The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1898-02-16

- - . . Ef
lave grown To- large prorortion- drriue
he past twenty-five years. is that
which is devoted To a., manufacture
ei paper. NJ recent meeting Of the
American !'aI.r Manufacturers Asso-
citation The president stated that :Ic
associations was formed about eighteen
years ago. and tIat the paper business
had Since taken on a rapid growth.
At the tiinr the manufacture Of paper
IN the lnited States had grown to
such all extent after the wal that the
capacity Of the mills in 1878 in the
production OF paper amounted to ncarly
1000 tons of product per day. To
day the capacity Of the mill product
in this country Is about H., 400 tons
per day.
The general public has little idea Of
the size and cost Of an average paper
mill. The finished product, as We sec
It IL orr hooks and our daily ncwspa-
per. is 50 familiar, and the materials
of which il is popularity supposed to
be made arc 80 cheap, and for most
other purposes worthless, that to many
IT will he Il surprise to learn that an
average paper mill costs from 81 1000
600 to 5000, 600 to build and equip.
II Is capable Of turning out some 10
tons of paper per day. and to run the
machinery requires boilers and engines
Of not loss than 1000 hor,c power.
For wn,hin" the pulp. ctc.. there will
he required .,OnU. GEO Gallons of water
per day, or enough to supply a city Of
30,nUW Inhabitants, and the whole Of
that supply must be filtered hy thu,
most approved modern processes.
The manufacture Of tn" paper may
be broadly separated into two pro
ccsscs. consisting. first, in the prcpar-
alton Of the pulp, and secondly, in the
formation Of the paper from the pulp.
/. The Preparation Of the Pulp
The popular idea that paper is made
from rags is true only Of fine writing
paper, which is made entirely from
this material but newspapers and
most book papers arc made entirely
from wood. The better class Of book
paper is made from wood and a small
percentage of rag. There arc two
kinds Of wood pulp.
]. Ground or Mechanical Wood
Pulp.-This is made by grinding the
ends of spruce wood logs against re-
volving emery wheels. Phis is done
under water. and the result is a finely
divided wet sawdust. The wood re-
tains all its natural gums and acids
and has no fiber. 1t must be used
with some more ibrous material, such
as chemical wood pulp. This is the
cheapest form of pulp, and it is there
fore only used FOR newspapers and so
called manila wrappings.
.. Chemical Wood Pulp is made
from spruce or poplar. The timber
comes to the mill in barkcd logs,
which arc four feet long, and have had
all the knots carefully bored nut.
The logs are fed into 4 'chippcr,' in
which the knives arc arranged at IN
angle of IS degrees to the center line
OF the machine. These knives cut the
logs diagonally to the Grain into
"chips' which are half an inch long.
The chips arc conveyed to "digcStcrs,'
which arc upright cylinders Z or $
feet iii diameter and 30 feet long. If
spruce wood chips are being used.
they arc treated by the acid process,
the digcstcrs being lined with acid
proof brick. The acid liquor is OBJ
tanned by mechanically combining sui
phurous acid gas with milk of lime,
and forming Il b~isulphitc OF lime.
Phc digcstcrs arc filled with chips and
liquor in proper proportions, and arc
then Theoretically sealed. Live steam
ID introduced, and the chips are boiled
for eight hours undcra pressurcof ITO
pounds to the square inch.
II the chips arc made from poplar.
the process is the same, except that
the liquid is made from caustic soda
ash and water.
After the boiling i, completed. III.
contents of the digcstcrs arc blown
out into " receiver. where ii presents
the appearance Of II mass Of soft pulp.
The liquor is then washed out and
after the pulp has been bleachcd, it
so closely resembles the rag pulp,
which is used i'll the manufacture Of
line book paper and writing paper,
that only an expert ran tell the differ
encc, both being Il pure vegetable
cellulosc. The pulp is now subjected
to a process of beating and macerat-
ing. to reducr II N thn uroo..