen
wastes.
The accompanying table, taken from the United States Statistics of
Manufacture for 1909, gives an illuminating indication of the rapid
growth of our paper industry, and also shows the remarkable increase in
the use of wood celluloses.
Note.--Statistics are taken from U.S. Reports for 1909. Subsequent
reports are obtainable from the Director of the Census, Washington,
D.C.
It may be observed that the percentage of increase in the use of
wood-pulp of all kinds for the decade 1899-1909 was 111.6, and of rags,
50. Approximately four and one-quarter millions tons of paper were
produced in 1909, for which the fibers used figured in the following
proportions:
Per Cent.
Wood-pulp 61.6
Old and waste papers 21.4
Rags 7.8
Straw 6.6
Manila (rope) 2.6
Of the total amount of wood fibers, the various proportions were
approximately as follows:
Per Cent.
Ground wood 47
Sulphite pulp 42
Soda pulp 11
A further investigation as to the species of woods used shows that,
while spruce is still the most important, contributing nearly 60 per
cent, other woods are being increasingly used.
Another noteworthy fact is the mighty increase in imports of
wood-pulps, which jumped from 33,319 tons in 1899 to 307,122 tons in
1909, an amount equal to 12 per cent of all that is used in the United
States.
===========================+==============+==============+=============
| 1909 | 1904 | 1899
---------------------------+--------------+--------------+-------------
MATERIALS | | |
Total cost | $165,442,341 | $111,251,478 | $70,530,236
| | |
Pulpwood, cost | $33,772,475 | $20,800,871 | $9,837,516
Wood pulp, purchased: | | |
Tons | 1,241,914 | 877,702 | 644,006
Cost | $43,861,357 | $27,633,164 | $18,369,464
Ground-- | | |
Tons | 452,849 | 317,286 | 261,962
Cost | $9,487,508 | $5,754,259 | $4,361,211
Soda fiber-- | | |
Tons | 154,626 | 120,978 | 94,042
Cost | $6,862,864 | $5,047,105 | $3,430,809
Sulphite fiber-- | | |
Tons | 626,029 | 433,160 | 273,194
Cost | $27,184,726 | $16,567,122 | $10,112,189
Other chemical fiber-- | | |
Tons | 8,410 | 6,278 | 14,808
Cost | $326,259 | $264,678 | $465,255
Rags, including cotton, | | |
flax waste and sweepings: | | |
Tons | 357,470 | 294,552 | 234,514
Cost | $10,721,559 | $8,864,607 | $6,595,427
Old and waste paper: | | |
Tons | 983,882 | 588,543 | 356,193
Cost | $13,691,120 | $7,430,335 | $4,869,409
Manila stock, including | | |
jute bagging, rope, | | |
waste, threads, etc.: | | |
Tons | 117,080 | 107,029 | 99,301
Cost | $3,560,033 | $2,502,332 | $2,437,256
Straw: | | |
Tons | 303,137 | 304,585 | 367,305
Cost | $1,460,282 | $1,502,886 | $1,395,659
All other materials cost | $58,375,515 | $42,517,283 | $27,025,505
| | |
PRODUCTS | | |
| | |
Total value | $267,656,964 | $188,715,189 | $127,326,162
Newspaper: | | |
In rolls for printing-- | | |
Tons | 1,091,017 | 840,802 | 454,572
Value | $42,807,064 | $32,783,308 | $15,754,992
In sheets for | | |
printing-- | | |
Tons | 84,537 | 72,020 | 114,640
Value | $4,048,496 | $3,143,152 | $4,336,882
Book paper: | | |
Book-- | | |
Tons | 575,616 | 434,500 | 282,093
Value | $42,846,674 | $31,156,728 | $19,466,804
Coated-- | | |
Tons | 95,213 | [2] | [2]
Value | $9,413,961 | [2] | [2]
Plate, lithograph, map, | | |
woodcut, etc.-- | | |
Tons | 6,498 | 19,837 | 22,366
Value | $555,352 | $1,458,343 | $2,018,958
Cover-- | | |
Tons | 17,578 | 22,150 | 18,749
Value | $1,982,853 | $2,023,986 | $1,665,376
Cardboard, bristol board, | | |
card middles, tickets, | | |
etc.-- | | |
