The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1890-09-04
How Stick OF Wood Became ouire OF
Paper.
THE Christian at work. |

FThe Christian at work.
The art of making paper out Of wood
pulp is of comparatively recent origin;
yet long before the Egyptians began to
make paper by cutting the papyrus
plant into strips aud weaving them
together, little insect was building
houses of paper, and making the paper
directly from the flores of wood.
Men have only recently learned how,
by the use of machinery, to do that
which Gcd taught the hornet to do as
soon as it was created.
The hornet has gone on making pa
per in just the same way for thousands
of years, but men are continually i'm
proving their methods aud the paper
produced.
We will now follow stick Of wood
Through its changes into paper. The
scene of this wonderful transformation
is in beautiful valley about two miles
northwest of the Delaware Water Gap.
The wood is cut from the mountains
which rise grandly all about this spot.
Only the softer woods, chiefly pine and
poplar, are used. The bre of the pine
is long, while that ofthe poplar is short,
so that when the two are combined in
right proportions they make better pa
per than either would alone. The wood
is brought to the mill by the farmers,
who find ready market for it. After
the bark has been removed the sticks
are piled up in great stacks to dry
These sticks are like ordinary cord
wood, crooked or straight, knotty or
smooth.
From the stacks the wood is taken
to a chopper, which is a heavy revolv-
ing disc of steel with strong and sharp
blades set at an angle in its face. A
sheath covers the chopper except at
one spot where the wood is fed to this
hungry giant. The sticks are placed
endwise in a trough, and the knives
cut right across the thickest stick and
through the longest knots as quickly
as buzz-saw could go through them.
The chips, which are about three-quar-
tiers of an inch long, are caught by an
endless belt, and carried to the upper
story of the mill. Here the giants
strange meal is "digested."
The wood in ite natural state contains
q great deal that is not needed in max
ing paper, and chemistry works with
machinery to change the brittle chips
of wood into soft but tough pulp.
About two and quarter cords of wood,
all chopped up, are placed in "diges-
tiers" with 1000 gallons of liquid con-
tanning caustic soda. This mixture is
kept at q great heat and in constant
motion for at least five hours. During
this process the soda seizes the pitch in
the wood, and, combining with it forms
tannic acid.
This acid then seizes upon the other
substances that are not wanted, and
with them forms sulphuric acid, which
passes of into the air from time to
time.
At last the digester is einptied into
draining vat, and it would be difficult
to recognize either stick or chip in the
putty-like mass that lies there.
After all the caustic liquor that will
drain off has passed away: the pulp is
mixed with water, and pumped upon
squeezing machine, which presses out
the remaining moisture, SO that the
pulp leave this machine in sheets like
chamois-skins, but, of course, not so
t)ugh and strong.
The sheets of dried pulp are next
bleached. For this purpose they are
placed in bath of chloride Of lime and
water. At one side Of the tank that
holds this mixture is series Of revoly-
ing knives which tears the sheets into
shreds. After these pieces have passed
through the bleaching process they
are washed in a similar bath of water,
and as they revolve about in this bath
tub they look very much like whipped
cream. After leaving the baths the
pulp receives the dyes and sizing ma
terials that give it color smoothness
and lustre.
In former days each sheet of parper |
was made separately by hand, until a |
Frenchman named Fourdrinier in
vented machine which does automati-
cslly and rapidly what had required !
the constant attention and labor of
skilled workmen to do slowly.
Tbs general shape of this machine is
g long inclined plane, at the upper end
of which is a reservoir into which the
soft pulp is pumped. The pulp flows
out at this reservoir upon an endless
wire cloth, which passes slowly from
the top Of the machine, and is shaken
from side to side in order to settle the
pulp into an even and thin sheet.