On the Materials employed in the Formation of Paper—Method of
Preparation—Processes of Comminution, Washing, Bleaching, etc.
described—Paper-making by Hand—Paper-making Machine—Sizing
Apparatus—Cutting-Machine, etc. explained—General Observations
on what are termed Water-Marks—Manner of effecting the
same—Importance frequently attached to them—Ireland’s Fabrication
of the Shakspeare MSS.—Difficulty in procuring suitable Paper
for the purpose—On the perfection to which Water-Marks have now
attained, especially with reference to the production of Light
and Shade, as seen in the New Bank Note, etc., etc.
In the present chapter it will be my object to take as general a
glance at the principles of paper making, as in the former it was my
endeavour to treat its history.
First then, we have to notice the nature of some of the materials
employed. And although everybody is supposed to know that paper is
made from rags, it may, perhaps, be excuseable to consider of what
the rags themselves originally were composed. Unquestionably, the
simplest definition one could give would be, fragments of worn-out
clothing; and by clothing, no doubt, we all sufficiently understand
the dress, vesture or garments usually adopted by man. Still we have
to ask ourselves of what are these articles of clothing composed?
It has been somewhat shrewdly remarked in every instance, of a
something of which man has previously denuded something else. At one
time (as we all know) he cunningly entraps innumerable individuals,
of the fox, weazel, and squirrel tribes, to strip them of their
warm and valuable fur. At another, he hatches and feeds legions of
caterpillars, that he may rob them of the defensive padding which
they spin to protect their helplessness while passing through the
chrysalis state. Sometimes he pastures the sheep for its skin and its
wool, occasionally setting so little store by the carcase as to melt
it into tallow, or burn it as fuel. And even mother earth herself is
treated with no greater forbearance, by alternately feeding her up
with manure, and teazing and tormenting her surface with tillage,
she is coaxed and compelled to send forth a living vegetable down,
which is shorn, plucked and plundered from her bosom, in the shape of
cotton, flax, and hemp.
And all those silks, woollens, flax, hemp, and cotton, in all their
varied forms, whether as cambric, lace, linen, holland, fustian,
corduroy, bagging, canvas, or even as cables, are or can be used
in the manufacture of paper of one kind or another. Still, when we
speak of rags, as of necessity, they accumulate, and are gathered
up by those who make it their business to collect them, they are
very far from answering the purposes of paper making. Rags, to
the paper-maker, are almost as various in point of quality or
distinction, as the materials which are sought after through the
influence of fashion. Thus, the paper maker, in buying rags, requires
to know exactly of what the bulk is composed. If he is a manufacturer
of white papers, no matter whether intended for writing or printing,
silk or woollen rags, would be found altogether useless, inasmuch,
as is well known, the bleach will fail to act upon any animal
substance whatever. And although he may purchase even a mixture
in proper proportions adapted for the quality he is in the habit
of supplying, it is as essential in the processes of preparation,
that they shall be previously separated. Cotton in its raw state,
as may be readily conceived, requires far less preparation than a
strong hempen fabric, and thus, to meet the requirements of the
paper-maker, we have rags classed under different denominations, as
for instance, besides _Fines_ and _Seconds_, we have _Thirds_, which
are composed of fustians, corduroy, and similar fabrics; _Stamps_
or _Prints_ (as they are termed by the paper-maker), which are
coloured rags, and also innumerable foreign rags, distinguished by
certain well-known marks, indicating their various peculiarities.
I might mention, however, that although by far the greater portion
of the materials employed are such as we have already alluded to,
it is not from their possessing any exclusive suitableness—since
various fibrous vegetable substances have frequently been used,
and are indeed still successfully employed—but rather on account
of their comparatively trifling value, arising from the limited
use to which they are otherwise applicable. The agitation of late,
which was partly-occasioned by the war, and partly by a sudden and
unprecedented demand, that there was a great scarcity of fibrous
materials fit to be used in paper making, coupled with an advance in
the price of at least twenty per cent., and still further heightened
by the offer of £1,000 to any one who could procure an advantageous
substitute, has necessarily called forth many suggestions, but,
to quote the words of Dr. Forbes Royle, “The generality of modern
experimentalists seem to be wholly unacquainted with the labours
of their predecessors, many of them commencing improvement by
repeating experiments which had already been made, and announcing
results as new, which had long previously been ascertained.”
The latest suggestion of the kind, and indeed the only one worth
referring to, is that which Lord Derby recently brought forward in
the House of Lords. He first referred to a Bill before the other
House of Parliament for incorporating a company established for the
manufacture of paper from _flax straw_. Of course there is little new
in this. The rags or materials already employed, are composed, as
everybody knows, to a very great extent, of the fibre of flax, and
besides, possess this great advantage, that they have been repeatedly
prepared for paper making by the numerous alkaline washings which
they necessarily receive during their period of use, which, if left
to the paper-maker, as would be the case with flax in its raw state,
to be done all at once, (and it must _be_ done before the fibre is
fit for use,) would add so fearfully to the expense, as to render
its adoption for printing or writing paper altogether unadvisable.
However, Lord Derby proceeds—“It was proposed to employ the fibres of
various plants indigenous to the West Indies, such as the plantain,
the aloe, and others, which grow in vast abundance, and which were
utterly valueless at the present moment. He need not say, that an
immense abundance of this material could be produced; and he wished
only to mention, that on one estate in Demerara no less than 160,000
plantain trees were cut down every year, the trees going to waste, as
they were cut down only for the purpose of getting at the fruit; and
this wasted material contained 250 tons of fibre, capable of being
manufactured into paper.”