Tons | 51,449 | 39,060 | 28,494
Value | $3,352,151 | $2,764,444 | $1,719,813
Fine paper: | | |
Writing-- | | |
Tons | 169,125 | 131,934 | 90,204
Value | $24,966,102 | $ 19,321,045 | $12,222,870
All other-- | | |
Tons | 29,088 | 14,898 | 22,503
Value | $4,110,536 | $2,928,125 | $3,673,104
Wrapping paper: | | |
Manila (rope, jute, | | |
tag, etc.)-- | | |
Tons | 73,731 | 86,826 | 89,419
Value | $6,989,436 | $6,136,080 | $5,929,764
Heavy (mill wrappers, | | |
etc.)-- | | |
Tons | 108,561 | 96,992 | 82,875
Value | $4,380,794 | $4,035,588 | $4,143,240
Straw-- | | |
Tons | 32,988 | 54,232 | 91,794
Value | $870,419 | $1,389,348 | $2,027,518
Bogus or wood manila, | | |
all grades-- | | |
Tons | 367,932 | 228,371 | 203,826
Value | $19,777,707 | $10,099,772 | $9,148,677
All other-- | | |
Tons | 179,855 | 177,870 | 67,338
Value | $10,202,035 | $8,774,804 | $3,293,174
Boards: | | |
Wood pulp-- | | |
Tons | 71,036 | 60,863 | 44,187
Value | $2,639,496 | $2,347,250 | $1,406,130
Straw-- | | |
Tons | 171,789 | 167,278 | 157,534
Value | $3,750,851 | $4,367,560 | $3,187,342
News-- | | |
Tons | 74,606 | 38,560 | 32,119
Value | $2,215,469 | $1,174,216 | $930,531
All other-- | | |
Tons | 514,208 | 253,950 | 131,777
Value | $17,539,768 | $9,070,531 | $4,829,316
Other paper products: | | |
Tissues-- | | |
Tons | 77,745 | 43,925 | 28,406
Value | $8,553,654 | $5,056,438 | $3,486,652
Blotting-- | | |
Tons | 9,577 | 8,702 | 4,351
Value | $1,186,180 | $1,046,790 | $580,750
Building roofing, | | |
asbestos, and | | |
sheathing-- | | |
Tons | 225,824 | 145,024 | 96,915
Value | $9,251,368 | $4,845,628 | $3,025,967
Hanging-- | | |
Tons | 92,158 | 62,606 | 54,330
Value | $4,431,514 | $3,013,464 | $2,265,345
Miscellaneous-- | | |
Tons | 96,577 | 106,296 | 49,101
Value | $6,869,169 | $6,729,820 | $2,795,841
Wood pulp made for sale or | | |
for consumption in mills | | |
other than where | | |
produced: | | |
Ground-- | | |
Tons | 310,747 | 273,400 | 280,052
Value | $5,649,466 | $4,323,495 | $4,433,699
Soda fiber-- | | |
Tons | 155,844 | 130,366 | 99,014
Value | $6,572,152 | $5,159,615 | $3,612,602
Sulphite fiber-- | | |
Tons | 444,255 | 376,940 | 271,585
Value | $17,955,748 | $ 13,661,464 | $10,451,400
| | |
All other products, value | $4,738,549 | $1,924,195 | $919,415
| | |
WOOD PULP | | |
| | |
Quantity produced | | |
(including that used in | | |
mills where | | |
manufactured), total tons | 2,495,523 | 1,921,768 | 179,535
Ground, tons | 1,179,266 | 968,976 | 586,374
Soda fiber, tons | 298,626 | 196,770 | 177,124
Sulphite fiber, tons | 1,017,631 | 756,022 | 416,037
| | |
EQUIPMENT | | |
| | |
Paper machines: | | |
Total number | 1,480 | 1,369 | 1,232
Capacity, yearly, | | |
tons | 5,293,397 | 3,857,903 | 2,782,219
Fourdrinier-- | | |
Number | 804 | 752 | 663
Capacity per 24 | | |
hours, tons | 10,508 | 8,569 | [3]
Cylinder-- | | |
Number | 676 | 617 | 569
Capacity per 24 | | |
hours, tons | 6,316 | 4,740 | [3]
Pulp: | | |
Grinders, number | 1,435 | 1,362 | 1,168
Digesters, total number | 542 | 517 | 426
Sulphite fiber, | | |
number | 348 | 309 | [2]
Soda fiber, number | 194 | 208 | [2]
Capacity, yearly, tons | | |
of pulp | 3,405,621 | 2,644,753 | 1,536,431
Ground, tons | 1,809,685 | 1,515,088 | [2]
Sulphite, tons | 1,250,983 | 885,092 | [2]
Soda, tons | 344,953 | 244,573 | [2]
---------------------------+--------------+--------------+-------------
Table from United States Statistics of Manufacture for 1909, Showing
Rapid Growth of Paper Industry.
