The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1872-11-16
PAPER MAKING AT MARLEY,

| Llprincott's Magazine for November con-
talns an illustrated article by Ii. G.. Sheaf-
| or, describing the process of paper making
at Marley Mill in this county:
The curious processes by which one part
of plant is converted into food for the
body. willie another part is made to convey
food to the mind, is best illustrated by fol-
lowing, III imagination, the manufacture of
particular sheet; and for this purpose the
| Public Ledger, so well known to Philadel-
| phians, is the most convenient and avail
able example. We will therefore follow it
with our minds eye through its various
transformations, imagining that when we
pass from the field we enter the Marley
Mill near Elkton, Maryland, where the
paper on which the Ledger is printed is
manufactured.
In his first form we fail to recognize our
friend the LeGger: rather we recognize an
old friend without a thought that we are
equally familiar with him in different
dress. We meet our embryo Ledger first
in the harvest field, where he waves in the
wind and grows brown and yellow in the
sun, and bears aloft the bearded grain
which is the food Of the people. He is
then oar friend the wheat in which shape
he has received the grateful benedictions
of our fathers for uncounted ages, and
furnished themes for the poet and SMILES
| for the preacher from time immemorial.-
| ~ L., Go1l
is studded with the ripened sheaves, which
presently the ''laborng vain bears away
to the barn and the hreshing- floor.
Our friend now changes his name, but
not his face. We easily recognize the
cleaning stalks of the harvest-field in the
shining blades of the straw-pile. We see
him thrown up in huge stacks, waiting for
| the
Change
Into something rich and strange,
which shall be to him an apothess, and
place him among all the deities of intellect
We take a long look at him here, for it is
the last time we shall see him in the famil- |
lar form which he has worn so long. He
is now to suffer as many indignities as
stout John Barleycorn of precious memory,
and to rise as triumphantly from them all |
He must first pass through the ''chop
per-" a veritable Procrustes' bed, which
shortens his length to about three inches,
but multiplies his numbers corresponding
ly. He is then thoroughly wetted and
steamed, to soften his nature and make
him better fitted for the next trial which
he will have to endure. He now ascends
to an upper floor and is thrown into bin,
where he sweats and soaks and grows grad
ually more pliable, while awaiting the next
ordeal, which IS a fearful one. He is
thrown, q ton or more of him at a time,
into a huge boiler; a liberal dose of caustic
soda, in solution, prepared in huge pans
on the spot, is given him; the lid is fasten-
ed down, scalaing steam turned on, and
the machine made to revolve slowly for 6
or hours or until the silica so abundant
in the straw is entirely dissolved, and
Master Straw himself converted into soft |
and pulpy mass-so soft and pulpy, indeed,
that when the boiler is emptied it runs
freely into y vat, and is pumped up into
the "wet machine, a combination of roll
lers and bands and sieves which chrushes
the knots aud strains out the hard Jumps,
and reduces the mass to a condition be-
tween brown wrapping paper and weak
felt.
Next in order comes another boiler, "the |
bleacher," where our friend is treated to
bath composed of chloride of lime and sui |
phuric or muriatic acid generally the for
mer), and after gyrating about in this pleas
ant compound for about 3 hours he reap
pears as yellowishwhite mass of about
the consistency Of cheese, in which state
he is handeled with a shovel. The "bleach-
ing boiler - is emptied into large watts, and |
from these the stock is thrown up ON |
rack TO drain.
The next move is to :; the engines" an
ugly but useful group of machines which |
it would be impossible to describe without
an illustration. Here the pulp is washed,
a constant stream of fresh water being |
poured into the tub, while the dirty water
Is dUSOi lliiC NllC III
the cylinder, and runs off through it's GEN.
tire. These machines reduce the pulp to
still more extreme degree of smoothness
and uniformity-a result attained, however,
in much less time by the use Of a " Kings
land engine" which passes the pulp be-
tween two disks of metal and ru6s it fine. |
A slight tincturing in the engine with in
digo or some other blue matter takes away |
the last stain of yellow in this |
respect to the bluing bag" of the laundry: |
having received this last identifying touch,
the pulp is now ready to be made into |
"a er.
Now comes the most curious part of the |
whole process. To the visitor who sees it |
for the first time the transformation en-
acted under his very eyes seems almost too
wonderful for belief. Down the whole |
length of a long room runs succession of |
rollers, large and small, supported on an
iron framework, and garnished with wheels
and pipes and belts innumerable and incom-
prehensible. This is the 80 Fourdrinier ma
chine,' so named after its inventor Be-
fore it came into use paper was made by a |
slow and painful process of hand-work.-
The workman was provided with shall
low wooden frame or box, the bottom of
which was made Of fine wire gauze: this
he dipped into a tank containing pulp, |
scooped up a quantity, and then, by dex-
ferrous manipulation, produced sheet of
paper of the size of the frame, and toler-
ably smooth and even, the water escaping
through the meshes of the bottom. But
the Fourdrinier machine has changed all
that" and is now universally used for
manufacturing all kinds of paper.
At the upper end of the machine we see
a milky fluid pouring into sieve which is
continually vibrating, and making a great
deal of noise about it. This is our old
friend after passing through all his trials,
now purified and ready for the last of the
Proteap changes through which he must