Now, admitting _all_ this, which Lord Derby is _reported_ to have
said, I can again assert that there is nothing whatever new in it.
I have specimens of paper from the same materials, which were made
several years ago. The cost, however, of reducing the plantain into
fibre, coupled with the expense of freight, was found, and will still
be found, to bring up the price so much, as to effectually exclude
it from the manufacture of paper; for this simple reason, that rags,
of necessity, must continue accumulating, and before it will answer
the purpose of the paper-maker to employ new material—which is not
so well adapted for his purpose as the old—he must be enabled to
purchase it for considerably less than it would be worth in the
manufacture of textile fabrics.
All that can be said as to the suitableness of fibre in general
may be summed up in very few words; any vegetable fibre having a
corrugated edge, which will enable it to cohere in the mass, is fit
for the purposes of paper making; the extent to which such might
be applied can solely be determined by the question of cost in its
production; and hitherto, everything proposed has been excluded, as
in the case of the _plantain_ or _banana_, either by the cost of
freight, the cost of preparation, or the expenses combined.
To convey some idea of the number of substances which have been
really tried; in the Library of the British Museum may be seen a
book, printed in low Dutch, containing upwards of sixty specimens
of paper, made of different materials, the result of one man’s
experiments _alone_, so far back as the year 1772. In fact, almost
every species of tough fibrous vegetable, and even animal substance,
has at one time or another been employed: even the roots of trees,
their bark, the bine of hops, the tendrils of the vine, the stalks of
the nettle, the common thistle, the stem of the hollyhock, the sugar
cane, cabbage stalks, wood shavings, saw dust, hay, straw, willow,
and the like.
At the present time straw is occasionally used, sometimes in
connection with other materials, such as linen or cotton rags,
and even with considerable advantage, providing the processes of
preparation are thoroughly understood. Where such is not the case,
and the silica contained in the straw has not been destroyed (by
means of a strong alkali), the paper will invariably be found more
or less brittle; in some cases so much so as to be hardly applicable
to any purpose whatever of practical utility. Specimens, numbered 18
and 19, affixed at the end of this work, are manufactured from as
much as 80 per cent. _straw_ and 20 per cent. _rope_, and certainly,
as regards toughness, are excellent. No. 20, is manufactured almost
entirely from _wheat straw_, which is first bleached to the utmost,
and then blued by an admixture of ultramarine. The waste, however,
which the straw undergoes, in addition to a most expensive process of
preparation, necessarily precludes its adoption to any great extent.
An ingenious invention has recently been patented for converting
large blocks of wood into paper pulp; but to what extent it is
likely to receive favourable attention at the hands of paper makers
generally, is quite impossible to say. The invention is very simple,
consisting merely of a wooden box enclosing a grindstone, which has
a roughened surface, and against which the blocks of wood are kept
in close contact by a lever, a small stream of water being allowed
to flow upon the stone as it turns, in order to free it of the pulp,
and to assist in carrying it off through an outlet at the bottom. Of
course, it is not expected, that the pulp thus produced should be
employed for any but the coarser kinds of paper, in the manufacture
of which there has hitherto been found the greatest scarcity of
material. For all writing and printing purposes, which manifestly
are the most important, nothing has yet been discovered, to lessen
the value of rags, neither is it at all probable that there will
be; indeed, the value of paper for some time past has considerably
declined, while during the most exciting period of last year, the
scarcity so much talked of, was, in fact, comparatively trifling.
The annual consumption of rags in this country alone far exceeds
120,000 tons, three-fourths of which are imported, Italy and Germany
furnishing the principal supplies. That the condition in which the
rags are imported furnishes any criterion of the national habits of
the people from which they came, as has been frequently asserted,
however plausible in theory, must, at least, be received with
caution. But that is by no means important. The specimen of printing
paper, No. 21, was manufactured from a selection far from cleanly;
in fact, there was not a white rag employed, while even fustians,
corduroy, and coloured rags formed a considerable proportion.
In considering the various processes or stages of the manufacture
of paper, we have first to notice that, of carefully sorting and
cutting the rags into small pieces, which is done by women; each
woman standing at a table frame, the upper surface of which consists
of very coarse wire-cloth; a large knife being fixed in the centre
of the table, nearly in a vertical position. The woman stands so as
to have the back of the blade opposite to her, while at her right
hand on the floor is a large wooden box, with several divisions. Her
business consists in examining the rags, opening the seams, removing
dirt, pins, needles, and buttons, of endless variety, which would be
liable to injure the machinery, or damage the quality of the paper.
She then cuts the rags into small pieces, not exceeding four inches
square, by drawing them sharply across the edge of the knife, at the
same time keeping each quality distinct, in the several divisions of
the box placed on her right hand. During this process, much of the
dirt, sand, and so forth, passes through the wire-cloth into a drawer
underneath, which is occasionally cleaned out. After this, the rags
are removed to what is called the _dusting machine_, which is a large
cylindrical frame, covered with similar coarse iron wire-cloth, and
having a powerful revolving shaft extending through the interior,
with a number of spokes fixed transversely, nearly long enough to
touch the cage. By means of this contrivance, the machine being fixed
upon an incline of some inches to the foot, the rags, which are put
in at the top, have any remaining particles of dust that may still
adhere to them effectually beaten out, by the time they reach the
bottom.