The comparative statement follows:
==================+================================================
| QUANTITY, IN CORDS, OF PULPWOOD CONSUMED
KIND OF WOOD. +-----------+-----------+------------+-----------
| 1911 | 1910 | 1909 | 1908
------------------+-----------+-----------+------------+-----------
Total | 4,328,052 | 4,094,306 | 4,001,607 | 3,346,953
|-----------+-----------+------------+-----------
Spruce, domestic | 1,612,355 | 1,473,542 | 1,653,249 | 1,487,356
Spruce, imported | 903,375 | 902,407 | 768,332 | 672,483
Hemlock | 616,663 | 610,478 | 559,657 | 569,173
Poplar, domestic | 333,929 | 315,717 | 302,876 | 279,564
Poplar, imported | 34,295 | 45,359 | 25,622 | 22,653
Balsam fir | 191,779 | 132,362 | [1] 95,366 | [1] 45,309
Pine | 124,019 | 105,882 | 90,885 | 84,189
Beech | 44,320 | 44,265 | 31,390 | [2]
Maple | 36,979 | 42,621 | [2] | [2]
White fir | 36,493 | 30,845 | 37,176 | [2]
Cottonwood | 25,043 | 31,099 | 36,898 | 45,679
All other | 88,268 | 97,092 | 151,179 | 140,547
Slabwood, etc, | 280,534 | 262,637 | 248,977 | [3]
------------------+-----------+-----------+------------+-----------
[1] Balsam.
[2] Included in “All other.”
[3] Included with other wood by species.
The high point of importation of chemical wood-pulp was reached in
1914, when approximately 3,600,000 tons came in from Europe and 92,000
from Canada. In January 1916 owing to the war, imports for the month
from Europe dropped from an average of 30,694 tons to 12,985 tons,
while Canadian pulp increased from an average of 7,654 to an actual
importation for the month of 28,833 tons.
Although the use of wood now so heavily overshadows that of rags that
it almost seems as though the latter were being slowly abandoned, this
is of course only relatively true, their consumption being actually
greater than ever. The mere cost of the rags in 1909 was slightly in
excess of the total value of all paper products recorded in the United
States Census for 1850, a circumstance which leads us to wonder at the
timely discoveries which made wood cellulose available.
It is evident, however, that to some extent paper history is already
beginning to repeat itself. The visible supplies of wood are markedly
less, as evidenced by their increasing costs, and we are forced to a
much more active attitude than one of mere speculation as to what new
sources may become available to supply our demand for paper, which has
lately been increasing in the value of the annual products by almost 11
per cent.
In the decade from 1899 to 1909 shown by government statistics,
book-paper advanced 104 per cent in quantity, but 120 per cent in
value; writing-paper, 88 per cent in quantity, but 104 per cent in
value; wrapping-paper, 43 per cent in quantity and 72 per cent in
value. It is true that rising wages account in part for these changes
in value, but above and behind all this stands the inexorable law of
supply and demand.
The discrepancies between the percentages of increase in production
and value serve to emphasize the increasing difficulties in obtaining
raw material. That sprucewood is being consumed in this country faster
than it is grown, is indicated by the recourse to less-favored species,
as well as by the steadily increasing imports, both of pulpwood and
wood-pulp. This situation emphasises the great importance of conserving
waste papers, in spite of the fact that 21.4 per cent of the fiber
used in 1909 in the United States were derived from waste papers.
Vast quantities may readily be saved which now go to waste, as was
definitely proved by England’s experience during the war, when the
imports of pulp were shut off and immediate substitutes had to be found.
This is a matter demanding the attention not only of printers, but of
municipalities and nations. It offers an immediate source of relief
from the drain on our forests and is hence a most practical form of
conservation. Furthermore as demonstrated by the city of Cleveland
the revenue from collecting waste papers assists substantially in
offsetting the cost of the collection of municipal wastes.
CHAPTER THREE
FUTURE FIBER POSSIBILITIES
The United States Department of Agriculture, in August, 1911, issued
a treatise on “Crop Plants for Paper-Making,” in which the author,
Charles J. Brand, concluded: “There is some skepticism as to the
failure of pulpwood supplies, but this is certainly poorly grounded.
