|
PAPER has come to play such
an important part in the social, intellectual, and commercial relations of
mankind, that even a temporary stoppage of the supply would amount to a
calamity. It is almost the only article manufactured for which no convenient
substitute could be obtained. Our woollens, linens, and cottons would stand
substitute for each other; but what substance is there that would serve so
many purposes as paper, or serve them so well? It is the vehicle of written
thought between nations and individuals, and without it the art of printing
could not have been made available, except in a costly, and consequently
limited, way. Viewed in that light, it may be said that paper has
contributed more to the advancement of the human race than any other
material employed in the arts. As an article of manufacture and commerce, it
occupies an important place, giving employment to many thousands of persons,
and utilising materials which would otherwise be useless, or worse.
The history of paper, so far
as it is known, is familiar to most people. Paper had its origin in Egypt,
where the bark of the papyrus—a reed growing on the banks of the Nile—was
formed into sheets for the priests to write upon. The thin slips of bark
were arranged in transverse layers on a table, and subjected to pres-sure,
under which the bark became cemented by its own gum. The "sheets" of papyrus
formed in that way were flexible, and, before the invention of bookbinding,
were usually made up in the form of rolls. It is not known when nor by whom
the art of making paper from pulp was invented; but it is considered
probable that the credit of the invention belongs to the Chinese, who, it is
stated, were familiar with the art about the beginning of the Christian era.
The first materials used were the barks of various trees, portions of bamboo
stems, and cotton. In the seventh century the Arabians learned from the
Chinese how to make paper of cotton. From China, the art was carried into
Spain, and the Moors discovered that paper could be made of hemp and flax as
well as of cotton. Spain communicated the art to France and Holland, and
thence it reached Britain.
The first paper mill
mentioned as existing in this country was erected in Hertfordshire by Mr
John Tate, who is thus referred to in a book printed by Caxton, about the
year 1490:—
"Which late hathe in England
doo make thya paper thynne,
That now in our Englyssh thys booke is printed inne."
Royal patronage was conferred
on Mr Tate for his enterprise, as appears from two entries in the Household
Book of Henry VII. These are as follow:—"May 25, 1498—For a rewarde geven at
the paper-mylne, 16s. 8d." "1499—Geven in rewarde to Tate of the mylne, 6s.
8d." In 1588 a German named Spielman established a paper mill at Dartford,
for which he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth, who also granted him a license
" for the sole gathering for ten years of all rags, &c., necessary for the
making of such paper." Mr Tate's paper mill must by that time have stopped,
else it is unlikely that a monopoly would be given to Spielman. The latter
would appear to have carried on an extensive business, if a poet of the time
who wrote the following lines did not exaggerate:—
"Six hundred men are set to
work by him,
That else might starve or seek abroad their bread;
Who now live well, and go full brave and trim,
And who may boast they are with paper fed."
It is a matter of literary
controversy to which of those mills Shakspeare makes Jack Cade allude when
he accuses Lord Say of having, "contrary to the King, his crown, and
dignity," built a paper mill.
During the fourteenth century
the Germans carried the art of paper-making to great perfection; but,
realising the value of retaining the trade in their own hands, they kept
their processes secret.
Even so late as the sixteenth
century the Dutch prohibited, under pain of death, the exportation of moulds
for making paper. This secretiveness on the part of the people from whom it
is supposed we acquired a knowledge of the art, tended to retard its
progress in this country; and up till a comparatively recent period only the
coarser kinds of paper were made. The first patent for paper-making in
Britain was granted in 1665 to Mr Charles Hildeyerd, and was described as
being for "the way and art of making blew paper used by sugar-bakers and
others." The second was granted in 1675 to Mr Eustace Barneby, for "the art
and skill of making all sorts of white paper for the use of writing and
printing, being a new manufacture, and never practised in any way in any of
our kingdoms or dominions." In 1680 Mr Nathaniel Bladen patented "an engine
method and mill whereby hemp, flax, lynnen, cotton, cordage, silk, woollen,
and all sorts of materials may be made into paper and paste-board." Five
years later Mr John Briscoe claimed to have effected great improvements in
the manufacture of paper, and took out a patent for "the true art and way
for making English paper for writing, printing, and other uses, both as good
and as serviceable in all respects, and especially as white, as any French
or Dutch paper."
