The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1906-10-03
Paper Manufactured From Pulp Wood

which the bark Is stripped off, and a
clipper to reduce the wood to small
pieces for the acid In the digester.
This digester plant has tower in
which sulphur is burned at the base,
and the fumes pass up through COOL
ing pipes. to meet fater which per-
cOlates through limestone from the
top. This forms sulphurous acid,
which is drawn of into the digester
filled with chips. Steam is turned on
under pressure. and the whole mass is
cooked until sufficiently digested. when
the cooked pulp is blown out and
washed with water. Other processes
follow. in which the fiber is formed
into sheets. and is squeezed through
power presses to remove the water.
The pulp may be then shipped to the
paper mill. where it is bleached and
otherwise prepared for special use. or
to factories. which make use OF the
material in the manufacture of pals.
dishes, boxes. picture frames. mat
tings. car wheels. steam and water
pipes. telegraph poles. electric con-
Quits. insulators. collins. shoe heels,
horse shoes, spools. tool handles. but
tons. pulleys. paving blocks. surgeons
splints. astronomical observatory
domes and hundreds of other things.
Four hundred or more raw materials
are used in the manufacture Oh paper
pulp. but wood furnishes by far the
greater quantity. Many American
woods have been tried. including
spruce. popular. Eastwood. balsam,
pine. beech, willow. cedar, hemlock.
maple. birch and aspen. OF these
spruce is most used. Balsam is also
good. Both are valuable for their
special quality Of fiber and for their
lack of color. being nearly white and
therefore not difficult or expensive to
bleach.
To arrive at definite conclusions as
to the various pulpwoods and how to
treat them, the Forest Service has es-
tablished. at 696 East First street,
Boston, Mass, laboratory for the
purpose of making investigations and
experiments in the manufacture of
sulphite wood-pulp.
Even with the seemingly exhaustless
spruce forests of Canada in addition
to those of the United States. it does
not need an expert statistician to fore
see the dav. not far In the future,
when the spruce pulp supply will be
exhausted. or at least so depleted
that the cost OF wood will be prohibit
tive. Therefore a principal object Of
the Forest Service laboratory is to
experiment on the pulp making pos
sibilities OF other woods. with refer
ence to obtaining: First, pulp that
will approximate spruce pulp to sup
plement it: second. ether fibers that
may have qualities peculiarly adapted
to special kinds OF paper making,
third. pulp of marketable value as a
by-product from the waste material of
numbering and milling operations.
So far there seems to be more posi-
bilities in balsam. to supplement
spruce, than in any other wood Yet
the most interesting possibilities of
the Forest Service Investigations lie
in the line OF discovering other fibers
that may have properties peculiarly
adapted to special kinds of paper max
ing. Here the realm of conjecture is
as bewildering as it is broad, for few
countries can present greater variety
of woods to work with than can be
found in the United States and its pos
sessions Special woods may be dis
covered which will supply the basis for
special papers, until there may indeed
be brought about a Paper Age" as
German scientist has predicted. where
in all vegetable fibers will find place
in making boards. bricks. holdings,
and nearly all structural materials
Here. too, there is opportunity for
utilizing wood waste. sawdust. slabs,
and edgings-all to be made into pulp,
and thence into finished paper pro-
ducts.
The Forest Service experiment sta
tion is conducted in connection with
model plant fully equipped. The SAM
pies of wood used will be collected by
members of the Forest Service in or
der that there may be no question as
to their Identification. and then treated
in every way as if in a regular pulp
mill. Sulphite pulp will thus be made
from a great variety of American
woods. The fibers will be studied mi
croscopicaily. and gcod-sized of the
pulp will be distributed among paper
manufacturers, SO they may Judge of
their usefulness for general or speci-
fic purposes.
More than 100000 cords of wood
are used annually in the production of
sulphite pulp, and of this nearly four
fifths is spruce. With such an enor-
nous demand there is rapid diminu-
ton of the supply of standing spruce
and a consequent marked increase in
its cost. Moreover. since small sizes
are not only available for pulp. but
even preferable. it follows that the
lumbermen. in cutting for pulp, is
likely to work on the theory that cali
is fish which comes to his net"
Notwithstanding this, the principles
OF forestry are being applied by many
lumbermen to cutting pulpwood and
provision is being invade for the flu
ture. This is quite practicable, since
spruce is a fairly rapid grower and
in comparatively few years attains
marketable pulpwooi conditions
spruce will have to be supplemented
by some other material. because the
use of paper, especially for cheap
printing stock, is increasing out of all
proportion to the supply OF raw ma
terial now in sight This is only one
of the many ways in which the Forest
Service is helping toward proper
utilization of the forest products of
the country. Pulpwood is recognized
as a valuable forest crop.