Sizing (paper)

“ 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 [74] lines, previously to rolling or glazing. ”

“ American Method of Sizing.—Another method of preparing size, and which is adopted in America, is the following:—In large paper mills the size is generally prepared in a room devoted to the purpose, and is commonly situated near the machine. The finest grades of light hide and skin clippings are used for No. 1 letter papers, but less costly stock is employed for the lower grades of animal-sized papers. [124] To preserve the glue pieces the tanners and tawers macerate the clippings in milk of lime and afterwards dry them. ”

“ Engine-sized paper is much cheaper to produce than animal sized, and is therefore used principally for the lower qualities of writings and for almost all kinds of printings where firmness and smoothness is not so much a desideratum. Most tub-sized papers have a certain portion of engine size mixed with the pulp. This not only ensures the thorough sizing of the sheet, but also is a measure of economy in reducing the absorbing power of the paper for the animal size. ”

“ Machine-Sizing.—The lower-priced papers, to be machine-sized, are first partly dried over a few cylinders, after which the paper passes through a tank containing liquid size, from whence it passes between two rollers, which squeeze out the superfluous size ”

“ If the sizing should be insufficient, resizing can be done with a 10 per cent gelatin solution, with a 2 per cent arrowroot paste, or with a 50 per cent decoction of carrageen. This size is applied on the crude paper with a brush and allowed to dry. The well-sized or resized papers are superior and the picture becomes stronger on them than on insufficiently sized paper. ”

“ It does not always follow when an ink has made a blur on one part of the paper and not on another that the paper has been tampered with. A drop of water accidentally let fall on the blank page will frequently affect the sizing in that place, and, besides, all papers are not evenly sized in every part. ”

“ If the machine-made paper is for writing, it may be gelatine sized, followed by drying, re-reeling, glazing, cutting into sheets, sorting, counting, and packing into reams. Printing papers are finished with "machine" or with super-calender or water finish, and other papers with friction-glazed or flint-glazed surfaces, the other operations following as for other papers after glazing.
Tub sizing always means animal sizing. ”

“ For the higher grades of writing-paper, however, a distinctly separate and additional process is required. ♦Tub sizing♦ These papers while on the machine in web form are passed through a vat which is called the size-tub, and which is filled with a liquid sizing made of gelatine from clippings of the horns, hides, and hoofs of cattle, this gelatine or glue being mixed with dissolved alum and made fluid in the vat. Papers which are treated in this way are known as “animal,” or “tub-sized.” ”

“ It must be remembered that a size too strong in glue or isinglass is liable to make the paper too brittle; again, some papers require a stronger size than others.
(4) . A size that may be used cold, and is recommended in France, to keep at hand and to use when only a single leaf requires sizing, such as when a name has been erased from a title-page, is as follows:—Boil about a quart of water in a saucepan. ”

“ The addition of filler, however, increases the opacity, gives mellowness, and improves the printing quality by equalizing the texture of the surface.
The addition of sizing tends to increase the strength of paper, owing to its adhesive properties, but if liberally used it detracts from the mellowness and gives the sheet a tinny “character.”
The length of the fiber also affects the strength, as long fibers give greater strength and better folding quality than short. It is not possible to get as close formation with long as with short fibers. ”

“ 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 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 [73] injury to the felts, it becomes necessary to pass the web of paper, after it has been dried by the cylinders, through this apparatus. ”

“ Feather-weight Paper.—A term applied to bulky book papers much in favour for current fiction. The fibre is esparto, beaten quickly, no loading, but little sizing, very little pressure while passing through the machine. The fibre being loose occupies a large space, and the paper is very light for its bulk, hence the term. Usual sizes and weights: double crown 30 to 60 lb., double demy 40 to 70 lb., and quad crown 55 to 120 lb. per ream of 516 sheets. ”

“ In order to prevent common ink from running upon paper, size is introduced at a certain stage of the manufacture; but printing-ink being oily instead of watery, and, moreover, of greater consistence than common ink, is not so liable to run. Hence, for certain printing-papers, the sizing is done in the beating-engine towards the close of the operation. The size consists of finely pounded alum mixed with oil, about a pint and a half of the mixture being thrown into the engine at intervals during the last half hour of the beating. ”

“ The rapidly absorptive quality of the paper, as prepared for use, necessitates damping of the whole surface in order to apply a wash, and, of course, after the damping process has been repeated three or four times, the sizing of the paper perishes, or the preparation of the silk disappears, if silk is employed. ”

“ The following measurements, in inches, of a leaf of folio, octavo, and 16mo, of foolscap, medium, and imperial paper, will show how impossible it would be, from the size of the book to determine the fold of the sheet, even of paper of what are called the regular sizes, particularly when the books have been cut down in binding:
Since the introduction of machine paper and large presses, paper is made of almost any and every size and shape, and it is no longer possible to distinguish, with accuracy, the different folds. ”

