Worcester morning daily spy., 1898-02-16

the second paper mill in Worcester coun-
ty was, l believe, built where the
Washburn & Moen Manufacturing Com
pany's Quinsigamond mill now stands,
and in my boyhood days remember at
Valley Falls, very nearly on the site
where Mr.. z. D. Thayer Jr.'s woolen
mill now stands, there used to be pa
per mill in which was made a very
| coarse grade of wrapping paper For the
manufacturer of paper, there is re-
quired great power and an abundant
supply of water, which the roaring
Blackstone does not furnish. But if we
cannot make the paper, we can do the
larger thing, we can supply those who
do with the machine on which they can
make it,
1t is an interesting fact that in Hol-
yoke. which is rightly called the PAPER
City, of America, there are go machines,
and I believe, with one exception, they
were all made in Worcester, by Rice,
Barton & Fales. 1t is also an interest
ing fact that while we make in the city
of Worcester every machine used in a
cotton mill, we have not a single cotton
mill here. The same law operates here
1t requires greater mechanical skill to
build a machine than to run it, and
hence the rate of wages for the higher
grade of labor has developed in and
brought to Worcester class of en-
ployees which have made a standard
rate of wages somewhat in advance Of
that paid for operating the machinery.
Paper used to be made entirely from
rags, but during the war cotton ad-
vanced so in price and rags became so
scarce, that manufacturers were forced
to look for a substitute. Fertile minds
were reaching our into the unknown,
with the hope of finding some substitute
to take the place of rags, and they very
naturally looked toward wood, that be-
ing a vegetable fibre There are two
kinds of wood pulp-fibre pulp. and
ground pulp. Ground wood pulp is the
cheapest grade of stock used for MAX
ing paper and was the first developed
Probably the best wood for the manu-
facture Of ground wood pulp is spruce,
such as is found in Michigan, Maine
and Canada.
Mr. Logan then gave an interesting
description of the scientific treatment
which is given the wood upon it's ar
rival at the mill, and said it is roughly
estimated that a cord of good, sound
spruce will make a ton of dry ground
wood pulp, and it requires about 60
horse power to grind one ton of ground
wood pulp in "a hours. Coloring matter
and sizing are put in so that when the
paper is made the ink won't run on it.
Without this sizing it would be like
trying to write on blotting paper Most
of the paper used fer printing newspa-
pers is Of this cheap grade, small
amount of sulphite fibre to form a body
and the rest of 1t the cheapest grade of
ground pulp, and even then it is much of
it of a higher character than the news
which is printed on it, for it is clean,
and that is more than can be said for
it after some publishers are through
with it,
There have been wonderful strides in
paper making during the past few
years But few years ago a machine
that made a sheet so inches wide and 125
feet per minute was'quite wonder, but
within year Rice, Barton & Fales have
set up at Rumford Falls, Me-, what |
believe to Re the largest paper machine
in the world II is called tine Great
Eastern" and makes a sheet of paper
1856 to 15S inches wide, running at the
rate of 800 feet per minute, equal to 5H
miles of paper per hour
Pulp made from wood grown in the
cold bleak forests of Maine has
strong fibre, which you do not get in
pulp made from wood grown in Virginia
and North Carolina. The speaker re-
ferred briefly to iute and the uses to
which i. Is put in textile fabrics, twines,
and gunny bagging and paper making.
although but comparatively little is now
used.
In regard to the finer grades, the
speaker said that one sees advertised
pure linen" paper and the inference is
that the paper is made from pure linen
rags, but that is not the case. A paper
made from linen would be so Aard and
brittle you could not work it. Practic-
ally, linen paper means stronger paper.
There may be linen rags in 1t and there
may not. There is paper sold as linen
that is almost entirely made from wood
fibre Formerly there were no rags
used in paper except old rags, and the
thought of most people, when speaking
of rags in paper-making, is that rag
paper is made from scourings of the
world, and In a degree that is true.
There are a great many rags which are
sweet and clean to begin with, but
there are a great many rags used
which seem as IL they would need all
the perfume of Arabia to sweeten them.