Paperweight

“ The slower the process of manufacture is conducted from beginning to end, from the trituration of the “stuff” in the rag engine, to the formation of the sheet, its sizing, drying, and rolling, the stronger and more durable will the paper ultimately turn out. No. 17, which is a specimen of [93] paper thus carefully made, and almost as tough and durable as parchment, is capable of sustaining a weight of no less than 200 lbs., simply by means of a slip the width of a bank note. ”

“ THE PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL ASPECTS OF PAPER The size and weight of a sheet of paper of any given quality and finish are its most obvious features, and when we speak of the weight of a sheet of paper we refer not to the one sheet, but to the weight of one ream of similar sheets. Most papers are ordered on a basis of ream weight for a specified size, as, for example, 25 by 38, 50-pound. Blanks, cardboards and cover-papers, especially the first two, are more frequently ordered on a basis of bulk, as two-ply, three-ply, etc., and thick or double thick in the case of covers. ”

“ Printers, or others, who accumulate large quantities of waste papers, will find that it pays to keep the various grades in separate receptacles, as a better price may be obtained for it in this way. Furthermore, by means of a baling press, the papers may be set aside in compact bales, which occupy less room and are not so great a fire risk as loose accumulations. The fact that 21.4 per cent of the paper-making fibers, according to United States Census Report, 1909, are derived from waste papers, indicates their importance as raw materials, while their use lessens the drain upon our forests. ”

“ A test of the weight and strength of 314 samples of newsprint paper made by 52 mills in the United States and Canada, and obtained from the mills and from buyers discloses many important facts. Out of the 314 samples 35 per cent. are within reasonable limits of weight, while 46 per cent. are below and 39 per cent. are above reasonable weight, taking the mill standard of 34 pounds for 500 sheets, measuring 44 by 36 inches as the basis. The paper makers have some sort of an understanding among themselves that they will sell 32-pound paper. ”

“ Hard stock, it is now said, must be used in larger proportions than is required for other descriptions of paper, and that the pulp must be subjected for a greater length of time to the long-beating process, so that the fibre shall be not only long but fine, in order that the paper may be strong, smooth, and even, and that the fibre shall become bedded in the thickness of the paper so as not to mar the surface. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Paper made of properly prepared linen and cotton is by far the best, but there are so many new uses for paper that there are not rags enough in the world to make nearly what is needed. There are scores of newspapers and magazines where there used to be one; and as for paper bags and cartons and boxes, there is no limit to their number and variety. A single manufacturer of pens and pencils calls for four thousand different sorts and sizes of boxes. ”

“ One paper mill carries an enormous stock of high class engine-sized bond and bank papers in eighteen colours, and each of these in six substances. Bank papers are thinner than bonds, the usual substances being foolscap 7 lb., large post 11 lb., medium 13 lb. Here again the best papers are all-rag, tub-sized, and while a very good chemical wood, tub-sized, super-calendered bank paper is obtainable, papers of the best quality, such as "3009 Extra Strong," always command a high price, being extremely strong and durable. ”

“ In a printing office where small quantities of paper are dealt with, the inconvenience of carrying paper in and out a few reams at a time may not be apparent, but considerable time is wasted and some loss in spoiled sheets results from such a method. Quantities of paper should be dealt with as expeditiously, and with as little handling, as possible. Transporter trucks require, perhaps, more room than is taken by a man or boy lifting reams, but it deals with thirty reams, instead of two at a time, and in up-to-date offices time is counted as valuable as currency. ”

“ Wood-pulps are of two classes, mechanical and chemical. In the lay mind there often appears to be some confusion between the two, leading to an unreasonable prejudice against papers made from either class. The fact is so generally known that news-print, one of the cheapest grades of paper, is made from wood, that the partially informed person is prone to think that all wood papers are of low quality, whereas paper of permanence and excellent quality may be made from the high grades of wood cellulose chemically prepared. ”

“ The purposes of loading are to fill the spaces between the fibres, to give opacity to papers, such as those made of sulphite wood pulp, which would otherwise be very transparent, and to enable the paper to take a higher finish than would be possible in a paper without loading: a smoother and more absorbent, even if a little weaker, sheet, resulting. In a blotting paper mineral matter is an adulteration; in writing papers 5 per cent, is sufficient for improvement of surface; in printings 10 to 16 per cent, is as much as is permissible. ”