“ In order to save both time and labour, I prepare my papers in the largest sizes that circumstances will admit of, as it takes little or no more time to prepare and render sensitive a large sheet than a small one; and as I always apply the silver solution by means of the glass rod, I find that a half-sheet of Canson's paper (being seventeen inches by eleven inches the half-sheet) is the best size to operate on. If the whole sheet is used, it requires more than double the quantity of solution to ensure its being properly covered, which additional quantity is simply so much waste. ”

“ For example, on a bulk of .015 of an inch to four sheets a supercalendered paper would weigh about 65 pounds, a high machine finish about 60 pounds, a text or medium finish about 50 pounds, an antique about 40 pounds. In other words, the density of any given piece of paper is proportionate to the amount of calendering it receives. Naturally, the antique paper, lightly pressed and uncalendered, is loose for texture and full of minute air pockets, so that it is light for bulk, while the supercalendered paper is squeezed to a hard, dense sheet containing little air space. ”

“ THE SIZE & SHAPE OF THE BOOK
A book is thought of by the scribe chiefly as an open book, and the width and height of its pages are chosen with a view to its convenient shape and pleasant appearance when open. The most economical sizes into which a suitable sheet of paper can be folded (or a skin of parchment can be cut) may commonly be allowed to decide these proportions.
When a printer is about to print a book he chooses a sheet of paper which will fold into a suitable shape and size. If the sheet be folded [p102] once to form two leaves, the book is called a folio (fig. 69) ”

“ There are two opposing elements at work, size and form. Originally, when all paper was handmade, and did not vary very much in measurement, books were spoken of as folio, quarto, octavo, etc., according to the folding of the sheet; and these terms apply to the folding of the sheet. In the present century, when paper is made by machinery, and made to any size, the folding cannot be taken as a criterion, and the various sizes are determined by measurement, the old terms, applicable only to the size by folding, being retained. ”

“ Every different diameter of a paper can requires a different diameter mandrel for both the tube winder and the tube cutter, also a different size die for the cover and bottom.)
The large paper manufacturers—those who specialize in coarse papers—supply various kinds of paper in large rolls which is suitable for the making of paper cans. The Langston slitter and rewinder will handle a roll of paper any width up to 48 inches (according to the width of the machine) and will cut this paper [203] and rewind it into small rolls from one and one-half inches to six inches wide. ”

“ Few people have any idea what constitute the essentials of a book's form and proportions. Yet our old standards, in manuscript and print, demand "that the length of a printed page should have relation to its width, and that the top should not exceed half the bottom margin, and that the front should be double the back margin."
The papermaker comes in for a large share of blame, but the remedy lies only in the hands of the consumer, who must insist on receiving good and durable paper. "The ink-maker is a sinner of the first magnitude." ”

“ It is not necessary to have different papers to suit, as one could be used for all, and after the pattern is painted it could be ruled in rows to suit the machine, but it is much more convenient to get the correct size of paper.
If 80 threads of warp required to have 100 picks per inch, then to find the size of the paper state as 80: 100:: the number of needles in one row of the machine to the number of cards in each design, giving 8 × 10, 10 × 12-1/2, or 12 × 15 ”

“ When the types are divided into pages they are placed in sets or “formes,” each forme being secured in an iron frame called a “chase,” which can be conveniently moved about. Each chase is of a size to enclose as many pages as will cover one side of the sheet of paper to be used in printing. Fifty years ago only one or two sizes of paper were made, and the size of sheet generally used for books was that which allowed eight pages of library size on one side, hence called “octavo” size, or when folded another way allowed twelve pages, hence “twelvemo” or “duodecimo.” ”

“ Fortunately papermakers do not often offend by sending supplies which are out of the square. It does, however, sometimes occur that one edge of the paper is not quite true; folding a sheet in half, with the short edges coincident, will show the extent of deviation from squareness. For ordinary purposes it may not be material if one edge of the paper is one-eighth of an inch out, but if the sheet has to be backed up, care must be taken to feed the longer side into the grippers and to place the side lay, when backing up, at the opposite side exactly at the same point as when first fed. ”

“ If the claim be good, it would seem to follow that any band of paper wound in such manner that the internal diameter is greater than the thickness of the paper would be an infringement, whatever be its shape, or for whatever purpose used. The size of the roll, too, is not made material, except that it must bear a certain relation to its inner diameter. Certainly it would apply to all toilet paper, even if wound in a cylindrical form, as the language of the claim, though not of the specification, indicates that it should be. ”

“ Practically a whole sheet of paper, which is about 22 inches by 18, is the maximum ordinary size, whilst it may be convenient to float a piece as small as 31/4 by 41/4. There is not much difficulty in floating either one or the other if ordinary care be taken, but it is no use disguising the fact that large sheets are sometimes faultily sensitized even by experienced hands, if the solution be not in a proper state. ”

“ There are, however, a variety of other sizes, regulated by the number of leaves into which the sheet may be folded, as well as by the size of the Paper adopted, which may be more readily seen than described. The size and qualities of Paper, are of every variety. ”

“ 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. ”