Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1897-02-11
NUMBER 27
1SITTHEPAPER AGE?
SINCE PULP CAME INTO USE THERE
HAVE BEEN MANY CHANGES.

Paper Is Taking the Place of Wood, stone
and Iron-It Is Now Made Absolutely
Fireproof Shirt Bosoms That Don't
Have to Be Washed.
Wlunout steam and railways modern
society would undoubtedly exist. But
what state of intellectual darkness
would be that of civilized mankind
without paper and the secret of its man
ufaeturel For many years the rag met
all demands of the paper industry. The
increasing diversity of uses to which
paper and paper pulp have been put in
the last decade have made it necessary
for manufacturers to cast about for more
effective elementary substances. Boots,
money, boats, gas pipes impermeable
casks, toys, bottles, pipes. floors, doors,
ceilings, architectural ornaments, roof
ing, chimneys and even complete fire.
proof houses are now made of paper.
Many claim that it will eventually sup
plant wood, for it will neither crack
nor warp. 1t can be triturated, put un-
der great pressure and subjected to GER
take high polish and will resist the ef-
fects Of fire better than any other ma
terial known. Paper is gradually sup
planting metal in certain lines. Loco
motive wheels have been made Of it for
several years, and even rails for rail-
roads. The next progressive step will be
to use it for the manufacture of ord
xnh hinh 10 hu
mote possibility. Paper has largely tax
en- the place of linen. We have paper
collars and cuffs and blankets An in
genious inventor has devised paper
shirt bosoms, which can be torn off like
the pages from calendar, thus enabling
the wearer to have a clean shirt front
as often as he desires. 1t is only a mat
ter of time before cloths. dressing gowns
and entire suits of clothes will he made
from paper. The soldiers of the Japanese
army wore paper trousers and jerseys
during their famous winter campaign.
Wood pulp is the most effective sub
stitute for rags in the manufacture of
paper. Nearly every species of wood can
be used. Some kinds yield more than
others. More pulp can be got from will
low and chestnut than from walnut
Different woods give various qualities
and effects. Aspen will yield very
white paper, but defective in solidity,
and is therefore mixed with fir. This
latter wood is most generally used It
was first imported from the Black forest,
in Germany. The chief supply is now
obtained in Norway and Finland, in the
form of planks or poles, never exceeding
feet or s inches.
For the last half century the worlds
production of paper has increased ten
fold. in 1850 it was 221, 900 metric
TONS The latest recent estimate was
10000 metric tons. The European
manufacturers are suffering from glut
in production. The price of paper has
fallen one.third, while wages have don
bIed. The European plants are not so
progressive as those in this country.
They depend too much upon manual la
Dor. In the United States the manufac-
turers have substituted machinery for
hand work, and as result of the de-
crease in the number of their employees
are enabled to pay high wages.
Attention has recently been called to
the utility of a little known species of
paper called the boabab, or Ansonia.
1t is made from the wood of the boabab
tree, which is native of west Africa,
and is known there as the monkey
bread tree !" It is found in Abyssinia,
Senegal and south of Coyo river. 1t is
of low growth and has very thick
trunk. While it rarely attains height
of 20 feet, the trunk is usually 90 to %
feet in diameter. The branches are pen
dulous and bear an edible fruit. The in
ner bark of this tree is very fibrous. It
is used for making superior wrapper pa
pers, which have great tenacity. When
the inner bark is stripped from the tree,
a fresh growth supplants that taken
away, and i'll couple of years the tree
is again in normal condition. The bark
is peeled off but once in four years.
The latest addition to the paper in
dustry is sanitary note paper which
is claimed to be germproof. 1t has long
been known that letters frequently
spread infectious diseases by means of
the germs that contaminate the paper.
An English firm has produced a paper
which is impregnated with an antiseptic
substance which kills all germs that
may come in contact with the paper. II
this paper proves to be what the proprie-
tors claim, it is certainly a meritorious
invention and will become generally
used by hospitals and during the rage of
future epidemics
Chinese and Japanese papers have
long been noted for their quality. 1t has
recently been ascertained, however, that
even finer grades are produced in Korea.
One eminent authority states that "the
Korean paper excels the very best that
is made in China and Japan. 1t is
manufactured entirely by manual labor.
No machinery whatever is employed.
For the better grades the bark of the
Broussonetia papyrifera is used. This is
gathered in the spring of the year. 1t is
placed in water, mixed with wood ash
es and is then beaten until it is reduced
to thick pulp, which is dipped out in
good sized ladies and spread out in thin
sheets upon bamboo frames A different
grade of paper is made from fragments
of bark, which are trodden under foot
in a manner similar to that employed in
the grape presses in some countries
This process of making the pulp is very
tedious, but it possesses the great merit
of preserving the tibers intact and not
breaking them, as is done when ma
chinery is used. The pulp is then meta
morphosed into paper, and the sheets
are stacked up in piles six feet high and
cut into pieces. Then the piles of paper
are compressed by the STAN ping Of feet.
The roots and seeds of a plant called
tackpaul are added to the pulp when
grade possessing greater tenacity and
toughness is desired. -Philadelphia Rec
ord
The First Steam Power.
The power of steam was known to
Hero of Alexandria, who exhibited what
seems from the description to have been
small steam engine to Ptolemy Phila-
delphus and his court about 100 B. G.
Pliny describes small boat, built by a