“During 1909 the quantity of spruce used was less by 40,000 cords
than in 1907, but the cost was $2,000,000 greater. Present efforts in
connection with reforestation of spruce and poplar are not extensive
enough to produce any noteworthy effect upon the available supply
within a generation.
“At the present rate of increase in consumption, it will require
between 15,000,000 and 20,000,000 cords of wood for pulp and paper
fiber in 1950. It will certainly be impossible to furnish this from the
forests. If every acre cut over each year were reforested, it would be
twenty-five or thirty years, or possibly even longer, before the trees
could obtain sufficient size to warrant cutting. The forests can not
recover from overdrafts continually being made on them. Hence it is
only a question of a limited number of years until paper fiber must be
grown as a crop, as are practically all other plants materials entering
into the economy of man. While the conservation of only a few of the
by-products of the farms yielding paper fiber can be accomplished
profitably in the near future, and only a few of the plants promise to
be money-makers immediately if grown solely for paper production, it
seems very probable that raw products, now scarcely considered, may in
a few years play an important part in the paper and pulp industry.”
Two lines of research are now being followed by the United States
Government. The Forest Products Laboratory of the Forest Service is
investigating a large number of coniferous and broad-leaved trees,
which have not hitherto been used in paper-making. These sources
are likely to be the first which manufactures will turn to, as the
processes involved are such as they are already familiar with, and the
apparatus with which they are supplied is suitable.
The second line of research is being followed by the Bureau of Plant
Industry, assisted by the Bureau of Chemistry, and is concerned with
plants other than trees. Private investigations are also being carried
on.
The following five requirements are given by the Bureau of Plant
Industry, Circular No. 82, as to the availability of crop plants:
1. They must exist in large quantities.
2. They must be available throughout the year.
3. They must yield a relatively high percentage of cellulose.
4. The fiber cells or cellulose, must be of a highly resistant
character, and must have length, strength and good felting
qualities.
5. And must be of such a nature that the cost of obtaining the
fiber will not be prohibitive.
Fibers complying with these conditions will come into commercial use
whenever the increasing costs of wood-pulp reach a figure approximately
equal to cost of producing cellulose from any other available source.
Up to the present time this has not been brought about, but the steady
increase in the cost of wood-pulp is approaching a level with which
crop pulps may soon compete.
A synopsis of the fibers described in the circular referred to is given
below.
CORN STALKS.--On account of the enormous supply, corn stalks were first
taken up by the Bureau. The yield of stalks per acre is conservatively
estimated at one ton, and the annual product is placed as at least
100,000,000 tons, of which not over one-third is believed to be
utilized by the farmers. Three products have been derived from the
stalks:
1. Long fiber suitable for paper-making, composing 12 to 18 per
cent of the bone-dry weight.
2. Pith pulp, suitable for paper specialties, equal to 15 to 30 per
cent bone-dry weight.
3. Corn-stalk extract, obtained by lixivaition, and of value as a
cattle food, a ton of stalks yielding 200 to 300 pounds of soluble
solids.
It would require an immense area to supply a mill of moderate capacity,
and the question of whether the derivatives of corn stalks could be
sufficiently valuable to overcome the costs of harvesting and hauling,
has never been answered by any experiment on a commercial scale.
BROOM CORN.--Broom corn contains a higher percentage of fibers than
corn stalks. In laboratory and semi-commercial tests, fiber yields
of 32 to 40 per cent have been obtained with a comparatively low
consumption of chemicals. The Bureau claims that results “indicate
that this material is suitable for immediate use in paper-making on
the basis of quality of fiber produced and yield of fiber secured.” It
is estimated that 450,000 tons is the approximate annual crop. Food
extracts may also be obtained as well as the fiber.
RICE STRAW.--The Chinese and Japanese have for years used rice straw
in paper-making, and it is regarded by the Government investigators as
one of the most promising crop materials, the annual crop approximating
1,500,000 tons.
COTTON-HULL FIBER.--The lint adhering to the cotton hulls, after the
long fiber has been removed, may be conserved as a by-product of the
cotton-seed oil industry, and this fiber may be reckoned among the
possibilities. Cotton stalks also have been the subject of experiment.
The yield per acre, however, is not estimated at above 1,000 pounds,
so that immense tracts would have to be covered in accumulating any
considerable supply, and after the cotton crop has all been picked,
negro help is very difficult to obtain.