In Scotland the manufacture
of paper was begun towards the close of the seventeenth century. On the 19th
August 1695, a company was formed in Edinburgh "for manufacturing white
writing and printing papers." The articles of the company are preserved in
the British Museum, and are the earliest documents extant relating to
paper-making in Scotland. When or on what scale the company began operations
there are no means of ascertaining. In 1709 a paper mill was built at
Valleyfield, Penicuik, by Mr Anderson, the Queen's printer in that year.
This mill is still in operation, and by successive extensions has become one
of the largest in the country. The trade made little progress for many
years. In 1763 there were but three mills in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh,
and the quantity of paper made was only 6400 reams a-year. Ten years later
there were twelve mills in the district, some on a more extensive scale than
any in Britain, and the production had risen to 100,000 reams. At that time
a large quantity of printing paper was sent to London, from which city it
used formerly to be brought. It is related of one of the earliest Scotch
paper-makers that he found his trade to be so unremunerative that he tried
to eke out a living by exhibiting an elephant. At present, according to the
trade directory, there are in Scotland fifty-three firms engaged in the
manufacture of paper, and these own or occupy fifty-seven mills, of which
twenty-two are in
the county of Edinburgh—nine being on the North Esk, and a like number on
the Water of Leith. The other Scotch mills are distributed over a dozen
counties, Aberdeenshire and Lanarkshire ranking next to Edinburgh. The
number of paper-making machines in use is eighty, each of which, at a
moderate computation, is capable of turning out seven tons of paper a-week,
so that the gross annual production will amount to about 30,000 tons. Nearly
10,000 persons are directly employed in the manufacture. Some of the Scotch
firms enjoy a world-wide celebrity for the excellence of their productions,
and it is an exceedingly creditable fact that one of them carried off the
first prize for paper at the Paris Exhibition. A comparison of the Paper
Trade Directory for the year 1860 with that for the present year, shows that
while the number of mills in England and Ireland has been decreasing, there
has been an increase in the number of mills in Scotland. There were 359
mills in England in 1860, and in 1868, 293; for Ireland the figures are 35
and 21 respectively, and for Scotland 54 and 57. This shows that a reduction
of 19 per cent. has taken place in the number of English mills, of 40 per
cent. in the number of Irish, while the Scotch have increased about 6 per
cent.
No material has yet been
discovered to supersede the use of linen and cotton rags in making the finer
qualities of paper. Many attempts have been made to find other kinds of
fibre that would be equally suitable; and the list of substances which have
been subjected to a trial is an exceedingly curious one. Up till the year
1857 upwards of two hundred patents had been taken out in Britain for the
protection of inventions of this kind, and they relate to about fifty
varieties of fibre. The list includes asbestos, bean-stalks, clover, dung,
gutta-percha, heather, moss, nettles, peat, sawdust, sea-weed, thistles, and
tobacco-stalks. In the year 1772 a book was published at Regensburg, in
which there were eighty- one specimens of paper made from as many different
substances. The demand for paper has always threatened to exceed the supply
of rags, and hence the desire to find a substitute or auxiliary. About
fifteen years ago many experiments were made both in this country and on the
Continent, with the view of discovering some material for making paper that
would give more satisfactory results than any of the auxiliaries to rags
previously introduced. In 1854 Mr Alexander Brown patented a mode of making
paper from the "bracken" or fern plants of Scotland. About the same time a
Prussian inventor produced some specimens of paper made from pine trees. In
1855 the proprietors of the "Times" newspaper offered a prize of L.1000 for
the discovery of a new and readily available material, but the conditions
attached to the prize were not such as to make it an object of popular
desire by persons who were best able to make experiments. The competition
resulted, however, in proving that paper of an inferior quality could be
made from wood-shavings and bran. In 1856 Mr Edward Grantless, a
marble-cutter of Glasgow, obtained a patent for making paper from stone. The
material that has come nearest to answering the requirements of anything
that could compete with rags is "esparto grass," a plant obtainable in great
abundance on both the European and African shores of the Mediterranean. The
capabilities of esparto were discovered to some extent in 1839, but the
plant did not attract much attention until 1862. Mr Routledge, of the
Enysham Paper Mills, near Oxford, had made some experiments with the fibre
about the year 1856, and succeeded in discovering a more useful, effectual,
and economical mode of treating it than any of those who preceded him in the
re¬search. About ten years ago he began to make printing paper from esparto
exclusively; but it was only when his productions were shown at the
Exhibition of 1862 that the value of his discoveries was fully realised. The
report of the jury on paper says:—"Judging from the specimens of paper
exhibited by Mr Routledge, manufactured by him at his mills at Enysham, in
Oxford, exclusively from esparto, as well as from the other specimens of
paper manufactured at various other mills employing his process, in which
esparto is used as a blend with the ordinary rag material, the results are
very satisfactory, demonstrating that a new material has at length been
brought into use, meeting this long-desired requirement both as regards
quality and economy." Esparto now holds a permanent and important position
in the trade. Used alone, or with a small admixture of rags, esparto
supplies the entire newspaper press of this country, and is extensively used
in the production of other varieties of paper.
