The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1911-07-04
FLORIDA HAS
PRODUCTS FOR
PAPER MAKING
EXPERIMENT AT TAMPA SHOWS
FINISHED SHEET PRODUCED IN
AN HOUR FROM MIXTURE OF
FLORIDA SAW GRASS, CABBAGE
PALMETTO BARK AND FIBRE,
WITH SIMPLEST PROCESS.
Says the Tampa Tribune:

says the tampa tribune:
Interested spectators yesterday saw,
in this city, a sheet of finished paper
made from raw Florida products, by
the simplest processes imaginable, in
less than an hour. The process proved
a revelation to the Tampans who had
accepted an invitation to be present
and they left the scene with the i'm
preston that the utilization of these
waste Florida growths in the manufac-
ture Of paper would mean untold for
tune to those engaged in 1t as well as
a producer Of wonderful wealth in in
dustrial development to the state at
large.
The demonstration was made by DR..
F. F. Strong and Capt. H. E. Ellis, OF
Palmetto, who have been working on
the process for year. DR.. Strong, who
is a chemist of wide repute, having
held chair at Tufts College, came to
Florida from Boston and accidentally
met Captain Ellis, who is a mechanical
and electrical expert, who has devoted
the greater part Of his life to milling
proposition. They exchanged ideas on
paper manufacture and the result was
scientific and practical test of the
grasses and palms Of Florida as ma
teria1 for the pulp from which paper
was maze. InSy put IN a small 08-
perimental plant at Palmetto and they
were able to show those interested
yesterday samples Of paper made from
a dozen or more different Florida
products, all of which have been
hitherto without the slightest utiliza-
ton and really an encumbrance to the
soil Of the state.
These gentlemen interested ]. Mack
Towne of Tampa, J. H. Riviere, of Pal
NJ iY1 fhaiv nd
decision has been reached to organize
a holding company for the purpose of
standardiZing q plant and putting the
process into actual operation. The
headquarters of the company will be
in Tampa and the demonstration of
yesterday, which was held at the new
Wright Garage, Lafayette street, was
for the purpose of interesting local
capitalists. There is every prospect
that the company will be formed in a
short time as no one who watched the
manufa cture of paper yesterday, even
with such crude processes, could doubt
that it has in it one of the greatest
Industrial possibilities ever developed
in the country.
The Process.
The sheet of paper made yesterday
was produced with the following ma
terials and plant" Cabbage palmet-
to bark, cabbage palmetto leaves, ordi-
nary saw grass, salt grass and saw pal
metto, a solution of caustic soda,
chloride of lime as a bleacher, an ordi-
nary sausage grinder, an ordinary
solander, an egg heater and a gasoline
stove, with an improvised screen and
box for smoothing out the pulp. With
these simple materials and this crude
plant" DR.. Strong and Captain Ellis
succeeded in making a sheet Of very
fair quality of paper in about fifty five
| IT,, -
watched closely by those present.
For the purposes of the demonstra-
ton, the various materials were com
bined although each one Of them will
produce certain grade of paper, sam
pies of which were exhibited. The mix
ture produces a good article, superior
to ordinary news print paper, and the
sheet made here, while not given the
possible degree of finish, was of
quality which showed the possibilities
of the process. Several gTindings of
the mixed material in the meat chop
per, cooking with caustic chloride, fiat
tened and pressed on the wire screen,
and the paper was made. 1t was
almost mira culous in its simplicity as
we'll as in the speed with which it
was completed.
Whole Trees Capable.
DR.. Strong stated that an entire cab
ba ee palmetto tree, leaf, wood and root
could be converted into paper by this
process and that the product would be
much preferable to paper made by
present processes throughout the coun-
try.
You can readily see the vast pos
siSilities of this industry" said DR..
Strong, after the demonstration was
completed. with large plant, capa
BILE Of turning out a sufficient guam
tity to supply a demand, we can sup
ply the call for orange wrappers in the
fruit growing region to begin with and
gradually increase our facilities until
we can furnish the paper for many
other commercial uses. We can sell
oranr- wrappers at $3.50 a ton and 1900
| tons of these wrappers were used in
| South Florida alone the past season,
costing the growers an average of S24O
a ton. Good book paper, produced by
| this process, can be sold at $23 a ton,
which now, by the more expensive
process. brings $500 ton"
Mr.. Towne, who is enthusiastic
about the proposition, having investi-
gated all its details, believes that every
| $3.50 invested in the enterprise will
bring in 100000 in a few years. He
| is determined to make the proposition
| a success and 1t has the advantage of
| the practical and scientific abilities of
DR.. Strong and Captain Ellis. The lat
ter, who has been engaged in the pa
per manufacturing business and was
the first to apply the sylphide method
to this industry, has drawn plans for
the larger plant including all the va
rious machines, which have been COW
cred by patents, and when the holding
| company is organized, everything will
be prepared to proceed with the install
lation of the mill and to begin turning
out paper.