Some objection, however, may be made to this method, which has a
tendency to blow away at the same time a considerable portion of
fibre set loose in cutting the rags, along with the dust. To avoid
this waste, an invention has recently been brought out by a son
of the late eminent Mr. Fourdrinier, which he terms his “Patent
Accelerator.” The process adopted is simply that of placing the rags
in their dirty state in water, and employing that as a medium for
carrying off the dust and dirt, in preference to air. The invention
has not yet been very extensively used, and consequently I am not in
a position to say much as to its merits.
The rags being thus far cleansed, have next to be boiled in an
alkaline lye or solution, made more or less strong, as the rags are
more or less coloured, the object being to get rid of the remaining
dirt and some of the colouring matter. The proportion is from four to
ten pounds of carbonate of soda with one-third of quick lime to the
hundred weight of material. In this the rags are boiled for several
hours, according to their quality.
The mode now adopted as the most recent improvement is that of
placing the rags in large cylinders, which are constantly, though
slowly, revolving, thus causing the rags to be as frequently turned
over, and into which a jet of steam is cast with a pressure of
something near 30 lbs. to the square inch.
[Illustration: RAG ENGINE]
After this process of cleansing, the rags are considered in a fit
state to be torn or macerated until they become reduced to pulp,
which was accomplished some five and thirty or forty years since,
by setting them to heat and ferment for many days in close vessels,
whereby in reality they underwent a species of putrefaction.
Another method subsequently employed was that of beating them by
means of stamping rods, shod with iron, working in strong oak or
stone mortars, and moved by water-wheel machinery. So rude and
ineffective however was this apparatus, that no fewer than forty
pairs of stamps were required to operate a night and a day in
preparing one hundred weight of material. At the present time, the
average weekly consumption of rags, at many paper mills, exceeds
even 30 tons. The cylinder or engine mode of comminuting rags
into paper pulp appears to have been invented in Holland, about the
middle of the last century, but received very little attention here
for some years afterwards. The accompanying drawing will serve to
convey some idea of the wonderful rapidity with which the work is
at present accomplished. No less than _twelve tons_ per week can
now be prepared by means of this simple contrivance. The horizontal
section represents an oblong cistern, of cast iron, or wood lined
with lead, into which the rags, with a sufficient quantity of water,
are received. It is divided by a partition, as shown (A), to regulate
the course of the stuff. The spindle upon which each cylinder (C)
moves, extending across the engine, and being put in motion by a
band wheel or pinion at the point (B). One cylinder, is made to
traverse at a much swifter rate than the other, in order that the
rags may be the more effectually triturated. The cylinders (C), as
shown in the vertical section, are furnished with numerous cutters,
running parallel to the axis, and again beneath them similar cutters
are mounted (D) somewhat obliquely, against which, when in motion,
the rags are drawn by the rapid rotation of the cylinders, and thus
reduced to the smallest filaments requisite, sometimes not exceeding
the sixteenth of an inch in length; the distance between the fixed
and moveable blades being capable of any adjustment, simply by
elevating or depressing the bearings upon which the necks of the
shaft are supported. When in operation, it is of course necessary
to enclose the cylinders in a case, as shown (E), otherwise a large
proportion of the rags would inevitably be thrown out of the engine.
I should mention, that the rags are first worked coarsely, with a
stream of water running through the engine, which tends effectually
to wash them, as also to open their fibres; and in order to carry off
the dirty water, what is termed a _washing drum_ is usually employed,
consisting simply of a framework covered with very fine wire-gauze,
in the interior of which, connected with the shaft or spindle, which
is hollow, are two suction tubes, and by this means, on the principle
of a syphon, the dirty water constantly flows away through a larger
tube running down outside, which is connected with that in the
centre, without carrying away any of the fibre.
After this, the mass is placed in another engine, where, if
necessary, it is bleached by an admixture of chloride of lime, which
is retained in the engine until its action becomes apparent. The pulp
is then let down into large slate cisterns to steep, prior to being
reduced to a suitable consistency by the beating engine, as already
described. The rolls or cylinders, however, of the beating engine
are always made to rotate much faster than when employed in washing
or bleaching, revolving probably from 120 to 150 times per minute,
and thus, supposing the cylinders to contain 48 teeth each, passing
over eight others, as shown in the drawing, effecting no fewer than
103,680 cuts in that short period. From this the great advantage of
the modern engine over the old fashioned mortar machine, in turning
out a quantity of paper pulp, will be at once apparent.
The operation of paper making, after the rags or materials to be
used have been thus reduced and prepared, may be divided into two
kinds; that which is carried on in hand-mills, where the formation of
the sheet is performed by manual labour; and that which is carried
on in machine-mills, where the paper is produced upon the machine
wire-cloth in one continuous web.
With respect to hand-made papers, the sheet is formed by the vatman’s
dipping a mould of fine wire-cloth fixed upon a wooden frame, and
having what is termed a deckle, to determine the size of the sheet,
into a quantity of pulp which has been previously mixed with water
to a requisite consistency; when after gently shaking it to and
fro in a horizontal position, the fibres become so connected as to
form one uniform fabric, while the water drains away. The deckle
is then removed from the mould, and the sheet of paper turned off
upon a felt, in a pile with many others, a felt intervening between
each sheet, and the whole subjected to great pressure, in order to
displace the superfluous water; when after being dried and pressed
without the felts, the sheets are dipped into a tub of fine animal
size, the superfluity of which is again forced out by another
pressing; each sheet after being finally dried, undergoing careful
examination before it is finished.