About three years ago a
gentleman residing in Norwich, who had given some attention to the subject,
became the accidental possessor of a peculiar kind of grass grown in Japan,
and exported hither chiefly for the use of gardeners, who employ it in tying
plants. The grass attains a length of six or seven feet, and a breadth of
something less than an inch, and in its native country flourishes in great
luxuriance. Nearly the whole of the blade is composed of a strong silky
fibre, running from one end to the other, the proportion of vegetable matter
making up the remainder of the leaf being much smaller than in any other
grass upon which experiments have been made. Thinking ho had discovered what
might prove to be a
valuable material for making paper, the gentleman referred to submitted a
specimen of the grass to Messrs Magnay & Delano, paper makers, Taverham, in
Norfolk, and by them it was forwarded to their chemist in London, whose
report upon the material, which was accompanied by a sample of the pulp
obtained from it, was most satisfactory, and placed it far above esparto
grass in all its essentials —namely, length and quality of fibre, the
readiness with which it might be bleached and reduced to pulp, and its
capability of being converted into the finest quality of paper. The only
objection to the use of the new grass was its cost; but as it can be
produced in unlimited quantities, both in Japan and elsewhere, there is no
doubt that, if the demand were sufficient to induce the cultivation of the
material, the supply could be multiplied to any required extent. A good deal
of paper is now being made in Northern Europe from wood-shavings and
sawdust; and a Scotch firm of timber-merchants, in Gottland, recently
completed arrangements for the conversion of the refuse of their mills into
pulp for making paper.
The application of machinery
to the manufacture of paper is of recent date. Both in preparing the pulp
and in making the paper, the appliances used by the early paper-makers were
of the simplest kind, as may be gleaned from the following account of the
mode of working practised in the mills of Mid-Lothian in the early years of
this century:—The rags, after being thoroughly washed and bleached, were,
while still wet, laid in heaps and covered over with sacking. In that way
they were allowed to ferment for about a week, when they were taken out and
cut into small portions by means of a sharp hook. They were next placed in
large mortars made of oak, and there pounded with iron-shod rods, kept in
motion by either wind or water power. So slow was this process of pulping,
that eighty pairs of stamps produced only one hundredweight of pulp a-day.
Even then the work was so imperfectly done that the stuff had to be pressed
into boxes, and allowed to "mellow" for several weeks. After that it had to
be subjected to a series of beatings in the mortars before it was ready for
use. The pulp was next placed in a "vat," along with a certain quantity of
water. The fibrous matter was held in suspension by the liquor being
constantly stirred by a revolving frame or series of wooden arms. In making
paper by the hand process—now almost extinct—the order of operations is
briefly this (and it is merely mentioned here to give some idea of the
immense advantage conferred by the paper-machine now in use):—The "dipper,"
or "vatman," takes a framework covered with wire-gauze, and dipping it into
the vat takes up a quantity of pulp sufficient for one sheet, the size of
the sheet being determined by the size of the "mould," and the thickness by
the depth of a moveable ledge placed round the wire. The water soon drains
off, leaving the pulp resting in an even layer on the wire. Another workman,
designated a "toucher," takes the mould and transfers the pulp to a piece of
felt or woollen cloth. Usually two moulds are employed, so that, while the "toucher"
is emptying one, the "vatmen" is filling the other. The "layer" deposits the
successive pieces of felt, with their delicate burden, in a pile; and when a
certain number of sheets are thus arranged, they are taken to a press which
forces out all the superfluous water, and gives a degree of solidity to the
paper. The felts are then removed, and the paper is pressed by itself. The
largest size of paper made by hand was "antiquarian," which measured 53
inches by 31, and so great was the weight of the liquid pulp employed in the
formation of a single sheet, that no fewer than nine men were required to
raise the mould out of the vat, by means of pulleys. The "vatman's " duties
used to be of a severe kind. In order to give the paper the proper degree of
finish, the liquid pulp was heated, and he had to stand over the steaming
vat usually from three o'clock in the morning till one or two in the
afternoon. Great skill and strength were required in order to produce the
heavier kinds of paper, and the vatmen were regarded as the most important
persons connected with a paper mill. The paper, after being pressed, was
hung on hair- ropes to dry. The ropes were made of hair because that
material did not give off any stain. When dry, the paper was sized by being
dipped into baths of size-liquor, after which it was again hung up. It was
finished by being pressed between hot iron plates. The productive power of a
mill was in those days reckoned by the number of vats. The men who attended
each vat were called a " vat's crew;" and so independent were the workmen of
fifty years ago, that it is stated to have been no unusual thing for a vat's
crew, or even all the vats' crews in a mill, to stop working when they
thought proper, adjourn to the nearest public-house, and there enjoy
themselves for such time as suited their tastes, no matter how pressing the
demand for paper. The vatmen and touchers looked upon their occupation as
one that machinery could never affect, and were most inconsiderate in their
actions and demands. Their employers were so much pestered by the irregular
manner in which the work of their mills went on, that they were ready to try
any promising invention that offered, and when the paper-machine was brought
to a degree of perfection it was readily adopted.
