Bennington semi-weekly banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 1894-1902, 1894-12-07
From Our Japan Correspondents
Kyoto'S Paper Mill.

From Our Japan Correspondent
Kyoto's Paper Mill.
If you ride out few miles west from
Shijo, Kyoto, you arrive at the village of
Umezu. In 1876 the Kyoto Fucho
GovernmenO, established a paper
mill there and ran it as an object lesson
and at loss, am told, up to 1883 when
it was sold to Mr.. Koemon Isono, who
lives on Matsuwara DOri, Kyoto. A son
of Mr.. Isono is expected back from
America soon.
The ride out to the village shows you
level stretches of land on either side the
road and rice yellow to the harvest.
Mountains in the distance loom up with
Adirondack beauty. The road is mac
adamized as are most of the roads in
Japan. Even now great loads of rice
straw are being drawn by many a man
and many an OK harnessed to the two
wheeled cart with long rack or PLATFORM
their load 10 feet high and 20 feet long,
being held on by ropes over the whole
from end to end. The straw is taken to
the paper mill. In early days when the
Government was running the mill, great
care was taken to cut off the bearded
ends of the straw so that no rice should
remain and nothing should injure the
fibre of the paper, but now when the cry
of the merchants is for cheap wrapping
paper, no matter what the quality, they
take in new straw directly from the field
where it has been emptied of it's grain.
Eveu if the new straw contains a grain
of rice now and then, it is mixed in with
the old straw and all of it is counted as
of such value that it is utilized. The
straw with various solutions is put into
large cyclindrical boiler through holes
in whose longitudinal axis IA tube). steam
passes into it, the boiler revolving slowly
all the time by means of water power
and thus tending to make a thick soluS
ton of the whole. 1t is thus steamed
from s to IL hours and then is put into
large vat through which water runs to
cleanse it. Rollers of great size tend to
make the pulp of uniform consistency as
it is turned over and over in running
water. The water is drained off and a
huge bin receives this part of the sub
stance that goes into the paper.
A more necessary constituent may be
seen in another place, viz, old rags.
They are also put into the revolving
boiler and steamed, lime being used to
cleanse them during this process. White
rags are kept about three hours under
steam and dark ones must be steamed
from to ~ hours. At this stage the
two products are mixed in large watts
the pulp of the straw and the pulp of the
rags. They are broken up finer by ma
chinery and are kept in motion in water,
the aim being to cleanse the whole and
to make uniform texture. When this
process has been finished the two become
one mass, are dropped down through the
floor into into vat 10 by IS feet in
length and width, and IS feet deep.
l must state that the rags before being
mixed with the rice-straw pulp, are
thoroughly bleached in a separate bath,
calcarious mixture being used, pre-
pared on the premises. In the large vat,
to which 1 have just referred, are large
wheels revolving again by water power,
which break up the mixture in water in
to even finer consistency. 1t has been
passed through so many sets of rollers
and wheels and solutions, that at last it
may be put through sieve, whence it
runs over a revolving belt of wires
stranded closely together. From this
wire belt it passes to a large belt, of
what seemed in motion to be white felt,
certainly thick and stout piece of
goods, all wool. The paper leaves the
felt belt and crosses distance of four
feet running to rollers where it has
Steam bath. 1t passes then to reel
from which it is taken off and put on to
a table. The finished sheets thus
stretched out on the table are IS feet
long and about three feet wide.
A knife cuts down through a tbrousand
sheets and soon the paper is cut into
pieces about four feet long. They are
put on to scales then and weighed,
whence they are taken into the packing
room. Much of the paper is cut still
finer into Hanshi. They retail none of it
at the mill. 1t is sent into Kyoto and
dealers here send it to Kobe, Osaka and
elsewhere. 1t is sold according to quail
ty for from to 10 cents a pound by the
manufacturer, but the dealers get their
living off from it and so the ulti nate
purchasers pay much more for it.
They have excellent water power, but
stop work for two months in summer
time to let the farmers all about have
the water for the rice fields. They use
the water power for generating electric
ity to light the mill. noticed that the
boiler used for generating steam was
from Akron, Ohio, and it was "Built by
Summit City Boiler Works." according
to the lettering. There hung in the office
a calendar issued by Henderson & Co.,
who advertise to 'supply at lowest
unarkat DricaS all binds Of naner ly;np