BAGASSE.--Bagasse, or the refuse sugar-cane, is given rather scant
consideration in the Government report. Its individual fibers are
short, and the percentage of pith is large. Several small plants have
had discouraging experiences in attempting to put this material to
commercial use. Nevertheless, recent experiments carried on in the
interests of the United Fruit Company, under the Simmons patents, point
to a promising result. Under this process the cane is not treated in
the usual manner of crushing for the extraction of sugar. Instead, it
is shredded, dried, and the pith separated from the fiber. The product
is then shipped in bales to refineries, where the sugar is extracted.
This method is said to achieve an almost complete extraction of the
sugar, whereas the old method of crushing loses about twenty per cent
of the sugar and injures the fibers. The Simmons process does no
damage to the fibers, which though short, possess excellent felting
properties. The pith, being cellulose of a non-fibrous structure, has a
value for other industries than paper-making.
FLAX STRAW.--There is an abundant annual crop of flax straw. The
average yield per acre is about one ton, and the total annual
production about 3,000,000 tons. In the opinion of the Government
investigators, it is a “most promising” material.
There are practical pulp men who deprecate the findings of the Bureau
of Plant Industry. Martin L. Griffin, chemist to the Oxford Paper
Company, of Rumford, Maine, in an article appearing in Volume XI, No.
2, of _Paper_ for March, 1913, makes the following statement:
“There is a popular view, which has been erroneously fostered by the
Government, that there are exhaustless resources of waste fiber in our
country, suitable for paper, and a substitute for wood. I once thought
so myself. It is very natural to think that the discarded stalks of
sugar-cane, corn, cotton, rice, flax, and other plants, which mature
annually, would prove an abundant substitute for wood.
“These have all been exploited for twenty-five years to my personal
knowledge, with no visible results. A plant has one function to
perform--it is to flower, fruit or make stalk. Its other functions are
subordinate and produce only by-products. The stalk is the main product
of the forest tree. No other fibrous material is so rich in cellulose;
no other which lends itself so easily to paper-mill processing. It has
no seasons of harvest; does not require curing; does not easily decay;
requires no packing, and may be stored best in the rivers. All these
waste stalks are pithy, bulky and perishable, and would require much
labor to gather, pack and ship. These are but a few reasons why we may
expect no practical results from this source. Wood fills a place no
other material can. There is no substitute for it.”
In this argument Mr. Griffin ignores the fact that esparto grass is
a crop which gives a yield of cellulose practically equal to wood,
and of equal, if not superior, quality. Although it is not available
for American mills, it is worth citing in contradiction to the flat
statement that “there is no substitute for wood.” Furthermore, there
is no evidence that the American crops furnish an inferior fiber,
though the cellulose yield is less. It is quite possible that the
low cellulose yield may be compensated for through the production of
by-products along with the paper-making material. Hitherto, however,
this low yield and other considerations, as expense of harvesting and
packing, have been the factors which have retarded their development,
but the increasing scarcity of wood, and its consequent advance in
cost, is hastening the day when crop plants will become not only
valuable, but necessary adjuncts to the paper industry.
[Illustration: RAGROOM, PIONEER MILL, CRANE & CO.
The two girls in the foreground are sorting shirt cuttings. Those
beyond are cutting them into suitable sizes preparatory to boiling.]
CHAPTER FOUR
THE CONSTITUENTS OF PAPER
The technique of paper-making varies greatly in accordance with each
particular product. In fact, so wide is the range of paper products,
that the different branches of paper-making severally require knowledge
so special that an artisan in one branch might be as useless in another
as if it were an entirely different industry. The coating of paper, for
example, is an absolutely different trade from that of paper-making.
This remarkable diversification is entirely the development of a
century, and principally the evolution of the past forty years
consequent to the discovery of wood cellulose. To-day the products of
the paper-mill are no longer confined to the use of pen or press. We
ride on car wheels made in part of paper; sit in paper-seated chairs;
drink from paper cups; eat from paper plates; use paper napkins; wrap
our food in parchment paper; sheath our buildings with paper without,
and wall paper or wall board within; keep out the rain with roofing
paper if we please. Our shoes, even, contain a paper part, said to
be more durable than leather. Millions of packages, mailing-tubes
and boxes are made of paper. It is even spun into a kind of yarn and
woven into imitation cloth, while a surprising imitation silk necktie
is produced from wood-pulp. In electrical engineering, paper as an
insulator is almost indispensable.
All these paper commodities, and more, too numerous to mention, require
special machinery and treatment. To give an exhaustive treatment of the
subject would require volumes, but for the purpose of this book we are
principally concerned with printing and writing papers.