The first important mechanical contrivance introduced into the trade was the
pulping-engine, invented in Holland about the middle of last century. The
tedious method of fermenting the rags and bruising them in a mortar was
superseded by this machine, which, in its present improved form, reduces the
fresh rags to pulp in a few hours, and is capable of comminuting five or six
tons a-week. Though the means of producing a vastly increased quantity of
pulp were thus provided, many years elapsed before any successful attempt
was made to perform the work of the vatmen and toucher by machinery. Among
the more remarkable contrivances produced for the purpose were a set of
automatic figures made by the ingenious M. Montgolfier of Paris. The figures
were designed to perform the operations of the respective workmen; but they
could not be got to work profitably, and were thrown aside. While
mechanicians of world-wide fame were racking their brains to find out a
system of paper-making machinery, Louis Robert, a humble clerk in a paper
mill at Essonne, was quietly studying the subject, and one day excited the
wonder of his employers by producing for their inspection a working model of
a machine which was capable of producing from the pulp webs of paper of any
length. The model was a tiny thing, from which the paper came forth no wider
than a piece of tape. A machine of larger dimensions was made and patented,
and when the invention came under the notice of the Government, the
ingenious author of it was liberally rewarded. M. Robert's employers bought
the invention, and transferred it to an English firm— Messrs Fourdrinier—who
spent L.60,000 in perfecting it; but, in consequence of some defect or
change in the Patent-laws, they reaped no advantage from their enterprise.
The invention became public property, and Messrs Fourdrinier were reduced to
bankruptcy. The paper-making machine is one of the most ingenious
contrivances employed in the arts, and has been a chief cause in the
creation of that cheap literature which has done so much to make the present
century a remarkable era in the history of human progress. The finest and
most complete paper-making machines in the world have been made in
Edinburgh, by Mr George Bertram, Sciennes, and Messrs James Bertram & Son,
Leith Walk. A machine exhibited by Mr George Bertram at the Exhibition of
1862 created universal admiration, and was pronounced by paper- makers of
all nations to be by far the most perfect machine ever produced.
When the manufacture of paper
began to obtain a footing among British industries, an Excise duty of 3d.
a-pound on first-class papers, and 11d. on second-class, was levied. This
duty produced L.46,868 in 1784, L.315,802 in 1815, L.619,824 in 1830. In
1839 the Excise duty was reduced to an equal rate of lid. a-pound on all
qualities of paper. Under the new scale the revenue from paper increased in
1857 to L.I,244,652, of which sum Scotland contributed L.263,786. In 1860
the paper duty produced L.1,397,349. Having come to be regarded as a "tax on
knowledge," its abolition was mooted on several occasions, but not until
1860 was any movement made for its removal by the Government. In that year
Mr Gladstone (then Chancellor of the Exchequer) introduced a bill to repeal
the duty. The bill passed its third reading in the Commons on May 8, by the
narrow majority of nine. A fortnight afterwards the Lords rejected the bill
by a majority of eighty-nine. This action on the part of the Lords was
regarded by the Ministry to be contrary to the recognised practice in
dealing with money bills, and a political crisis threatened to follow. Mr
Gladstone denounced the rejection of the bill by the Lords as "one of the
most gigantic and dangerous encroachments on constitutional usage which had
been made in modern times," and his resignation was considered imminent in
consequence of the adverse vote in the Lords. A Customs duty of lid. a-pound
was charged on foreign paper imported into Britain, the difference between
that sum and the Excise duty charged on paper made in this country being
looked upon as an equivalent to the restrictions on the home manufacture
necessary for the collection of the Excise duty. Though he failed to get rid
of the Excise duty, Mr Gladstone considered himself bound, by a clause in
the French treaty, to take immediate action for assimilating the duty on
paper imported from France to the Excise duty charged on that manufactured
at home. He calculated that the difference amounted to seven-eighths of a
penny; and on the 6th August 1860 he moved a resolution in the House of
Commons for lowering the duty on French paper by that amount. The resolution
was carried by a majority of thirty-three in a very full house. A second
resolution, making a similar concession to other countries, was carried at
the same time without a division. The paper-makers had risen to a man
against the removal of the Customs duty, and considered themselves aggrieved
in that, while our ports were open to foreign competitors, they had to pay a
heavy export duty on rags before they could obtain them from the only
available sources. On the 15th April 1861 Mr Gladstone, in his financial
statement, said that he felt himself able to repeal the paper duty as from
1st October following; and on the 6th May the House of Commons passed a
resolution giving effect to the abolition of the tax, which for a whole year
had been a bone of contention both in Parliament and out of it.