Specimens 2, 3, 4, and 5, inserted at the end of the work, serve to
illustrate the different stages of the manufacture. First, we have
what is termed the _water-leaf_, (2) or the condition in which the
paper appears after being pressed between the felts—this is the first
stage. Next, a sheet from the bulk, as pressed without the felts (3)
which still remains in a state unfit for writing on, not having been
sized—and is in fact but white blotting paper. Then we have a sheet
after sizing, which completely changes its character (4); and lastly
one with the beautiful surface, which most of us, in this steel-pen
age are capable of appreciating (5). This is produced by placing the
sheets separately between very smooth copper plates, and then passing
them through rollers, which impart a pressure of from 20 to 30 tons.
After only three or four such pressures, it is simply called rolled
(5), but if passed through more frequently, the paper acquires a
higher surface, and is then called glazed (6).
The paper-making machine (see frontispiece) is constructed to imitate
in a great measure, and in some respects to improve, the processes
used in making paper by hand; but its chief advantages are the
increased rapidity with which it accomplishes the manufacture, and
the means of producing paper of any size which can practically be
required.
By the agency of this admirable contrivance, which is so adjusted as
to produce the intended effect with unerring precision, a process,
which in the old system of paper-making, occupied about three
_weeks_, is now performed in as many _minutes_.
The paper-making machine is supplied from the “chest” or reservoir
(F), into which the pulp descends from the beating engine, when
sufficiently ground; being kept in constant motion, as it descends,
by means of the agitator (G), in order that it shall not settle. From
this reservoir the pulp is again conveyed by a pipe into what is
technically termed the “lifter” (H), which consists of a cast-iron
wheel, enclosed in a wooden case, and having a number of buckets
affixed to its circumference. The trough (I), placed immediately
beneath the endless wire (K) is for the purpose of receiving
the water which drains away from the pulp during the process of
manufacture, and as this water is frequently impregnated with certain
chemicals used in connexion with paper-making, it is returned again
by a conducting spout, into the “lifter,” where, by the rotation of
the buckets, both the pulp and back-water become again thoroughly
mixed, and are together raised by the lifter through the spout (L)
into the vat (M) where the pulp is strained by means of a sieve or
“knotter,” as it is called, which is usually formed of brass, having
fine slits cut in it to allow the comminuted pulp to pass through,
while it retains all lumps and knots; and so fine are these openings,
in order to free the pulp entirely from anything which would be
liable to damage the quality of the paper, that it becomes necessary
to apply a means of exhaustion underneath, in order to facilitate the
passage of the pulp through the strainer.
I have frequently examined a mass of these lumps collected upon the
top of the knotter, more particularly when printing papers are being
manufactured, and have generally found them composed, to a very great
extent, of India Rubber, which is a source of much greater annoyance
to the paper maker than is readily conceived. For, in the first
place, it is next to impossible in sorting and cutting the rags to
free them entirely from the braiding, and so forth, with which ladies
will insist upon adorning their dresses, and in the next, the bleach
failing to act upon a substance of that character, the quality of the
paper becomes greatly deteriorated, by the large black specks which
it occasions, and which, by the combined heat and pressure of the
rolls and cylinders, enlarge considerably as it proceeds.
Passing from this strainer the pulp is next made to distribute
itself equally throughout the entire width of the machine, and is
afterwards allowed to flow over a small lip or ledge, in a regular
and even stream, whence it is received by the upper surface of the
endless wire (K), upon which the first process of manufacture takes
place. Of course the thickness of the paper depends in some measure
upon the speed at which the machine is made to travel, but it is
mainly determined by the quantity of pulp allowed to flow upon the
wire, which by various contrivances can be regulated to great nicety.
Among the specimens at the end, you will find one, No. 7, which
was made by this machine, and which is considerably less than the
thousandth of an inch in thickness,—a thousand sheets measuring but
three quarters of an inch. And I would call your attention to the
fact, that although so thin, it is capable of being coloured, it is
capable of being glazed, it is capable of receiving a water-mark;
and what is perhaps still more astonishing, a strip not exceeding
four inches in width, will be found capable of sustaining a weight of
twenty pounds: so great is its tenacity.
But, to return to the machine itself. The quantity of pulp required
to flow from the vat (M) being determined; it is first received
by the continuous woven wire (K), upon which it forms itself into
paper. This wire-gauze, which resembles a jack-towel, passing over
the small copper rollers (N), round the larger one marked (O), and
being kept in proper tension by two others placed underneath. A
gentle vibratory motion from side to side is given to the wire,
which assists to spread the pulp evenly, and also to facilitate the
separation of the water, and by this means, aided by a suction pump,
the pulp solidifies as it advances. The two black squares on either
side of the “dandy” roller (P) indicate the position of two wooden
boxes, from which the air is partially exhausted, thus causing the
atmospheric pressure to operate in compacting the pulp into paper,
the water and moisture being drawn through the wire, and the pulp
retained on the surface.
Next, we have to notice the deckle or boundary straps (Q) which
regulate the width of the paper, travelling at the same rate as the
wire, and thus limiting the spread of pulp. The “dandy” roller (P),
is employed to give any impression to the paper that may be required.
