San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1882-02-23
THE AGE or PAPER.
Paper o. Substitute for Wood and water-Paper
Car wheels, Paper Houses, Paper Furniture
and Psper Knives AAd Forks.

NJ an luuubtrihi cAnipiaoh ia 1oaA"
Vile, KY, the age of paper is Just
about dawning. Most persons have
been under the impression for Ions
time that the present ago was more dis
tinguished for its consumption OF paper
and the various uses TO which that pro
team article is put than for anything
else in its wonderful industrial devel'
opment; but manifold as are the gen
eral uses of paper now, few people have
any idea how infinitely the list may be
extended. When tho Japanese made
paper garments that would wash, and
the Americans turned out paper cal
wheels that would outwear iron ones
and be superior in every respect, it was
thought the last stage in progress In
paper working had been reached; but
the Louisville exhibition showed that
these devices we're carly discoveries in
the art. 1t has pushed away beyond
them now. 1t is true that the world
still regards paper car wheels with curl
osity not unmixed with incredulity, but
they are being adopted rapidly by the
railroads, and many scoffer has rid
den hundreds of miles over paper car
wheels without knowing it. An iron
car wheel is good for 100000 miles;
then it must be taken out and recast {;
it may not be worn out, but it is unsafe,
its "life" is gone, and there is no telling
how soon it will fly to pieces. A paper
wheel, formed by the compression OF
sheets of paper under enormous pres
sure into solid disk, with thin steel
tire, will run 2 100000 miles. The tire
is considered necessary for smooth run
ming, but the wheel can go without it,
and if the tire flies off during run, the
train proceeds to its destination with
out stopping to repair damages. Paper
wheels will not crack in frosty weather
or break on meeting an obstacle, as
when the train runs off the track. Many
an accident has owed all its importance
to the breaking of wheel, which has
completed into grand catastrophe
what would otherwise have been COM
paratively harmless derailment.
After this exhibition of its qualities,
the reader will be prepared to believe
that paper can be made very hard, but
scarcely for the statement that it can
be made to resist any cutting tool ex-
cept diamond. It can be made so
hard that steel will not cut it at least
that is the statement made in the Louis
vile COurier-Joa1rn0l, from which
we gather most of the facts here given.
Paper tubs and buckets are articles in
common use, but how many people
know that they can be made to hold
fire as well as water; so that they can
neither be soaked nor burned, and
moreover, cannot be broken? All the
pots and pans in the kitchen, and, for
that matter, the range and bath-boiler
too, can be made of paper; so can the
heavy dishes in the kitchen cupboard,
and the finer ones on the dining table.
Paper plates are said to be handsomer,
as well us much cheaper, than the china
ones, and the most destructive "help"
cannot break them. Even the knives
and forks can be made Of paper, and
can be kept sharp and serviceable.
In word Git is the word of an ex-
nibitor at the Louisville display
house can be built entirely of paper
from foundation stone to cap shingle,
md it will last forever. 1t can be fur
1ished throughout with paper. Pulp
of black walnut are harder
Ind take better polish than the wood
Itself, and the furniture made of them
will last longer, besides being only
raction of the weight; an item that will
9e appreciated by housekeepers, whose
muscles are strained in the process of
and busting, which always in
,olves moving furniture. The same
exhibitor declared his ability to build
md fit out printing Office, from type
o press complete, all of paper, and
ven to construct the operating steam
ngine of the same material. The en-
husiastic gentleman does not give any
igures to show the tensile strength of
lis paper substitutes for wood and
ron, but he gives us to understand in
erentially that it is very great. One
annot build house without putting
n enormous strain on its supporting
ARTS, and if paper beams can be made
o sustain burden equal to that which
IOulu NC llApOSSu vi "OOuC0 O1co,
reat economical problem is on the
erge of solution. The disappearance
f our forests and the growing scarcity
f timber in consequence have been
political economists for a
reat many years. The rapid approach
f time when timber would become
lore costly than lion was clearly indi-
ated; but if a working substitute can
9 found in paper the loss of timber !
ill not be severely felt, nor will the 1
aste so on so rapidly. Paper has i
ome manifest advantages over wood, !
ne of which is its great lightness, ia |
diving less labor in construction and ,
SIS cost in transportation; another is
lie ease with which it can be worked,
cling nodded instead of carved, and I
running less to waste in q