Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1895-09-06
MANUFACTURE OF PAPER.
TRANSFORMING WOOD INTO MA.
TERIAL FOR THE PRESS.
A Wasp's Nest Gave the Idea TO an
Observant German Making
Sheets of Pulp.

(. NhteTtOWn, KNOWN 10 hll the
big newspaper publisers as one of the
best paper producing cities. Each
year thousands of tons of paper are
turned out, and many of the big news
papers are supplied from there.
The manufacture of paper is one Of
the chief commercial interests of
Watertown. and long has been. 1t
may not be generally known, but
nearly all paper nowadays is made
from wood pulp. Years ago, perhaps
, n dozen, paper was manufactured from
rags, but the advent of the big dailies
made it necessary to find some cheaper
material. A wasp's nest gave the idea,
and a German named Kellar grasped it
at once. He carefully examined the
delicate fibers of the nest and found
they were made of wood. A colony of
nest building wasps was followed, and
the modus operandi studied. He found
that the wasps simply selected the
tiniest tibers of wood, and from this
made the nest.
The demand for pulp is SO great
that in few years there will be
scarcely any spruce in the Eastern or
Middle States. All through the for
ests in the southern part of New York
State there are pulp mills. These do
not pretend to make paper, but simp-
ly grind the wood and ship the pulp
in bulky sheets to the finishing mills,
where it is processed and put on the
market in various commercial forms.
Pulp mills, however, only exist in the
mountains, from which 1t is difficult
to transport the logs. Usually the
logs are RATED down stream, but
where there is no river with convent
ent current and the railroad facilities
are poor and tariff high it has been
found cheaper to grind the wood and
ship the pulp by freight. THE pulp
wood is brought into Watertown in
several different ways. 1t comes down
the Black River in RATS; it is shipped
as it is cut by rail, and comes also al.
ready ground.
Many OF the mills have big steam
saws to cut the wood into convenient
blocks for handling, and it is curl
Gus sight to see perhaps a thousand
cords OF these blocks piled up ready
for use. From the woodpile the
blocks are railroaded into the "bar.
ber shop" where heavy, murderous-
looking machinery, with huge cylin-
ders provided at regular intervals with
disks of iron with sharp cutting
edges. trims the heavy bark off as
clean as boy can peel stick with
jack knife. The block is now ready
for the grinder, and soon will make
its temperance in another form. A
grinder resembles in principle coffee
mill such as the cook uses in the
kitchen. A big grindstone is made to
revolve at a highssrate of speed and
crush the wood. They vary in thick
ness from two to three feet and SIX to
twelve feet in circumference. Sur
rounding the stone is metallic shell,
or cap, into the circumference of
which are several metallic boxes so
constructed as to snugly accommo-
date block. Various means are en-
ployed to force the block down upon
the grindstone. As the stone revolves
the block is ground into exceedingly
fine fibers like bits of hair. Several
streams of water are kept playing upon
the stone and wash the ground sub
stance down upon scream, which Vi
brates longitudinally. A bellows bot
tom to this screen completes most
ingenious contrivance. 1t separates
the fine fibers and leaves under the
plato only the wood pulp substance.
Now, in the woods this completes the
process of pulp-making. The pulp is
pressed into big sheets resembling q
wad of coarse blotting paper. But
this is only the beginning of the pa.
permaker's work. After the pulp has
been separated, it is sent to a refining
process, which is simply another form
of washing. Big tubs, in which the
pulp is agitated by paddles, complete
this work. While the pulp is in the
tubs, however, tale, or small portion
of sulphate fiber, Is added to give it
body. Now it is pumped through
pipes and watts and once again is de.
posted upon another screen, where
little odds and ends that may have got
in during its voyage are taken out.
Now comes the most interesting
process of all. The pulp being soft
and free from grit is now taken to the
fourdrinier machine. 1t would take
column to describe minutely this
interesting piece of mechanism. Suf-
flee to say, the principle feature is the
fourdrinier wire, which is in reality
but a piece of endless wire cloth.
Upon this cloth the pulp is shoveled,
and as it is carried along the water is
drawn from it by suction underneath.
The wire cloth is meanwhile vibrat-
ing and the fine fibres are evenly dis
tributed. Under q magnifying glass
you can see them spread out in differ
ent ways, some lengthwise and some
crosswise of the cloth. The drawing
off this water from the pulp "felts''
the latter, and now you begin to see
the embryonic sheet of paper which
shortly may give to the world some
startling piece Of information. As the
felted pulp leaves the fourdrinier wire
it passes through several series OF
rollers, which complete the drying,
regulate the thickness of the paper
and give a finished surface to the pa
per, which is now issuing from the
other end in an endless strip of news
paper. Then it is cut It's proper width
and wound upon reels ready for ship
ment. AZ average paper mill issues
about sixty tons of paper daily. $50
Washington Star.