The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1892-07-23
The Making OF Postal Cards.

L iit people VI the I lltcu States use
| annually about seven postal cards for
every man, woman and child; that is
to say, our total consumption for a
year reaches 400 900, 900, which is con
siderably more than are employed by
| all the rest of the world This enor-
nous number are all printed, cut
! apart, counted and wrapped up in
! packages of twenty-five 10y machinery
! that would stand III a small bedroom,
and that requires no assistance what
ever from any operative, SO long as it
is supplied with paper, ink and paste.
! \ visit t. the abode of this wonderful
mechanism is naturally full of interest
+ The postal card factory-the only
one i'll this coUntry-iS Il part of the
/ great establishment of the Fort Orange
Paper Company C. {. Wooiworth,
| PRESIDENT, at CaStleton, near Albany.
These works, employing 200 hands and
| occupying Though, of course, not COW
| ering) tract of 50 acres of land. have
quite picturesque location among
the hills mile back from the village,
with which they are connected by the
| New York Central, Hudson River and
] Fort Orange railroad-the name is
/ about as long as the track-and include
every appliance for the manufacture
of many different kinds of paper and
white, brown and colored.
i Approaching the place from Castleton
one notices first the immense and very
graceful chimney, founded on solid
| tower-like structure of no little beauty.
Around and near this are grouped Il
number of large buildings, one of
which we will enter, following the
course of the raw material from which,
in part, most kinds Of paper are made
being bales of rags OF every possible
+ color, size, shape and condition of
dlrtiness. This unpleasant stuff needs
a lot of cleansing, as may well be
imagined, and accordingly the first
thing done with it is to toss it by hand
fulS into Il "duster,' where it is tossed
and shaken at a great rate, aud liber
ated SO far as may be, from adhering
and eXtraneous dirt. Next it goes to
long line OF women and girls, who
remove hooks and eyes, buttons, rub
Der, fragments of Whaletone, and
whatever other foreign material they
ind. Then 1t is cut up 10y fast run
ring steam driven machine into frag-
ments of moderate size, busted Tor
ought we properly to say undusted:)
again by another machine, and drop
ped into great boilers below, where for
six or seven hours it is subjected to the
action of a hot chemical liquid, under
pressure, to loosen its color and its
still remaining dirt. Coming from the
boilers, it is thoroughly washed 10y
special mechanism, pure water being
forcibly driven through the mass, and
! is then soaked for three or four days in
solution of chloride of lime, which
bleaches it completely, leaving it pure
snowy white. 1t is next beaten and
squeezed by beating engines until re-
duccd to a semi-pulpy condition, and
then conducted into large hogsheads
called stuff chests whence it is
pumped directly to the Fourdrlnier
paper machine.
This imposing piece Of mechanism,
really compound of {; variety of ma
shnsS hK Mh t htit sr Gs nnhe5 e
ously and tremendously, receives at
one end the pulp prepared as above,
which comes pouring in from the stuff
chests i'll the form of a very thin,
watery paste; and delivers at the other
end, the complete paper, calendered to
its final surface, trimmed at the edge,
and tightly rolled up Ike 50 much rib
bon. The pulp first flows upon fine
wire netting, where it is sharply
shaken for the purpose Of causing its
fbers TO knit together like telling, and
acquire some degree of consistency.
Then passing along on endless blank
cts, it is squeezed by a succession Of
rollers to get it into proper shape and
remove the moisture (some of the roll
ers farthest along being steam heated
to aid the drying, and finally pressed
hard, or "calendered," to smooth the
surface, and wound up iE rolls. We
should not think that more than two
or three minutes elapse between the
entry of any particular portion OF the
pulp into the machine at one end and
Its exit from the calenders, finished
paper, at the other, and during that
time it has Travelled l25 feet.
Now, supposing that it is postal card
paper that we have been watching, we
follow a roll of it to the printing room
and see it put into the combined print
ing press, cutter and wrapper-a ma
chine that the inventor thought he
could construct in three weeks at a
cost of five hundred dollars, but it act
ually took four years and eight thous-
and dollars. This machine prints from
a number of engraved plates on the
surface of fast revolving cylinder,
against which the web of paper is
closely pressed, thus repeating the pat
tern oyer and over again on the ribbon,
as one might say; and then, as before
stated, cuts the cards apart, wraps
them up in packages of twenty five,
with band pasted around each. and
delivers them by belt conyeyors to the
packing tables, where girls put them
into paper boxes, each holding 500
cards. These again are enclosed in
wooden cases of varying size, and ship
ped to every postofiice in the United
States-so that the despatching depart
ment of the works may be said to have
some sixty thousand separate Gus