It is impossible to say
exactly to what extent the abolition of — the duty has affected the
consumption of paper, as the only statistics of the trade were those drawn
up by the Excise; but the increase during the past seven years may be
reckoned at a third of the quantity formerly made.
At no period has the paper
made in Britain been equal to the requirements of the country, and
consequently the article has had to be imported from the Continent. The home
supply of rags has always been short, and our paper-makers have thereby been
placed in a very disadvantageous position compared with their continental
brethren. For a number of years past from 12,000 to 25,000 tons of rags have
been imported annually, and on these a heavy export duty had to be paid. In
1860 that duty amounted, in the case of Prussia, to L.9, 3s. per ton;
Holland, L.8, 8s.; Austria, L.7, 5s.; and so on. In France, Belgium, and
Spain, the export of rags was prohibited. A favourable change has taken
place since 1860, however—a considerable reduction of the export duty having
been made in most cases.
Messrs Alexander Cowan & Sons
are among the oldest, best known, and most extensive manufacturers of paper
in Scotland. They have three mills at Penicuik, in the county of Edinburgh;
but as these stand within a few hundred yards of each other, they are worked
as one establishment. The central position is occupied by the Valley- field
Mill, which is by far the largest of the three. The nucleus of it was built
in 1709, by Mr Anderson, printer to Queen Anne, or by his widow. In 1779 Mr
Charles Cowan, grandfather of the present proprietors, bought the mill, and,
with the exception of the years 1810 to 1814, when it was used by Government
as a place of confinement for French prisoners, the premises have since
continued in the family. As time wore on, the accommodation in the Valley-
field Mill became unequal to the requirements of an increasing trade, and a
neighbouring corn mill was acquired in 1803 and converted into a paper
manufactory. This mill is now known as the Bank Mill, because it was at
first devoted to making paper for bank-notes. In 1815 the operations of the
firm were further extended by the purchase of a paper mill belonging to Mr
Nimmo, of Edinburgh, and now known as the Low Mill. Before the last addition
the number of persons employed was about thirty, who could turn out by the
hand process from two to three tons of paper a-week.
A few years after the close
of the French war the Valleyfield Mill was repurchased from Government,
fitted out with the most improved appliances, and started afresh in the year
1821. The late Mr Alexander Cowan was among the first in Britain to
appreciate the value of the paper-making machine, and to introduce it into
the trade; and both he and his successors have ever shown a readiness to
seek out and adopt whatever appliances or arrangements gave promise of
improving or facilitating the manufacture of paper. In addition to their
three mills, Messrs Cowan have an establishment at Musselburgh, in which the
esparto they use is reduced to pulp, and another place at Leith, where rags
are sorted and cut.
The buildings are so much
detached and scattered that it is difficult to realise the extent of the
Valleyfield Mill without making a tour through its various sections. To
proceed in proper order, the rag stores are the first places to be visited.
They occupy a substantially constructed two-storey wooden building, which
had been erected at Greenlaw Barracks by Government to extend the
accommodation for the detention of French prisoners. The building is upwards
of 100 yards in length, and both floors are covered with bales of rags.
