The Washington herald., 1917-01-13
WILL MAKE PAPER
FROM SUGAR Cane
Philadelphians Propose to Utilize Waste
Stalks to Relieve Famine.

The truth Of the old saying that me
cessity Is the mother of invention" Is
proved anew IN q plan now under way
to manufacture paper pulp from the
stalks of sugar cane after the sugar
juices have been extracted 1t is reputed
that this crushed and squeezed dry
stalk which is now a waste product OF
! apparently no value is to be turned to
good account by the new process.
Paper was made by hand until l7sS,
when a Frenchman named Louis Robert,
a clerk In a paper mill near Paris, IN
vented a machine that gave new impetus
to the industry. The first paper machine
in England was erected near Boxmoor
In 1904. 1t was not until 1920. however.
that the United States had q paper ma
chine. This was started for the first
time by T. Gilpin & Co., on the Brandy
wine Creek in Pennsylvania Since then
machine-made paper has come into such
general use that only a few of the fancy
grades are still made by the old-time
hand process.
When 1t is considered that more than
49, 900 tons of paper were used in the
United States during 1916, 1t will be seen
that this is one OF our largest and most
important Industries. Many thousands
of paper machines are required now to
make a sufficient supply. and enormous
quantities of raw material must be avail
able II these machines are to be kept
busy.
In order to make paper, fibre is nec-
essary, and the fibre must be of such
nature that it can be put through a
number OF processes without losing its
strength, so that the finished sheet can
be printed and handled and have a rea-
sonable degree of durability.
The fibre obtained by cutting boiling
and otherwise treating rags was once
the main source of supply for paper
making. But such a supply was neither
| cheap enough nor abundant enough to
keep pace with the demand for paper
and about fifty years ago, as a result of
a long series Of experiments, the manu-
tacture OF paper pulp from certain kinds
of timber was established on a CONNER
cial basis. At that time II was supposed
that the American supply of such timber
was inexhaustible.
Things have changed, however, since
fifty years ago. It was impossible al
that time to foresee the phenomenal
growth OF the newspaper and the ex-
tent to which its humming presses would
chew up acres OF forest in the form OF
rolls Of plain white paper.
However, there Is another material
| from which, II Is claimed, satisfactory
paper pulp may now be manufactured
The stalk Of sugar cane has a woody
hore very similar to that Of timber, and
Philadelphia chemist has patented a
process for treating this fibre and max
ing paper pulp from which paper NAV
be manufactured
A notably important feature Of this
new plan. 1t is further claimed, is that
1t has supply of raw material to draw
from that will not be exhausted Every
year there is a new crop OF sugar cane.
and there will continue to be as long as
people want sugar-one of the most i'm
portant and universally used articles OF
human diet.
The inventor stated that alcohol non-
horous cenulose, and other valuable ma
| ter1als can be saved from this sugar
cane waste In the process OF making the
paper pulp.
The patents on these processes arr
owned by a company which Is being
financed by group OF Philadelphia bust
ness men and investors.