Papermaker

“ Creasing from defects of the machine, make-ready, or printing surface must not be visited upon the papermaker. If the paper will not respond to exposure to air, feeding the narrow way of the sheet may overcome the difficulty, or, if the size of the machine permits it, cutting the paper in half and rearranging the forme or other printing surface and putting on an extra feeder.
Art and other coated papers which have the coating fixed to the paper with glue in addition to the liability to wavy edges, may be troublesome by reason of the surface lifting or picking. ”

“ The expense of manufacturing paper in this way is very much greater than by machinery; but the gain in strength, partly owing to the time allowed to the fibres to knit together, and partly to the free expansion and contraction permitted them in drying, still maintains a steady demand for this class of paper.
The paper-machine (fig. 12) consists essentially of an endless mould of fine wire-cloth on which the pulp flows and on which a continuous sheet of paper is formed; the sheet then passes through a series of press rolls and over a number of steam-heated cylinders until it is dry. ”

“ Aside from the positions that require a knowledge of printing more or less complete, such as proofreading, publishing, librarians’ work, etc., there are jobs connected with the paper industry where this knowledge, which as a matter of fact is rarely found, would prove of great advantage.
It is evident, moreover, that some practical knowledge of printing may prove useful if not essential for practically all men who engage in commerce or manufacturing. They are all buyers of printing, and it is a difficult commodity to purchase intelligently. ”

“ Other colours are required in the manufacture of papers of different tints, and with one or two exceptions they must be mixed with the pulp in the beater.
There are two distinct processes of producing the finished paper from the pulp, known respectively as “hand-made” and “machine-made.” The expense of manufacture of hand-made paper and the consequent high price render it too costly for ordinary use; the entire process on the machine occupies a few minutes, while in the ordinaryPaper Machine. ”

“ It is essential that all the water should be dried out of the paper, and the paper is sometimes reeled almost bone-dry, but if the paper is to be super-calendered it is damped before reeling, and left until the paper mellows before calendering. Many papers are cut and packed without much opportunity for maturing, that is, as regards paper, attaining a degree of stability which should be maintained during its manipulation by the printer, and, it is hoped, during the remainder of its career. ”

“ Nearly eighty tons of paper and twenty-three hundredweight of printing-ink were used in the production of that number. Larger quantities have been printed of some issues, but the production was spread over a longer period of time. 930,000 sheets is the largest quantity ever printed in one week. It will thus be seen what an amount of business this represents to the paper-maker, the ink-maker, the wood-draughtsman, the engravers, the electrotypers, the compositors, printers, machine-men, roller-makers, warehousemen, and the numerous other workers in a newspaper printing-office. ”

“ A French paper makes a calculation to show how marvelously human labor is outrivaled by the mechanical arrangements of the steam press. The280 paper, “La Patrie,” contains about 4,230 lines: 8,000 copies make 34,560,000 lines. A clerk could write about three lines in a minute; therefore it would require 11,520,000 minutes, or 192,000 hours, for a single clerk to supply 8,000 copies of “La Patrie;” in other words, it would require 192,000 men to supply, by copying, the same amount of paper which the cylinder printing-press supplies in one hour. ”

“ Once the printer or his apprentices had set the type, pulled a proof, “made up” the type into pages with the proper spacing and ornaments, and then locked it into forms by means of furniture and quoins, he placed his form on the press and adjusted it to get the most even impression. Then he was ready to begin the actual process of printing. Whereas printing is commonly done today by automatic presses, fed with paper either mechanically or by hand, it had to be done one sheet at a time in the eighteenth century. ”

“ This can be accomplished to so fine a degree, by a skilful man, that the difference between the two sides of the paper is scarcely discernible. The fineness of weave of the one cloth also is an important bearing in securing an even sided sheet.
Thus we see that it is well-nigh impossible to reduce the making of paper to an exact science, and a reasonable variation must be expected, both in weight and finish. The successful management of a paper-machine depends, from start to finish, on careful, experienced judgment and alert attention. ”

“ General Magazine advertising of paper has been principally devoted to writing paper. This is natural, since of all paper products this commodity has the largest number of buyers, and the matter of taste is not so over-shadowed by technical considerations, as in the case of printing papers.
The specifications for general printing, involve more knowledge of printing processes than most people possess, hence the final decision rests in a majority of cases on the printer’s judgment, so that logically the printer is the most necessary individual to convert. ”

“ 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. ”

“ It is not always easy to persuade the consumer to select the very best paper for office stationery, but the choice should be made with a view to create a good impression. Remember always, too, that printing demands good paper to produce the most satisfactory effect.
For lithography the work in hand frequently dictates the quality of paper to be used. Offset printing, certainly, has enabled the lithographer to print on papers unsuitable for direct stone printing, but in all work the right paper produces the best result. ”