A sample bale lying open here
and there enables one to judge of the contents of all the others. The
collectors of rags arrange them into a certain number of classes, each of
which has its distinguishing mark. Only the highest qualities are used by
Messrs Cowan, as all the paper made by them is of the finest kind. From the
store the rags are taken to the cutting and sorting rooms, where a large
number of women are employed. Each woman stands in front of a bench, the
upper surface of which is covered with wire netting. Taking a handful of
rags from a bale, she shakes them out on the bench, examines them, removes
pins, buttons, &c., and then cuts them into small pieces by drawing them
across the edge of a huge knife fixed to the bench in a perpendicular
position. According to the quality of the various portions, she deposits
them in one or other of the compartments of a box which stands near. The
heavier portion of the dust and dirt set loose by these operations falls
through the wire top of the bench into a receptacle beneath, while the
lighter particles float about, and give the atmosphere a very unhealthy
appearance. The rags are next put through the dusting-machine, which
consists of a large cylinder covered with wire net, and having a series of
pegs or spikes inside. The cylinder is fitted up in an inclined position,
and as the rags pass through it they are thoroughly shaken and beaten by the
spikes. In order to get rid of the remaining dirt and some of the colouring
matter, the rags are boiled in an alkaline lye or solution. For that purpose
they are conveyed to the boiling-house, which contains a range of large
caldrons. These have double sides, and the rags are boiled by the injection
of steam through the perforated lining. Cylindrical revolving boilers are
now coining into use, the advantages claimed for these being that the rotary
motion, by turning over the rags, facilitates the action of the steam and
lye.
After being boiled, the rags
are ready for conversion into pulp. The "engines," as they are termed, for
accomplishing that part of the operations were, as already stated, invented
in Holland about the middle of last century. The first pulping machine is
the washing-engine, which is simply a shallow cast-iron cistern, fitted with
.a cylinder having a number of steel bars 1/8th or 3/6ths of an inch in
thickness firmly wedged in it, and projecting about 1˝ inch from the
circumference of the cylinder. The cylinder extends half-way across the
engine, and the inner end of it rests on a mid-feather. In the bottom of the
cistern, immediately beneath the cylinder, a series of bars, corresponding
with those on the cylinder, are inserted; and when the cylinder is put in
rapid motion (revolving about 120 times in a minute), the rags are drawn in
by the cylinder, and rubbed or torn into what is termed "half-stuff." The
current caused by the turning of the cylinder sends the rags round the ends
of the mid- feather, keeps them moving in a continuous stream up one side of
the cistern and down the other, and draws them in between the cylinder and
fixed bars. As the chief object in the first instance is to cleanse the
rags, they are merely broken into fragments by the first engine into which
they are put. During the operation, which requires two hours for its
completion, a stream of pure water flows through the machine, and carries
off all impurities. Though the rag-cutters exercise a degree of vigilance in
looking out for and removing buttons, pins, and the like, many of these
escape notice; and it is necessary to take precautions for their removal in
the washing- engine. Sloping down in front of the fixed cutters in the
bottom of the engine is a cast iron grating called a "button-trap." The ribs
of the grating lie parallel to the cutters, and, as small particles of pins,
needles, buttons, or other foreign bodies are separated from the rags, they
drop into the grating, and there lie until the trough is emptied, when very
curious collections of dress-fastening appliances are revealed. The
appearance which the rags—especially the coloured ones—present at this stage
is very unpromising to the eyes of casual visitors to a paper-mill When the
washing and "breaking-in" are completed, the rags are drained and deposited
in the bleaching vats, where they are subjected for twenty-four hours to the
action of a strong solution of chloride of lime. The colouring-matter is
thus destroyed, and the fibres are left perfectly white. By pressure in a
hydraulic press, the bleaching liquor is extracted, and the stuff is placed
for an hour in another washing-engine, which removes the chloride of lime,
and still further separates the fibres. The stuff is then placed in the
beating-engine and thoroughly pulped. The beating-engine is similar in
construction to the washing-engine; but the rubbing bars are sharper and
more closely set, and the motion is much quicker. The beating-engine
completes its work in about five hours, by which time the fibres are reduced
to about 1/60th of an inch in length, and float free in the water. The
contents of the beating- engines are drawn off into large shoots, from which
the papermaking machines are supplied.
Messrs Cowan have in
operation five machines of the most perfect construction, and these of
themselves occupy several large buildings. The machine most recently set up
is one of the largest and finest in Britain. Including the drying apparatus,
it is 250 feet in length, and is capable of turning out 2500 square yards of
paper in an hour. In order to describe the operation of this machine, it is
necessary to return to the vats and trace the pulp from that point forward.
