Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1889-11-04
How Paper is Made.

The mill stands in q beautiful val
| ley, not far from railroad. The
drive from the road to the mill has
row of trees on either side, and is
kept in as good order as though lead
ing into a gentleman's grounds. To
the left of the mill stands small
building of brick, the first story of
which is an open room in which are
stored bales of rags. These rags
from Japan are pressed into bales by
hydraulic pressure, making the small
est possible bulk, to reduce cost of
transportation, and are of all colors,
presenting an appearance that made
whiteness appear impossible. When
freed from the iron bands and sticks
that hold them, they are thrown into
a huge hollow cylinder in which they
are washed by steam and soda for
hours, coming out dull gray, with
suggestions of color. They are then
thrown into a vat into which a large
stream of clear water is constantly
pouring, and pass into drum in
which are knives that press on the
bulk of rags and separate the fibers
without cutting. The force of the
current of water-forces the rags thro'
this drum and out again and again
until they become pulp; here, too,
a bleaching process takes place which
removes the last trace of color; the
pulpy gray mass passes into another
vat, where a second bleaching process
leaves it as white as snow. It passes
from here through further refining
process which leaves the pulp resem-
bling superior white soft soap. 1t
seems impossible that this mass Of
soft, snow-white pulp was but a short
time before bale of selected rags Of
every conceivable color and shape.
This mass of soft pulp passes again
into a vat much smaller than the
bleaching and cleaning watts, where it
is forced through a brass plate in
which there are slots so small that
the point of a pin cannot be inserted;
from this it passes through large
trough, as thin as water; lifting up
handful of this water, which is milky
IN color, you discover particles of
white these particles form the paper.
The milky fluid passes out over rollers
or cylinders on to an extremely fine
wire bed, which has a movement from
side to side that assists in shaking
the water through: this wire table or
bed is about forty feet long, and when
this liquid or fluid passes over the
cylinders at the other end it is paper.
You see it pass from fluid into a
continuous sheet of paper hundreds
of yards in length. 1t is now paper
ready for finishing. The paper passes
over heavy rollers covered with felt,
and is carried over large drums turn
ing back, that both sides may have
the same finish. 1t is carried again
to other cylinders, where it is dried,
being held close to the drums by can
vas. 1t passes over other cylinders
where the amount of pressure or
weight brought to bear on the cylin-
ders determines the thickness of the
paper. 1t is now ready for the last
handling. 1t is rolled from the cyl
inders on enormous spools, where it
has the rough edge cut off, and where
at the same time it is cut into widths
suitable for the purpose for which it
is to be used. During this process it
is being rolled on to spools or drums,
ready for the cutting machine. After
the spools are adjusted in the cutting
machine the paper passes between
small wooden rollers on which are
pieces of felt cut diamond shape. In
answer to the question why the felt
was not smoothly rolled on the cylin-
ders, the answer was that they pro-
duced more even pressure when put
on the rollers this way-that they