El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1899-05-13
LIVED FOR OTHERS.
THE MAN WHO INVENTED WOOD
PULP PAPER PROCESS.
It Has Become One of the WORLDS
Leading Industries While He Has
Become q Pauper-H OF
Capital Illustrated.

WOOdpulp paper, though IL Is popu-
larly regarded as a recent invention,
is more than half a century old. A
German journal was printed on it In
the year 1S45. The man who made
this paper with his own hands,, and
who invented the first practical meth
cd of making paper from wood, was
still living few years ago, almost In
poverty, in a small village of Saxony
Frederick Grottlob Keller was neither
a scientist nor a paper-maker, but
only a poor weaver, like his father be-
fore him. He was born in 1916. When
% years old, happening to read that
the increasing demand for paper had
made the discovery of some substitute
for rags an imperative necessity, ne
became absorbed in this subject
Chance directed his attention to the
paper-like nest of the wasp. He studied
| the insects at their building operations
and was fortunate enough to see them
tearing off the woody fibers of plants
with their mandibles, which they lald
together to form the walls of the nest.
Keller's first attempt at paper-mak1ng
was made by soaking sawdust in
| strong soda I've to separate the fbers
| 1t was not a success. His next ex-
pertinent was more fortunate. He
ground up a block of wood on an or
| binary grindstone running in water
trough, and as the wood dust fell into
the trough the water grew milky. All
er a time a pasty mass collected at
the bottom. Emptying the trough in
to another vessel, he allowed the fiber
| to settle, and poured off the water.
Then he abandoned his experiment for
the time being, and returned to his
loom. In the evening Keller placed
the vessel of pulp on the table, which
was set for the evening meal, and
stirred the mass violently. He didn't
know just why he was doing it, but
chance came to the aid Of this man,
who knew nothing of paper making.
He splashed some of the pulp on the
table-cloth, which quickly absorbed
the superfluous moisture. There re-
manned tiny disk Of pulp, which KEEL
| Ter quickly raised with knife, pressed
| it in a book and dried it in the oven.
The piece of paper so made-about as
| big as a dime-he preserved as me-
mento through all his later years, to-
gether with the wasps' nest, which
gave him his first inspiration. From
| this small beginning the way to COM
mercial success was long and hard
Yet, after many failures and much dis
couragement, Keller succeeded in turn
ing out, with his wife's help, num-
Der of small sheets of paper. The pulp
was spread on old pieces of cloth laid
upon a home-woven wire netting, and
| the press was a rude, homemade af-
| fair. The product was crude, yet 1t
was undeniably paper, and with it KEEL
Ter went to the capitalists seeking fin
ancial aid for the improvement of his
process. But the infant was SO weak
ly and misshapen that the capitalists
refused to adopt it. He tried the gov
eminent bureaus, and received appre-
c;ative words but no assistance, and
he was afraid to go to the papermakers
lest his invention be stolen Thus
thrown back on his own resources,
Keller got new grfndstone, and, still
aided by his faithful wife, proceeded
to grind out lot of pulp. They did
this work at night, as the Gay was
fully occupied working for bread
Wisely restricting himself to the first
part of the process, Keller sent the