Before the pulp is allowed to enter the machine, it is mixed with an
additional quantity of water, so that the fibres may float freely. So great
is the proportion of water to fibre, that the fibre contained in a gallon of
the liquid as it passes to the machine would not, when dry, weigh more than
a grain or two. As the pulp is drawn off the vat, it receives the proper
quantity of water, and is then sent to flow along an open wooden trough
thirty or forty yards in length. The object of this journey is to ensure the
deposition of impurities of a heavy kind. The liquid then passes through a
sort of sieve, technically termed a "knotter," which retains all knotted or
matted fibres. It then passes into the cistern of the machine, where it is
kept constantly in motion by a revolving agitator. From the cistern it flows
in a carefully regulated stream, the full width of the machine, on to an
endless web or apron of wire gauze, having about 4000 holes in each square
inch. Most of the water passes through the apron instantaneously, and leaves
the pulp deposited in an even layer on the wire, by which it is carried
forward over a pneumatic drainer, which draws off the greater part of the
remaining water. The portion of the machine which pertains to the apron
receives a constant vibratory motion, which assists the extraction of the
water, and causes the fibres to interlace and become felted. In determining
the thickness of the paper to be made, both the speed of the machine and the
quantity of pulp allowed to flow upon it must be taken into account. Before
the web of semi-formed paper leaves the apron, it passes under a wire
roller, on which letters or devices in wire are sewed, whereby is produced
what is known as the "water-mark." From a very early date in the history of
paper-making, it would appear to have been customary to form certain devices
in the substance of the paper, either to distinguish the productions of
particular makers, or the various sizes and qualities. Water-marks have been
the means, on several well-known occasions, of detecting frauds, forgeries,
and impositions. Curran once made a capital hit, and won a verdict for a
client, by referring the Court to the water-mark in a document in the case.
The monks in a monastery at Messina preserved with great care, and exhibited
with much reverence, a letter alleged to have been written by the Virgin
Mary. The "relic" remained an object of interest and curiosity until the
monks had a visit from a gentleman, who, after examining the document, said,
with affected solemnity, that the letter was wonderful in more ways than
one—in fact, that its production involved a miracle, since the water-mark
showed that the paper on which the letter was written had not been made
until several centuries after the death of the reputed writer. The
water-mark is produced, as stated, by a roller bearing the design. The
pressure of the wire on the surface of the pulpy web indents it slightly, so
that when the paper is held up to the light, the design may be traced by the
transparency of the outline. The web next passes between two felt-covered
rollers, which extract some of the moisture, and give the material a degree
of consistency. When the paper leaves these rollers, it is received upon an
endless web of felt, which conducts it through two pairs of pressing
rollers, and thus it becomes consolidated. A set of five large drying
cylinders, heated by steam, stand next in order; and over all these the
paper is led by the felt. When it comes forth from that ordeal, it has
sufficient consistency to travel through the other parts of the machine,
without the support of a felt. From the first set of drying cylinders it
passes to the smoothing rollers, and thence over a second set of
steam-heated cylinders, which complete the drying.
At this point printing-paper,
which is sized in the pulp, would be calendered; but the paper made in the
machine under notice being for writing upon, is sized by being passed
through a bath of animal size after leaving the first set of drying
cylinders. The superfluous size is removed by pressure between rollers, and
the web is led on to the drying-machine, which is a most extensive piece of
mechanism It is 200 feet in length, and consists of 200 cylinders, each
about a yard in diameter. The cylinders are arranged in three double tiers,
which rise to a height of twenty feet. Each cylinder consists of two
parts—an outside framing covered with wire-net, inside of which is a fan,
the action of which drives a current of air against the paper as it travels
round the open periphery of the cylinder. In its passage through the machine
the paper is brought into contact with every one of the cylinders; and when
it emerges, is found to be thoroughly dried. The object of drying the paper
in this way is to render it stronger and harder than it would be if dried on
cylinders heated by steam. The paper next passes through burnished rollers,
which impart a glaze to the surface; and as it leaves these it is wound in
convenient lengths upon movable wooden rollers, which, as they are filled,
are shifted to the cutting-machine, by which the paper of six or eight
rollers is simultaneously cut into sheets of any required dimensions. The
intricate journey which the paper has to travel between the pulp-vat and the
cutting-machine is over a mile in length, so that there is always about a
mile of paper in the machine. The attendants have to watch the progress of
the work very closely, for the slightest disarrangement would injure or
break the fabric. There is an index attached to the machine, which shows the
number of yards made; and that, taken in connection with the weight of the
paper given off in a certain time, supplies data for ascertaining whether
the paper is of the proper thickness. The machine can be adjusted to produce
paper so thin that a thousand sheets would measure less than an inch in
thickness, yet so strong would it be that a stripe four inches in width
would bear a weight of 20 lb.