[Illustration: BOILER ROOM, CRANE & CO.
The contents of the rotary boiler have been emptied upon the floor. The
next step is to wash and bleach.]
Broadly speaking, there are five steps in the manufacture of paper:
1. The isolation of the paper-making fiber from the raw material.
2. The conversion of the fiber into pulp.
3. The beating and refining of the fiber, and the admixture of
non-fibrous components.
4. The manufacture of the mixture into paper.
5. The finishing of the paper and its preparation for the market.
Cotton and linen rags, hemp, woods and plants each require their
peculiar treatments. Cotton and linen, being the original paper-making
fibers, will be considered first.
RAG STOCK.
Rag papers may be made from all sorts and conditions of rags, so the
fineness of the finished product depends upon the newness and quality
of the rags. New white cuttings from textile factories are the best, as
their strength is unimpaired by previous use, and they may be prepared
for manufacture with a minimum use of chemicals.
From this high standard, rags are graded down in accordance with their
color, cleanliness and condition. The first sortings are made by
stock-dealers, and the paper-maker orders whatever grades are suitable
to his purpose. After their receipt at the mill, the bales of rags are
opened, dusted by machine and distributed to girls, who sort them, open
up the seams so as to release hidden dirt, remove buttons and other
foreign material.
In the making of the highest grades, the new white rags are cut by hand
into small pieces of uniform size, but ordinarily they are fed into a
mechanical rag cutter. After this they are passed through a dusting
machine to rid them as far as possible from dirt and foreign matter,
which might otherwise appear as specks in the paper.
BOILING.--Dyes and greasy matters are associated with the fibers, and
in order to obtain the pure cellulose fiber the rags are cooked, under
steam pressure, in rotary boilers with alkali. This saponifies and
dissolves the non-cellulose compounds, and the soda in combination
with these soluble materials is subsequently washed out. The amount
of steam pressure, the quantity of chemicals, and the duration of the
cooking, are subject to variation under different conditions. At the
conclusion of the process the manholes in the boilers are opened, and
the contents are deposited on the floor, later to be transferred to the
washer room.
WASHING.--A washing engine consists of an oval tub about four feet
high. It is divided longitudinally by a partition or “mid-feather,”
with a passage left at either end for the circulation of the stock. On
one side is located a large roll, having a continuous parallel series
of knives horizontally inserted in its surface. The floor of the engine
slopes gently to a point under the roll, where a bed plate is set.
Behind the roll is a raised partition or dam, over which the stock is
thrown as it passes between the beater roll and the bed plate. This is
known as the “back-fall,” and assists in the circulation. The roll may
be raised or lowered over the bed plate, and by this means the breaking
of the stock is regulated.
Affixed to the tub are one or more washing cylinders, so arranged that
they may be lowered into the stock. These are constructed in such a
way that during the process of washing the water passes through their
wire-covered surfaces and is drained into the hollow axle of the roll
by an interior arrangement, called buckets. The axle, being open at one
end, permits the wash water to escape.
At first the engine is partly filled with water, then the rags are
gradually thrown in until the tub is full. The revolving roll keeps
the mass in circulation, while the rags are broken and shredded as
they pass beneath it. A continuous stream of fresh water runs into the
tub, and in running out through the revolving washer drums carries
off the dirt, but the fibers themselves can not pass through the wire
coverings, so remain until cleansed. Necessarily the water used must be
free from sediment or mineral impurities, such as iron, otherwise it
would fill the stock with specks. Therefore, a filter plant is usually
maintained.
BLEACHING.--After the washing has been completed the drums are raised
clear of the stock and bleaching liquor is introduced. This is an
important step, and if not carefully managed may impair the stock.
For instance, if bleaching is carried on at too high a temperature,
the white color obtained will not be permanent, and discoloration
will occur after the paper is made. Much of the paper, which at first
displays a brilliant white color, will afterward take on a yellowish
tinge, especially if it is exposed to light. A comparison between the
century-old hand-made papers and modern “fine writings,” makes the
old papers appear a “natural” shade, but place both for a few hours
in the sunlight and often the modern paper will fade, whereas the old
sun-bleached papers remain unaltered. The high artificial bleaching
does not insure permanent results.
After the bleach liquor has been thoroughly mixed in, the stock is
discharged into drainers and allowed to stand for a week or more,
until no traces of chlorine remain. In this state the pulp is known as
“half-stock.”
The treatment of hemp is so similar to that of rags that a description
here of the process is superfluous.
WOOD-PULPS.