We may suppose for instance, that the circumference of that roller
answers exactly to the length or breadth of the wire forming a hand
mould, which, supposing such wire to be fixed or curved in that form,
would necessarily leave the same impression as when employed in the
ordinary way. Being placed between the air boxes, the paper becomes
impressed by it when in a half formed state, and whatever marks are
thus made, the paper will effectually retain. The marks seen in
Specimens 2, 3, 4, and 5, have been occasioned by a hand mould, those
in 6, 7, 9, and 11, are impressions given by a dandy roller. The two
rollers following the dandy, marked (R) and (O), are termed couching
rollers, from their performing a similar operation in the manufacture
of machine-made papers, to the business of the coucher in conducting
the process by hand. They are simply wooden rollers covered with
felt. In some instances, however, the upper couch roll (R) is made
to answer a double purpose. In making writing or other papers, where
smalts, ultramarine, and various colours are used, considerable
difference will frequently be found in the tint of the paper when
the two sides are compared, in consequence of the colouring matter
sinking to the lower side, by the natural subsidence of the water, or
from the action of the suction boxes; and to obviate this, instead
of employing the ordinary couch roll, which acts upon the _upper_
surface of the paper, a hollow one is substituted, having a suction
box within it, acted upon by an air pump, which tends in some measure
to counteract the effect, justly considered objectionable. Merging
from those rollers the paper is received from the wire-gauze by a
continuous felt (S), which conducts it through two pair of pressing
rollers, and afterwards to the drying cylinders. You will observe,
that the paper, after passing through the first pair of rollers,
is carried along the felt for some distance, and then turned over,
in order to receive a corresponding pressure on the other side,
thus obviating the inequality of surface which would otherwise be
apparent, especially if the paper were to be employed for books.
The advantage gained by the use of so great a length of felt, is
simply, that it becomes less necessary to stop the machine for the
purpose of washing it, than would be the case if the felt were
limited in length to its absolute necessity.
In some instances, when the paper being made is sized in the pulp
with such an ingredient as _resin_, the felt becomes so completely
clogged in the space of a few hours, that unless a very great and
apparently unnecessary length of felt be employed, a considerable
waste of time is constantly incurred in washing or changing the felt.
To obviate all this—whether waste of time or waste of felt—I have
suggested in one or two quarters, the propriety of passing the felt,
as it returns from conducting the paper to the heated cylinders,
through a trough of water, and while travelling through the water to
apply suction boxes to both the upper and lower surface of the felt,
which by an alternate action, might be made sufficiently powerful to
remove all impurity, without in any way obstructing the progress of
the felt; which if found necessary, might be assisted, while at the
same time the felt would be restored to its original condition, by
employing a suction _roller_ to which a steady motion was given in
connexion with the machine.
The operation of the manufacture will now be apparent. The pulp
flowing from the reservoir into the lifter, and thence through the
strainer, passes over a small lip to the continuous wire, being
there partially compacted by the shaking motion, more thoroughly
so on its passage over the air boxes, receiving any desired marks
by means of the dandy roller passing over the continuous felt
between the first pressing rollers, then turned over to receive a
corresponding pressure on the other side, and from thence off to the
drying cylinders, which are heated more or less by injected steam;
the cylinder which receives the paper first, being heated less than
the second, the second than the third, and so on; the paper after
passing over those cylinders, being finally wound upon a reel, as
shown, unless it be printing paper, which can be sized sufficiently
in the pulp, by an admixture of alum, soda, and resin, or the like;
in which case it may be at once conducted to the cutting machine,
to be divided into any length and width required. But, supposing it
to be intended for writing purposes, it has first to undergo a more
effectual method of sizing, as shown in the accompanying drawing.
The size in this instance being made from parings obtained from
tanners, curriers, and parchment-makers, as employed in the case of
hand-made papers. Of course, sizing in the pulp or in the engine
offers many advantages, but as gelatine, or animal size, which is
really essential for all good writing qualities, cannot at present
be employed during the process of manufacturing by the machine
without injury to the felts, it becomes necessary to pass the web
of paper, after it has been dried by the cylinders, through this
apparatus.
[Illustration: SIZING APPARATUS]
In most cases, however, the paper is at once guided as it issues from
the machine, through the tub of size, and is thence carried over
the skeleton drums shown, inside each of which are a number of fans
rapidly revolving; sometimes there are forty or fifty of these drums
in succession, the whole confined in a chamber heated by steam. I
have seen a paper machine with the sizing apparatus attached, which
from the wire-cloth where the pulp first flows on, to the cutting
machine at the extremity, measured no less than one thousand feet.
The advantage of drying the paper in this manner over so many of
these drums is, that it turns out much harder and stronger, than
if dried more rapidly over heated cylinders. Some manufacturers
adopt a peculiar process of sizing, which in fact answers very much
better, and is alike applicable to papers made by hand or by machine,
provided the latter description be first cut into pieces or sheets of
the required dimensions. The contrivance consists of two revolving
felts, between which the sheets are carried under several rollers
through a long trough of size, being afterwards hung up to dry upon
lines, previously to rolling or glazing. The paper thus sized becomes
much harder and stronger, by reason of the freedom with which the
sheets can contract in drying; and this is mainly the reason why
paper made by hand continues to be so much tougher than that made by
the machine, in consequence of the natural tendency of the pulp to
contract in drying, and consequently becoming, where no resistance
is offered, more entwined or entangled, which of course adds very
considerably to the strength and durability of the paper. In making
by the machine, this tendency, you will observe, is completely
checked.
The next operation which we have to notice, now that the paper is
finished, is that of cutting it into standard sizes. Originally,
the reel upon which it was finally wound, was formed so that its
diameter might be lessened or increased at pleasure, according to
the sizes which were required. Thus, for instance, supposing we
wanted to cut the web of paper into sheets of 18 inches in length,
we should either lessen the diameter of the reel to 6 inches, and
thus the circumference to 18 inches, or if convenient increase it to
36 inches, afterwards cutting the paper in two with a large knife,
similar in size and shape to that employed by a cheesemonger; the
width of the web being regulated by the deckle straps (Q) to either
twice or three times the width of the sheet, as the case might be.