“ A number of girls rapidly examine every sheet of paper, withdrawing those sheets which fall below the papermaker's standard of perfection, sorting into retree and broke proceeding as in the case of hand-made papers. Counting, cutting, and packing take place very quickly after the paper is sorted. The nimble fingers of the counters turn up the edge of a quantity of paper, the fingers of the other hand run down the edges quickly, counting into reams with extraordinary accuracy. Some papers are trimmed before packing, while others are cut from double to single sheets. ”

“ The Government of the United States tests paper in several ways before buying it. First, a single sheet is weighed; then a ream is put on the scales to see if it weighs four hundred and eighty times as much. This shows whether the paper runs evenly in weight. Many sheets are folded together and measured to see if the thickness is regular. To test its strength, a sheet is clamped over a hole one square inch in area, and liquid is pressed against it from below to see how much it will stand before bursting. Strips of the paper are pulled in a machine to test its breaking strength. ”

“ Ledger or account book papers may be hand- or machine-made, and are usually azure or blue laid. If machine-made, the characteristics of the hand-made papers are as far as possible retained: strength, hard tub-sized surface, opacity, moderate finish, both sides alike in surface. To attain these qualities the same materials are employed, an all-rag furnish with a fair proportion of strong linen, prolonged beating to draw out the fibres, a shake to ensure good felting, slow drying to allow gradual contraction, tub-sizing, air-drying over skeleton drums will attain the desired end. ”

“ The transition from the old ways of paper-making to modern processes was sudden. The century which gave6 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ In the treatment necessary for making paper these characteristics are largely destroyed, and while it is quite easy to ascertain that a paper is of linen, or of cotton, or that a paper is mainly cotton with a small percentage of linen, yet there are conditions under which it is difficult to determine the exact percentage of cotton or linen in a rag paper. If, for example, a paper contains nearly equal quantities of cotton and linen, the exact proportions cannot be determined closer than 10 per cent., especially in well-beaten papers. ”

“ The method of packing reams or parcels is sometimes excellent, but at other times it leaves something to be desired. If the wrappers are not strong enough for the paper contained, they break as the reams are moved, and the edges of the paper are likely to become damaged. Fastening is done with paper tape, webbing, or string, according to the size and weight of the parcels. Light and small sued paper may be fastened with paper tape, all sizes and weights with webbing or cotton tape, and heavy papers with string. ”

“ Long-fibre paper has been a common article of manufacture in the United States longer than I can remember. It has been known in the market as bank-note, bond-paper, cartridge-paper, drawing-paper, silk-paper, tissue, manillas, and tissue-paper.
'There is no essential difference in the process and means used to produce collar-paper, that I know of, and the process and means employed to produce other thick, strong, pliable long-fibre papers which I have enumerated. The same machinery answers for one as the other. ”

“ Complainant's principal manufacture is newspaper presses of large size and complicated mechanism, varying in weight from 10,000 to 100,000 pounds, and requiring a considerable force of labor and a considerable expenditure of time-a week or more-to handle, haul, and erect them at the point of delivery. ”

“ The average weight of newspapers is about three ounces, and of book-packets ten ounces.
[207] With charges extremely low, the Post-Office is victimized by all kinds of craftiness. The dodging of the proper payment is sometimes quite ludicrous. Hundreds of newspapers, for instance, are annually caught (and we may reasonably assume that thousands more escape) with short loving messages deftly inscribed between their paragraphs of type, or letters, different descriptions of light articles, and even money curiously imbedded in their folds. ”

“ The grim old man who may be seen at the upper part of the illustration, with a leg in one page, and with head and body in another, is beating paper stock to a pulp. [2] His only tool is a forked club, with which he pounds on the stone, and macerates the leaves and inner bark of various trees that have been previously saturated in an adjoining tub that is supposed to contain a solution of caustic alkali. How the stock could be reduced to the requisite smoothness for paper pulp by this rough manipulation is a problem that no American paper-maker will undertake to solve. ”

“ It is true that some few newspapers exceed the limit of weight (4 ozs.) which is carried for one penny, and they are therefore charged higher rates; but, on the other hand, two or more of the lighter newspapers—the aggregate weight of which does not exceed the 4 ozs.—are frequently sent under the same cover, and only one penny is charged on the packet. The average postage of each newspaper, when prepaid with the postage stamp, will therefore, in all probability, not exceed one penny per transmission. ”

“ 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 ”