The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1877-08-02
PAPER.

rial Ont of which Paper II Made. and
Other Interesting Information Concern
ina IL.
ii we attempt to trace the history of
paper buck to Its origin, we IRE carried
TO times very remote, when the Egyp-
tians prepared plant, called the Ddpy-
rus, on which to record their sacred in
scriptions, and from which we derive the
present name for writing material. Sim
ultaneohsly with papyrus the ancients
Undoubtedly made use of the skins of
animals in the form of parchment, and
also had recourse to wood and stone, for
the preservation of their records. 1t
cannot be ascertained with certainty
when the art of making paper from fbers
was first discovered, but to the Chinese
is usually ascribed the honor, rs they
very early Slearnedhow to convert the inner
bark of the mulberry, bamboo and rags
/ into web or felt suitable for writing; and
it is in China at the present day that the
manufacture has reached its highest
perfection, and where it is used for
clothing, handkerchiefs, napkins, twine,
furniture and numerous other purposes.
o. The Chinese consider paper SO indis-
pensable that they usually secure cer-
tain quantity to their wives in the mar
riage contract. The Arabs acquired the
art from the Chinese, and by them it
was brought to Spain, from whence it
rapidly spread over the other countries
Of Europe. Cotton paper, well authen-
ticated, has come down to us from the
tenth century; but linen paper cannot be
traced further back than the thirteenth
century, after which date it rapidly rose
to the first rank. aud was extensively
manufactured from rags. At the present
time paper is made from an infinite
number of materials which are nearly
all of vegetable or;gin-such as fax,
hemp, cotton, wood, straw, esparto, ma
nilla, i,lte, cane, etc.; and the art of
paper-making consists in the reduction
of all these materials into their primitive
fibers, and forming them into felted
sheets.
Nearly every variety Of vegetable fiber
has been tried in the manufacture of
paper-roots, leaves, stems, bark, cab
bage, potatoes, beets. vines, but in prac-
tic. these have not been found of much
value. On the other hand, straw, wood,
corn stalks, rice-straw and esparto-grass
have been successfully introduced in
various countries. In Austria the husks
of corn are not only made into paper,
but into clothing, and good article of
food for cattle is also produced from
them. Paper clothing is also made in
China and Japan, where good coat can
be had for ten cents, and suit of cloth
ing for quarter of dollar. In Ger
many paper napkins are introduced !;
the cost of them is trife, and they
alton lo.yi,,r hmm, nopa mead ha
thrown into the common stock to be
worked over again. The fact that cotton
and linen are really the same thing,
chemically speaking, as paper, may take
away from the prejudice that some per-
sons entertain in reference to the use of
paper collars, cuffs and clothing.
Munsells work on paper-making says
that in 1867 the following substances
were in actual employment Manila
hemp, agave of Cuba, cultivated hemp,
white hemp of Hayti, India hemp,
acacia, fibers of aloes, jute, Spanish
broom, hops, silk-weed, fax, Chinese
hemp, mallow, mulberry, Chinese nettle,
New Zealand flax, esparto- grass, linden,
yucca, bamboo and cane. To the above
list must be added the ramie plant, wild
and cultivated rice, potato pomace, the
bark of coniferous trees from which the
resin has been extracted, stalks and
fbers of cord grass and okra in fact,
more than sixty different kinds of fiber
have been experimental upon in the
search for new material, and it cannot be
denied that the result of all these trials
has been favorable to the paper industry
by adding permanently to the supply of
stock upon which to draw in emergency
and for special kinds of goods.
The manufacture of paper from rags
is the most important branch OF the
business, and the one in which the
I. largest amount of capital has been ex-
pended and the greatest improvements
attained. The first operation is in the
purchasing, sorting, cutting and busting
of the rags. In the purchase of rags the
mill-owner has to encounter the same
attempt to cheat that seems to obtain in
| every line of business. Bales are made
up looking well outside, but in the in
terror inferior articles are put, and the
rags are moistened or loaded with sand
to increase the weight. The dealer soon
! becomes expert, and can tell from what
country the rags came, by their color,
strength and general character. Some
nations wear more linen, others more
cotton, some fine, some coarse. City
rags are apt to be white, country rags
yellow or dark-colored. All of these
points have to be considered before
making the purchase.
Out of dirty and apparently unbleach-
able tarred ropes is produced tissue
paper of the most beautiful fabric, of
even surface and delicacy of color, a
ream of which weighs, with wrappers
and strings, two and half pounds. 1t
is principally used in the potteries for
| transferring the various patterns to the
earthenware, and is found superior to
any substance yet known for that pur-
pose.i 1t is so tenacious, that a sheet of
it twisted by the hand in the form of a
rope, will support upward of one hum
dred pounds weight. Corn husks have
been successfully employed in Germany.
The husks are first boiled with an alkali
in tubular boilers, which converts them
into spongy condition filled with
| gelatinous substance or dough, which
latter is pressed out from the tibers in
the shape of longitudinal threads, inter-
spersed with dense mass of short fiber.
! The long fibers are used for spinning,
and yield cloth suitable for clothing.
The short tibers are used for paper,
| which is stronger that that made from
linen or cotton rags. 1t is very durable,
and can be made extremely transparent
/ without sacrificing any portion OF its
strength. DR.. Rudal calculates that the
nuopfitx, of ,,oper prnd,Ioa6 in the whole