However, in regard to the length considerable waste, of necessity,
arose, from the great increase in the circumference of the reel as
the paper was wound upon it, and to remedy this, several contrivances
have been invented. To dwell upon their various peculiarities or
separate stages of improvement, would, no doubt, prove to the general
reader of little comparative interest, I shall, therefore, confine my
attention to a brief explanation of the cutting machine, of which I
have given an illustration, and which is unquestionably the best, as
well as the most ingenious, invention of the kind.
The first movement or operation peculiar to this machine is that of
cutting the web of paper longitudinally, into such widths as may be
required. And this is effected by means of circular blades, placed at
stated distances, which receive the paper as it issues direct from
the other machinery, and by a very swift motion, much greater than
that at which the paper travels, slit it up with unerring precision
wherever they may be fixed.
A pair of those circular blades is shown in the drawing (_a_), the
upper one being much larger than the lower, which is essential to
the smoothness of the cut. And not only is the upper blade larger
in circumference, but it is also made to revolve with much greater
rapidity, by means of employing a small pinion, worked by one at
least twice its diameter, which is fixed upon the same shaft as the
lower blade, to which the motive power is applied. The action aimed
at is precisely such as we obtain from a pair of scissors.
The web, as it is termed by the paper-maker, being thus severed
longitudinally, the next operation is that of cutting it off into
sheets of some particular length horizontally; and to do this
requires a most ingenious movement. To give a very general idea of
the contrivance, the dotted line is intended to represent the paper
travelling on with a rapidity in some cases of 80 feet per minute,
and yet its course has to be temporarily arrested while the required
separation is effected, and that too without the paper’s accumulating
in any mass, or getting creased in the slightest degree.
[Illustration: CUTTING MACHINE.]
The large drum (_b_), over which the paper passes, in the direction
indicated by the arrows, has simply an alternating motion, which
serves to gather the paper in such lengths as may be required. The
crank arm (_c_), which is capable of any adjustment either at top or
bottom, regulating the extent of the movement backwards and forwards,
and thus the length of the sheet. As soon as the paper to be cut
off has passed below the point (_d_), at which a _presser_ is
suspended, having an alternating motion given to it, in order to make
it approach to, and recede from, a stationary presser-board; it is
taken hold of as it descends from the drum, and the length pendant
from the presser, is instantly cut off by the moveable knife (_e_),
to which motion is given by the crank (_f_), the connecting rod
(_g_), the lever (_h_), and the connecting rod (_i_). The combined
motion of these rods and levers, admits of the moveable knife (_e_),
remaining nearly quiescent for a given time, and then speedily
closing upon the fixed knife (_k_), cutting off the paper in a
similar manner to a pair of shears, when it immediately slides down
a board, or in some instances is carried along a revolving felt, at
the extremity of which several men or boys are placed to receive the
sheets, according to the number into which the width of the web is
divided.
As soon as the pressers are closed for a length of paper to be cut
off, the motion of the gathering drum is reversed, smoothing out
the paper upon its surface, which is now held between the pressers;
the tension roll (_l_), taking up the slack in the paper as it
accumulates, or rather bearing it gently down, until the movement of
the drum is again reversed to furnish another length. The handle
(_m_), is employed merely to stop a portion of the machinery, should
the water-mark not fall exactly in the centre of the sheet, when by
this means it can be momentarily adjusted.
The paper being thus made, and cut up into sheets of stated
dimensions, is next looked over and counted out into quires of 24
sheets, and afterwards into reams of 20 quires; which subsequently,
under the superintendence of an Excise Officer, are carefully weighed
and stamped, previously to their being sent into the market.
Connected with the manufacture of paper, there is one point of
considerable interest and importance, and that is, what is commonly,
but erroneously, termed the _water-mark_, which may be noticed in the
Times Newspaper, in the New Bank of England Notes, Cheques and Bills,
as also in every Postage and Receipt Label of the present day.
The curious, and in some instances absurd terms, which now puzzle
us so much in describing the different sorts and sizes of paper,
may frequently be explained by reference to the various paper-marks
which have been adopted at different periods. In ancient times, when
comparatively few people could read, pictures of every kind were
much in use where writing would now be employed. Every shop, for
instance, had its sign, as well as every public-house, and those
signs were not then, as they often are now, only painted upon a
board, but were invariably actual models of the thing which the sign
expressed—as we still occasionally see some such sign as a bee-hive,
a tea-canister, or a doll, and the like. For the same reason printers
employed some device, which they put upon the title pages and at the
end of their books, and paper makers also introduced marks, by way of
distinguishing the paper of their manufacture from that of others;
which marks becoming common, naturally gave their names to different
sorts of paper. And since names often remain long after the origin of
them is forgotten and circumstances are changed, it is not surprising
to find the old names still in use, though in some cases they are
not applied to the same things which they originally denoted. One of
the illustrations of ancient water-mark which I have given in the
accompanying plate; that of an open hand with a star at the top,
which was in use as early as 1530; probably gave the name to what is
still called _hand_ paper.
Another very favourite paper-mark, at a subsequent period 1540-60,
was the jug or pot, which is also shown, and would appear to have
originated the term _pot_ paper. The foolscap was a later device, and
does not appear to have been nearly of such long continuance as the
former. It has given place to the figure of Britannia, or that of
a lion rampant, supporting the cap of liberty on a pole. The name,
however, has continued, and we still denominate paper of a particular
size, by the title of _foolscap_. The original figure has the cap and
bells, of which we so often read in old plays and histories, as the
particular head-dress of the fool, who at one time formed part of
every great man’s establishment.
