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

to one hundred aud seventy-6ve feet
long, appears to be better fitted to
manufacture iron and steel than to
handle the thin, milky fluid which
stands ready for manipulation at the
upper end of the machine. The wet
pulp, of which 95 per cent is water,
first passes through screen, where 1t
is cleaned. 1t then flows into vat,
at the further edge of which is pro-
vided an outflow, which consists of a
true. level, edge or lip which forms
kind of weir, over which a broad, thin
stream of pulp flows onto the paper
machine proper. This stream is the
full width of the machine, and It's
depth has to be kept perfectly true
and even throughout. The pulp falls
onto what is fnown as the Fourdainier
wire. This is an endless wire cloth,
seventy meshes to the inch, which is
the full width Of the machine, and
travels continuously over a set OF
parallel rolls, passing around an end
"couch roll,' and returning again
under the. machine. In addition to
its forward motion, this wire cloth or
screen has a lateral rocking motion
across the machine. As the pulp
flows onto this wire lare portion OF
the water, assisted by the shaking,
strains through and passes away, leav-
ing a thin film Of pulp. which is the
future sheet of paper. This film is
picked up off the couch roll by an
endless wooden felt, which carries the
wet sheet between several gun metal
':squeeze rolls or "press rods,
which force out sufficient amount of
water for the sheet to be able to sus-
tain its own weight.
At this point the sheet is trans
ferred to an endless cotton felt, which
supports it while they both pass over
and around dozen OF more driers,
which are hollow cylinders 3 feet in
diameter and extending the full width
Of the machine, through which a con-
slant flow Of live steam is maintained.
These thoroughly dry out the paper.
At this stage Of the process the
sheet is rough and uneven, presenting
very much the appearance OF sheet
of paper that has been wetted and
allowed to dry out again. 1t now has
to be ironed out, as it were. and the
desired finish impaired to its surface;
For this purpose it is passed through
the calenders, which consist of two
vertical standards which carry usually
IL superimposed chilled steel rolls of
the very highest possible polish. The
paper is inserted between the upper
two and passes down through the
whole set, the desired pressure being
obtained by means Of powerful screws.
This process is repeated in second
stack of rolls, after which the finished
paper is wound into large roll. 1t
is then passed through thecutters and
cut to the required width and length.
IF highly finished surface is desir-
ed, the paper is passed through what
are known as super-calenders, which
consist Of Z rolls, 4 Of chilled steel
and 4 of pressed paper, arranged alter
nately, the combination Of the two
materials in the rolls giving high
finish. The whole machine is run at
a very high speed, 300 to $50 feet per
minute being common. There arc
some machines that run the paper out
at the rate Of 400 feet per minute, or
between 4 and 5 miles per hour. and
such a machine will frequently run an
entire day without break in the
paper.
These speeds are only possible in
the manufacture of common newspa
per. In making the finer grade of
paper, with high finish, such for in
stance as is used for the Scientific
american, the mill can only be run at
about one-half the above speed.
The whole machine has to be ad
justed with the greatest care and
nicety. 1t runs at so high speed,
and the material upon which it oper-
ates is so frail, that any unevenness
in the rolls, or an irregularity in the
speed of any particular part Of the
machine, would break the sheet, and
throw the work into confusion.
The following material is consumed
every month in paper mill of 10 tons
per day, or 1000 tons per month ca
pacity
Coal ...... l5 tens.
Wood 2432 cords.
PIoo.b;nr rou6ar (oh1or