The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1854-06-19
RICHMOND, Va,

PAPER FROM STRAW, SHAvIYGs. AND BANK,
SAW DUsr, &c, &c.-The demands for the
diffusion of knowledge in the cheapest pos,
sible forms, to the largest possible numbers,
surpass at present any thing the world has
ever known. Thousands in all portions of
the globe new eagerly seek information and
amusements from books, newspapers and
periodicals where hundreds did fifty wears
ago. Authors and paper makers, publishers,
book binders and printers are scarcely able
to IN and. Book making.
from being the most unproductive of avoca-
tions has become the most lucrative. Sue
cessful authors now accumulate fortunes al
most as rapidly as butchers, grocers, hotel
keepers and spectators in grain. But the
supply of paper, its cost, and the limited
quantity produced, presents at this time a
serious drawback to the universal dissent
nation of cheap literature.
1t is impossible to calculate the immense
requirements of literature in the item of
paper, at this time. One newspaper in Lon
don consumes 100000 pounds of paper,
annually, and the other papers of that city
have an aggregate circulation of 10000, 900
of copies annually. Paris and New York,
and hundred other great cities swell this
amount in newspapers, whilst thousands of
provincial papers all over the world add
their numerous tributary streams. In Lon
don 5000 books are published annually,
whilst 3la,o0o,ooo of letters pass annually
through the post offices of Great Britain
When we recollect that France, Germany
and the United States possess more or as
much intellectual activity as England, we
may form some idea of the vast demands for
cheaper paper than that with which every
purchaser is now taxed when he buys a
book, or subscribes to a newspaper
Linen rags have long ceased to suffice for
the demands of the paper manufacturers,
and we poor editors have been long and
anxiously waiting to hail as deliverer from
the hands of the Philistines, the discoverer
OF good and cheap method of making pa
per. From what we can gather in the scien-
tltic Journals of England, ''the hour and the
men have both come Messrs. Coupler and
Mellier of that country, have patented plan
for manufacturing that very dear article,
paper, from large variety of cheap and al
most valueless substances, such as bark,
wheat straw, the stalk of the Indian corn,
bull rushes, sea weed, sugar cane, all kinds
of mosses hop vines, leather scrapings, len
tils and saw dust. If the substances do not
In short time, bid defiance to the rag mar
ket, and lower the price of old shirts and
petticoats, we shall be very much disap-
pointed The patentees thus describe the
process: awe make use of an open vessel
with perforated false bottom on which are
placed the materials to be operated on, pre-
viously cut Or otherwise divided into short
lengths. From the top of this vessel, (which
is closed during the operation) pipe leads
to a second vessel, capable of holding sixty
gallons, in which is placed the alkaline solu-
ton. The end of the pipe in the first vessel
is provided with a rose-head, when the pro-
cess is to be commenced, steam is turned
into the alkaline mixture, and its tempera-
ture raised to the boiling point. A pipe es-
tablishes communication between the two
vessels from underneath, and circulation of
the heated liquor is maintained for eight
hours. Hot water is then forced through,
and this washing is continued until the liquor
flows out at certain strength. Cold water is
then applied to the materials and passes
through, until it comes out clear. In order to
cleanse and disaggregate the fbres, they are
then submitted to the action of a solution of
hypoclorate of alumina, and again worked
in hot water, in order to remove the sui
phurous bleaching liquid. This reduces the
mass to the condition of half stiff, achich as
manufactured into paper, by the usual
modes" Paper thus manufactured is said to
equal in quality that manufactured by the
Old process with linen and cotton fabrics.