I have met with the water-mark of a cap, much simpler than that which
we have just noticed, somewhat resembling the jockey-caps of the
present day, with a trifling ornamentation or addition to the upper
part. The first edition of “Shakspeare,” printed by _Isaac Jaggard &
Ed. Blount_, 1623, will be found to contain this mark, interspersed
with several others of a different character. No doubt the general
use of the term _cap_ to various papers of the present day owes its
origin to marks of this description.
The term _imperial_ was in all probability derived from the finest
specimens of papyri, which were so called by the ancients.
[Illustration: (Water-marks)]
Post paper seems to have derived its name from the post-horn,
which at one time was its distinguishing mark. It does not appear
to have been used prior to the establishment of the general
post-office (1670), when it became the custom to blow a horn, to
which circumstance no doubt we may attribute its introduction. The
mark is still frequently used, but the same change which has so much
diminished the number of painted signs in the streets of our towns
and cities, has nearly made paper-marks a matter of antiquarian
curiosity; the maker’s name being now generally used, and the mark,
in the few instances where it still remains, serving the purpose of
mere ornament, rather than that of distinction.
Water-marks, however, have at various periods been the means of
detecting frauds, forgeries and impositions, in our courts of law
and elsewhere, to say nothing of the protection they afford in the
instances already referred to, such as bank notes, cheques, receipt,
bill, and postage stamps. The celebrated Curran once distinguished
himself in a case which he had undertaken, by shrewdly referring
to the water-mark, which effectually determined the verdict. And
another instance, which I introduce merely in the form of an amusing
anecdote, occurred once at Messina, where the monks of a certain
monastery exhibited, with great triumph, a letter as being written
by the Virgin Mary with her own hand. Unluckily for them, however,
this was not, as it easily might have been, written upon the ancient
papyrus, but on paper made of rags. On one occasion a visitor, to
whom this was shown, observed, with affected solemnity, that the
letter involved also a _miracle_, for the paper on which it was
written was not in existence until several centuries after the mother
of our Lord had died.
A further illustration of the kind occurs in a work entitled
“Ireland’s Confessions,” which was published respecting his
fabrication of the Shakspeare manuscripts,—a literary forgery even
still more remarkable, I think, than that which is said to have been
perpetrated by Chatterton, as Rowley’s Poems.
The interest which at the time was universally felt in this
production of Ireland’s, may be partially gathered from the fact,
that the whole of the original edition, which appeared in the form
of a shilling pamphlet, was disposed of in a few hours; while so
great was the eagerness to obtain copies afterwards, that single
impressions were sold in an auction room at the extravagant price of
a guinea.
This gentleman tells us, at one part of his explanation, that the
sheet of paper which he used was the outside of several others,
on some of which accounts had been kept in the reign of Charles
the First; and being at that time wholly unacquainted with the
water-marks used in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, “I carefully
selected (says he) two half-sheets, not having any mark whatever,
on which I penned my first effusion.” A few pages further on
he writes—“Being thus urged forward to the production of more
manuscripts, it became necessary that I should possess a sufficient
quantity of old paper to enable me to proceed, in consequence
of which I applied to a bookseller, named Verey, in Great May’s
Buildings, St. Martin’s Lane, who, for the sum of five shillings,
suffered me to take from all the folio and quarto volumes in his
shop, the fly leaves which they contained. By this means I was
amply stored with that commodity; nor did I fear any mention of the
circumstance by Mr. Verey, whose quiet unsuspecting disposition, I
was well convinced, would never lead him to make the transaction
public, in addition to which he was not likely even to know anything
concerning the supposed Shaksperian discovery by myself, and even
if he had, I do not imagine that my purchase of the old paper
in question, would have excited in him the smallest degree of
suspicion. As I was fully aware from the variety of water-marks
which are in existence at the present day, that they must have
constantly been altered since the period of Elizabeth, and being
for some time wholly unacquainted with the water-marks of that age,
I very carefully produced my first specimens of the writing on
such sheets of old paper as had no mark whatever. Having heard it
frequently stated that the appearance of such marks on the papers
would have greatly tended to establish their validity, I listened
attentively to every remark which was made upon the subject, and
from thence I at length gleaned the intelligence that a jug was the
prevalent water-mark of the reign of Elizabeth, in consequence of
which I inspected all the sheets of old paper then in my possession,
and having selected such as had the jug upon them, I produced the
succeeding manuscripts upon these, being careful, however, to mingle
with them a certain number of blank leaves, that the production
on a sudden of so many water-marks might not excite suspicion in
the breasts of those persons who were most conversant with the
manuscripts.”
Thus, this notorious literary forgery, through the cunning ingenuity
of the perpetrator, ultimately proved so successful as to deceive
many learned and able critics of the age. Indeed, on one occasion a
kind of certificate was drawn up, stating that the undersigned names
were affixed by gentlemen who entertained no doubt whatever as to the
validity of the Shaksperian production, and that they voluntarily
gave such public testimony of their convictions upon the subject. To
this document several names were appended by persons as conspicuous
for their erudition as they were pertinacious in their opinions.
The water-mark in the form of a letter _p_, of which I have given an
illustration, is taken from Caxton’s well-known work, “The Game of
the Chesse,” a _fac simile_ of which is about to be published as a
tribute to his memory. Paper has recently been made expressly for the
purpose, in exact representation of the original, and containing this
water-mark, which will be found common in works printed by him.