“ There is a popular notion that the so-called inventions of paper and xylographic printing were gladly welcomed by men of letters, and that the new fabric and the new art were immediately pressed into service. The facts about to be presented in succeeding chapters will lead to a different conclusion. We shall see that the makers of playing cards and of image prints were the men who first made extended use of printing, and that self-taught and unprofessional copyists were the men who gave encouragement to the manufacture of paper. ”

“ Beating.—One of the most important operations in the manufacture of first-class paper is that of beating, by which the half-stuff becomes reduced to a fine state of division, and the fibres which, in the condition of half-stuff, are more or less loosely held together in a clotted state, become separated, and are thus put into a condition in which they will intertwine with each other, or felt, as it is termed, when submitted to the vibratory motion of the wire-cloth of the paper machine. ”

“ The first man to make a continuous web of paper was Nicholas Louis Robert, a Frenchman who received a reward of 8,000 francs from his government for his invention. Robert’s patent rights were acquired by the Fourdrinier Brothers (Henry and Sealy) , of England. They developed and perfected the machine and to them is ascribed the honor of founding the modern paper industry.
USES OF PAPER
Paper is more commonly and extensively used to-day than any other product of manufacture and is employed for an astonishing variety of purposes, ranging from milk bottles to suits of clothing. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Chart Papers.—Largely used by lithographers for map and chart printing. Machine-made, the best qualities are all-rag, tub-sized, with smooth surface. Must be strong, pliable, tough, resistant to wear, and at the same time a good printing surface is essential. The manufacture is arranged so as to avoid subsequent stretch.
Cheque Papers.—Good quality of paper, specially made for strength, usually all-rag. Special watermarks may be employed, or protection from fraud is obtained by special printing. ”

“ In some cases the paper is hung over lines, about a quire at a time, exposed to the atmosphere and dust of the machine-room. Hanging frames are supplied by vendors of printers' supplies, in which the paper is clipped by a ball or swinging lever, and about a quire is held in each of the clips, a perpendicular position minimising the danger of dirt. By use of these frames a large quantity of paper can be treated in a comparatively small space. The "Swift" machine is another method of maturing paper. The claim made for the machine is that it matures large quantities of paper in a short time. ”

“ When we note the important part played by paper in the complicated scheme of our twentieth century lives, we may gain some faint appreciation of its place and relative importance as a factor of life. As a factor in printing it has been customary to place paper first in the list. It is a safe practice, though the versatility of the paper makers is yearly making it less essential to do so. Yet, when all the progress in paper making has been considered, it paradoxically remains that the selection of paper by the printer is not the simple matter it was only a few years ago. ”

“ The products in question are manufactures of paper, as contradistinguished from paper, because completed paper, as produced in paper mills, is but one of the tangible ingredients, the other products (sizing of a particular description, water-color paints, wool flock, and the like) being materials entirely foreign to the art of the paper maker, and that complete merchantable paper is employed simply as the material, and is subjected to elaborate mechanical processes, involving the employment of machinery entirely unknown to the paper maker's art, and operated by workmen who are not paper makers ”

“ 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. ”

“ Those observations, which are partly technical, because, without technicality, the view would be incomplete,—may give some idea of the skill required in the workman, and the expenditure demanded of the capitalist, to produce so simple a thing, as a sheet of paper. The most exact care, the most ingenious invention, the nicest work of hand, and the most complicated machinery, are essential to that superiority which the British manufacture of paper has at length established. ”

“ Looking at my adventure from this point of view then, I found I had to consider chiefly the following things: the paper, the form of the type, the relative spacing of the letters, the words, and the lines; and lastly the position of the printed matter on the [2] page. It was a matter of course that I should consider it necessary that the paper should be hand-made, both for the sake of durability and appearance. It would be a very false economy to stint in the quality of the paper as to price: so I had only to think about the kind of hand-made paper. ”

“ It embraces a multitude of most ingenious and delicate operations, and produces in a few minutes, and in one continuous process from the prepared pulp, sheets of paper ready for use. Machine-made paper has now gradually supplanted that made by hand for all except special purposes, such as bank-note, ledger, drawing and other high-class papers—in one word, in cases where great durability is the chief requisite. ”

“ The “wet” end of this machine is a Fourdrinier type.
The arrangement and number of smoothing and calender rolls is also dependent on the class of paper to be made. Most writing-paper machines have no calenders at all as the surface is obtained on special machinery such as platers and sheet calenders after the paper comes from the drying loft. One can easily appreciate that, while the general principles of all paper-making are identical, there is a call for a wide variety of arrangements, such as those cited, to meet the varying requirements of different classes of paper. ”