Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-03-17

the interior, otherwise made dim by the
escaping steam. The rumble of the heavy
machinery is incessant-it never stops night
or day. A peculiar but not unpleasant
odor pervades the entire place. Near me
are the watts containing the raw and un-
washed material; on the other side of the
room, emerging from long train of ma
chimes, the finished paper is being received
by the workmen and put in form for use
or shipment. Let us go over and see how
this wondrous transformation is wrought
for it is indeed wonderful triumph of
mans ingenuity and mechanical skill.
The pulp, thinned by water until it af-
fords no more evidence of the presence of
solid substance than simple soap suds, is re-
ceived into chest where it is set in motion
by the action of machinery which is too in
tricate to be minutely described. 1t is de-
liyered by means of stirrers upon a cylinder
covered with wire cloth. The water being
meantime drawn off by suction pumps, and
the fiber evenly distributed over theSurface.
Thence the fiber is carried upon broad
band of felt, which takes it over a series of
three cylinders, whence it passes through
second felt. From this it passes
to what is called the "drier felt" By this
time the paper is strong enough to hold to-
gether unaided, but the felt is used to keep
the air from it and subject it more thor
oughly to the action of the drying apparatus.
On goes the paper, leaving the last felt,
over roll after roll, passing over steam
heated cylinders to dry it, and squeezed be-
tween heavy chilled rolls to press 1t and
give it gloss. Following the strip that
started, held to its place by the band of felt,
from one end of the long train of machinery
to the other-a distance of more than 100
feet-we find that the weak has become
strong; that the delicate, pulpy substance
has become firm, hard, heavy paper.
The last of the series of machinery is an
apparatus for cutting up the paper. The
heaviest wrapping paper, Sc inches in
width, is cut into sheets 72 inches long, and
a ream of it weighs 1000 pounds The daily
capacity of the mill is - tons of paper. The
consumption of material is 20 tons of rope
and so tons of bagging, paper and pulp.
Nearby is the paper sack factory, where
all the bag and sack paper produced in the
mill is worked up into millers' sacks and
sacks for holding cement and similar arti-
eles of commerce. Thousands of the sacks
manufactured and printed here go to the
great milling cities of the West, and after
being filled with -four return to Pittsburp
TO be sold to grocers and. their customers.
This factory is no less interesting than the
other. Its machinery is of a lighter sort.
but it is equally ingeniously contrived and
admirable in its working. The paper comes
from the mill in rolls and is first subjected
to the action of the ''tuber," or machine for
making tubes, as paper sacks are termed
before the bottoms are made The tuber is
wonderful contrivance. It unwinds the
paper from the roll, applies the paste to the
edge, folds it down and presses the edges to-
gether, fastening one securely over the
other, cuts the bottom ready to be folded,
creases the top and finally cuts the tube to |
the desired size, deposits it in small car
and counts it. Could human hands do |
more? And, most remarkable of all is the |
rapidity with which the work is performed |
-120 tubes for quarter barrel sacks being
made in a minute, or two every second!
From the tuber the bags, after being ar
ranged in bundles, go to the printing de-
partment. Here are eight presses and n
complete printing Office, supplied with wood
and celluloid type, wood cuts, electro plates.
etc., for printing designs in colored ink.
The sacks are printed according to the buy
ers order, some on one side, some on both
and some on both sides and bottom. Where |
several colors of ink are used the bags have
to be run through the press once for each
kind of ink used. The average number of
made is 120 900 for day of ten
hours, or about 10000 completely printed
bags Elsewhere are machines for finishing
the bottoms Of the bags, which fold and
paste them with great rapidity, each bottom
ing 80, 900 sacks day. A hundred thou
sand finished sacks day is the capacity of
the works. E. w. BARTLETT.