The ordinary mode of effecting such paper marks as we have been
describing is that of affixing a stout wire in the form of any object
to be represented to the surface of the fine wire-gauze, of which the
hand-mould, or machine dandy roller is constructed.
The perfection, however, to which water-marks have now attained,
which in many instances is really very beautiful, is owing to a more
ingenious method recently patented, and since adopted by the Bank
of England, as affording considerable protection to the public in
determining the genuineness of a bank note.
For the original idea of producing light and shade, as seen in
specimens 1, 13, and 15, we are indebted to Mr. Wm. Henry Smith,
whose patient perseverance, and laborious efforts, at length enabled
him to overcome many difficulties, and finally to produce not only
any peculiarity of design, however complicate, but also to secure
its repetition with a certainty of uniformity which, in the process
of manufacture as hitherto conducted, it was found impossible to
accomplish.
To produce a line water-mark of the character shown in specimens
10, 12, and 16, or of any of the autographs or crests in No. 14,
(which sheet was produced from the mould which I employed at the
London Institution,) we might either engrave the pattern or device
first in some yielding surface, precisely as we should engrave a
copper-plate for printing, and afterwards by immersing the plate
in a solution of sulphate of copper, and electrotyping it in the
usual way, allow the interstices of the engraving to give it as
were a casting of pure copper, and thus an exact representation of
the original device, which, upon being removed from the plate, and
affixed to the surface of the wire-gauze forming the mould, would
produce a corresponding impression in the paper: or, supposing
perfect identity to be essential, as in the case of a bank note, we
might engrave the design upon the surface of a steel die, taking care
to cut those parts in the die deepest which are intended to give
greater effect in the paper, and then, after having hardened, and
otherwise properly prepared the die, it would be placed under a steam
hammer or other stamping apparatus, for the purpose of producing
what is technically termed a “force,” which is required to assist in
transferring an impression from the die to a plate of sheet brass.
This being done, the die, with the mould-plate in it, would next be
taken to a perforating or cutting machine, where the back of the
mould-plate—that is the portion which projects above the face of the
die—would be removed, while that portion which was impressed into the
design engraven, would remain untouched, and this being subsequently
taken from the interstices of the die and placed in a frame upon a
backing of fine wire-cloth, becomes a mould for the manufacture of
paper of the pattern which is desired, or for the production of any
water-mark, autograph, crest or device, however complicate.
Light and shade, as seen in Nos. 1, 13, and 15, are occasioned by a
very similar process, but one which perhaps requires a little more
care, and necessarily becomes somewhat more tedious. For instance, in
the former case the pulp is distributed equally throughout the entire
surface of the wire forming the mould, whereas _now_ we have to
contrive the means of increasing to a very great nicety the thickness
or distribution of the pulp, and at the same time to make provision
for the water’s draining away. This has been accomplished, as in the
case of No. 13, by first taking an electrotype of the raised surface
of any model or design, and again from that, forming in a similar
manner a matrix or mould, both of which are subsequently mounted upon
lead or gutta percha, in order that they may withstand the pressure
which is required to be put upon them in giving impression to a
sheet of very fine copper wire-gauze, which, in the form of a mould,
and in the hands of the vatman, suffices ultimately to produce such
beautiful transparent effects in paper pulp as those to which I have
called your attention. By similar means a portrait of the Emperor
Napoleon was produced for the Paris Exhibition.
The other specimens, 1 and 15, are produced in the same manner as
the word “Five” in the centre of the new Bank of England note. The
deepest shadows in the water-mark being occasioned by the deepest
engraving upon the die, the lightest, by the shallowest, and so
forth; the die being employed to give impression by means of the
stamping press and “force” to the fine wire-gauze itself, which by
this means, providing the die be properly cut, is accomplished far
more successfully than by any other process, and with the additional
advantage of securing perfect identity.
It may be interesting to call attention to the contrast as regards
the method of mould-making originally practised, and that which has
recently been adopted by the Bank of England. In a pair of five
pound note moulds, prepared by the old process, there were 8 curved
borders, 16 figures, 168 large waves, and 240 letters, which had all
to be separately secured by the finest wire to the waved surface.
There were 1,056 wires, 67,584 twists, and the same repetition
where the stout wires were introduced to support the under surface.
Therefore, with the backing, laying, large waves, figures, letters,
and borders, before a pair of moulds was completed, there were some
hundreds of thousands of stitches, most of which are now avoided by
the new patent. But further, by this multitudinous stitching and
sewing, the parts were never placed precisely in the same position,
and the water-mark was consequently never identical. Now, the
same die gives impression to the metal which transfers it to the
water-mark, with a certainty of identity unattainable before, and one
could almost say, never to be surpassed.
But, as it has been properly remarked, may we not detect principles
in this process which are not only valuable to the Bank, but to all
public establishments having important documents on paper, for what
can exceed the value of such a test for discovering the deceptions
of dishonest men. One’s signature, crest, or device of any kind,
rendering the paper exclusively one’s own, can now be secured in a
pair of moulds, at the cost merely of a few guineas.
Thus then, I have endeavoured briefly to glance at all the varied
manipulations comprised in the term Paper Making; from the soiled
rags, which by this regenerating process, are converted into pure
and spotless paper, and thence to the operations which in degree
distinguish it, until finally, the stronger the test for illuminating
its perfection, but suffices to prove it of that most aristocratic
class, to which belongs our new bank note.