The Andrew County Republican. [volume] (Savannah, Mo.) 1871-1876, 1874-09-18

full change.
1t is far more wonderful than any
fairy story to see this pulp go in at one
end of a machine, and sheets of paper
come out at the other. Let me tell you
how it goes: The machine is all open,
and you can see the whole operation.
The pulp goes from a box through a
fine sieve-to catch any remaining
threads-and falls on q belt of wire
gauze, which is all the time moving on.
Of course it spreads out as thin as it
can, and the water begins to drop
through the gauze as it moves on. But
there's too much water with the pulp,
and to draw it out suddenly they have
a curious arrangement. The water and
pulp move on very comfortably together
till they come to a certain box they
must go over. The moment they reach
that mysterious box every drop of water
tears itself away and disappears in the
box, leaving the pulp nearly dry and
looking very much like paper. You
won't be surprised at the funny be-
havior of the water when 1 tell you that
a steam pump is all the time pumping
the air out of the box, and the water is
sucked in to fill the vacuum. Right
here is put in the water-mark. If you
don't know what that is hold a sheet of
paper up to the light. You'll probably
see straight or zigzag lines all over it,
or the name of some man or paper-mill.
That is the water-mark, and it is made
on the paper by a roller on which the
pattern is cut. Now the pulp, having
become paper, run off the gauze belt
on to one of felt, whichtakes it between
a pair of heavy rollers. The rollers
squeeze it SO dry that it don't need
carrying any more, and it goes on alone
between six or eight big rollers, which
are hot, and which makes it smooth and
almost perfectly dry. As it m ont
from the last roller it runs against sharp
knives which are set there, and is split
into long ribbons just wide enough for
the kind of paper it is to be.
Now comes another bath. Not to
clean it, for it is as white as snow, but
to make it stiff and glossy. The bath is
of gelatine. The paper ribbons run
through the box of gelatine, and be-
tween rollers to dry them. On coming
out they are chopped off into sheets by
a knife, and hung on a frame to dry.
Here they rest for some days, and
It's the first rest since the rag came ont
of the gutter and started on its travels.
After this the new sheets 90 into II
press for a few hours. Some kinds of
common paper stop here, but the nice
note paper you are SO fond of has an
other journey before it, through the
hands of a string of girls.
The first girl feeds the sheets of paper
to a string of rollers, which makes them
beautifully smooth and shining. The
second piles them up and hands them
to the third girl, who puts them through
a cutting machine, which makes them
perfectly regular in size. The fourth
girl puts them through the ruling ma
chine. That is a droll machine only
a row OF pens fed by an ink trough.
The fifth girl looks at each sheet, and
puts them into piles, perfect and imper-
feet. The sixth girl folds them. It's
funny enough to see her snatch up six
sheets, double them over with one hand,
and press them down with a block IN the
| other. She never makes a mistake in
the number, and, working SO fast, she
almost looks like a machine. The sew
enth girl takes one of these packages of
six sheets, puts it under a swapping lit
tie hammer that runs by steam, and in
an instance it is ornamented with the lit
tie oval or square mark you see on com
mercial note paper. The most elegant
papers are not stamped here, for every
one prefers his own initial or mono
gram, and that is done to order at a
stationer's. The eighth girl puts the
packages into reams and half reams,
and seals them up.
Now, did you ever hear in any fairy
story Of a transformation more wonder
full than from a disgusting dirty rag to
a dainty sheet of note-paper? And if
that sheet of paper contains a letter
from your dearest FRIEND" wouldn't
you put it among your treasures? But
1 want to tell you another thing. Do