The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1869-07-15
syegisfellaneu1ts Artitles.
historical Notes on Paper Manufacture.

The invention Of paper, which IS proo'
ably due to the Chinese, is undoubtedly
one of the most important ever made.
1t has, together with the invention OF
Gutenberg, .exerted an inauence upon
mankind which is hardly appreciated
highly enough. No wonder, therefore,
that the manufacture of paper has grown
to be one of the most extensive INDUS,
tries of the present day. The continual
increase of it's consumption led, however,
already in past times to dangerous con-
dition of this industry, in SO tar, namely;
as the production of the raw material
did not keep pace with its demand, In
deed. there is perhaps no article in great
or demand than old linen of every kind,
which is, as it were, to be restored to
,youth in the enchanted kettle of the pa
psr-mill, in order to attain aspaper to the
highest honors, whether it be for adorn-
inc parlor tables in the form of elegant
albums, or for serving as a means for the
transmission of thought in the form Oh
books and periodicals.
The great demand for linen and cotton
fibre for tho manufacture of paper is, as
has been already implied, very character
istic of the present time. 1t is, for In
stance. only two centuries ago that, IN
, Germany, there was very heavy penal
ty for the expectation of rags, and in
Eopland the matter was carried 30 Tar
that the arraying of dead bodies in linen
was forbidden. Two hundred years have
elapsed since then, and still it is the cry
of every nation that rags must be retain
ed in their own country. Happily, there
have been, and there are yet many at
work whose endeavors have not been,
and are not directed upon enacting laws
for remedying the existing evil, but rath-
er upon the discovery of substitute for
the raw materials in use. 1t had already
been proposed, toward the close of the
last century, to mix rags with old paper
from which the ink had been removed.
But though experiments of various kinds
were undertaken in this direction, they
did not lead to any practical results.
Greater prospects of success existed in
the trials then made for converting vege-
table fibre into paper. A German cler-
pyman by the name of Schaefer was then
busily engaged with straw, leaves, turf,
old shingles, cabbage-stalks, exhausted
dve-woods, and other materials, with the
praiseworty design of turning these sub
stances to some account in the making of
paper. Specimens of paper produced
from such materials have, indeed, been
handed down to US, and it is the opinion
of all those who have seen them that
they, although considerably inferior to
ordinary paper, might have served the
purpose perfectly we'll as wrapping, or
wall paper.
Similar attempts we're made in other
countries. In the year 1855 there exist
ed a paper-mill in France in which rags
were used with an addition of nettles,
moss, waste chops, rose-leaves, willow and
poplar wood The straw-paper mill at
Millbank, near London, whose proprie-
tors in the year 1900 presented book
made of straw paper to the king OF Eng
land caused greater surprise. However
great the hopes were which were created
by this and other establishments, their
success was very short-hved. They grad
uaiiy went under, all of them. 1t was
especially raised as an objection that the
kind of paper in question lacked the me-
cessary frmness and whiteness. They
were oil of a yellow color. Indeed, the
conversion of the fresh vegetable fibre
into the requisite form for good paper is
undoubtedly more difficult than that of
rags, which, although of vegetable origin,
are, as it were, to o certain extent, al
ready prepared for use. Thus, it seems
shat these attempts resulted only in a
miserable failure, and that all the more
so from the fact that the principles of
chemistry and mechanics could not be
resorted to for assistance in the solution
of the important problems During the
present century, American demand has
caused the importation of large quanti-
tiesof rags. Theprobem mentioned above
has thus come again more and more into
Che foreground, and the present genera
tion may we'll congratulate itself ON be-
ing more successful in this respect than
any of the preceding ones But the con.
version of these substitutes into paper OF
ordinary quality and medium fneness
may now, at least, be considered perfect
success. Numerous products of this kind
were first seen at the German industrial
exhibition in Munich, which took place
in the year 1854. Among these, the col:
lection of Voelter's son attracted especial
attention. 1t embraced larger number
of specimens of paper, made either from
wood or straw alone, or from q varying
mixture of linen and cotton fibre with
these materials. And, what was not to
be disregarded. they were not merely ex-
perimental specimens, but the representa-
lives of growing and extensive indus
try. -,
The printing-paper made of straw alone
exhibited greater degree of firmness
than that made OF linen or hempen rags ;
it itappeared more firm to the touch, though
not quite as smooth as the corresponding
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