The paper is taken from the
cutting-machines to the finishing and packing departments, where the sheets
are carefully examined and placed singly between polished copper plates. The
plates and paper are passed between rollers, which impart a pressure of
thirty or forty tons, the effect being to give the surface of the paper a
highly glazed and ivory-like appearance. The paper is then made up into
quires and reams, and removed to the warehouse.
Between 2000 and 3000 tons of
paper are made annually—all being, as already stated, the finer kinds of
writing and printing papers. The quantity made daily is probably equal to a
web twenty miles long and above five feet wide. The water-wheels and
steam-engines employed in the mills are equal to over 200 horse power.
About 600 persons are
employed in the various departments, and these are treated with great
consideration and liberality by Messrs
Cowan. The wives and daughters of the partners have always taken a special
interest in the sick, and since 1823 have managed a school for the education
of the children of the workpeople. In 1840 a commodious school-house was
built near the mills, and at present it is attended by about 120 children.
The young persons engaged in the mills are compelled to attend free evening
classes during three months in the winter season. Usually about eighty girls
and forty boys are in attendance at the classes. The mills have only
recently been placed under the Factory Laws; but thirty years ago the
following rules were put in force by Messrs Cowan:—"1. No child under
thirteen years of age shall be employed. 2. No young persons shall be
employed before they are able to read, write, and figure—and, in the case of
girls, to sew. 3. Wives shall not be employed, as it is considered that they
should be 'keepers at home,' for the sake of their husbands and children."
Nearly L.1300 a-month is paid in wages, the following being the
rates:—Mechanics, 25s. to 26s. a-week; mill-workers (men and lads), 18s. to
19s.; women, from 8s. to 10s.
The most extensive
manufacturers of writing-paper in the kingdom are Messrs Alexander Pirie &
Sons, Aberdeen. Messrs Pirie have three paper mills, of which that at Stoney
wood, on the river Don, about six miles from Aberdeen, is the largest, the
others being known as the Union Paper Works, entirely devoted to the making
of envelopes; and the Woodside Paper Works, where coarse papers are made.
Upwards of 2000 persons are employed by the firm, and between sixty and
seventy tons of paper, cards, and cardboard, are made every week. At the
Union Paper Works about a million of envelopes are turned out every day, and
the mechanism used in that department is of the most beautiful construction.
The besetting sin of the
paper-makers is the manner in which they pollute the streams on which their
mills are erected, by discharging thereinto their waste chemicals and other
refuse. These substances are fatal to fish and unpleasant to the nostrils,
if not pernicious to the health, of people dwelling on the banks of the
polluted waters. Since 1840 the paper-makers on the North Esk have been
defenders in two actions raised by the proprietors of grounds bordering the
river, for the purpose of restraining them from discharging the refuse of
their mills into the stream. An action raised in 1841 was settled by the
paper-makers undertaking to adopt measures for remedying the evil complained
of. The steps taken were not successful, however, and matters having grown
worse than ever, a fresh action was raised in 1866. The case was heard by
the Lord Justice-Clerk, and occupied the Court for eleven days. The result
was a verdict in favour of the pursuers on all the issues; and fresh efforts
have since been made to retain or render innocuous the waste from the mills.
The paper-makers have been put to vast expense in the matter; and it is due
to them to say that they have tried every plan that promised to be
effectual. Filtering machines have been procured and filtering ponds
constructed; and the agency of fire even has been introduced, with the view
of getting rid of the objectionable stuff. At Valleyfield, and elsewhere on
the Esk, a large extent of ground is devoted to filtering and settling
ponds; but as yet absolute success has not been attained by any of the modes
of purification tried there or elsewhere. Four or five years ago Messrs
Cowan employed chemists of great skill to endeavour to find a way of
removing the vegetable fibres and chemical stuffs from the water, and a
costly method of incineration was tried. An immense furnace was built, in
which the water was evaporated, and the residue burned to cinders. The
cinders had a certain value, as they retained a large proportion of the soda
used in treating the rags; but that bore a small proportion to the cost of
its extraction. The incinerating process, though still persevered in by some
of the manufacturers, is not more successful than the others that have been
tried, and it has been abandoned at Valleyfield. Messrs Cowan have, though
at great inconvenience, got rid of the most offensive of the polluting
elements by having their esparto pulped and a large proportion of their rags
cut at subsidiary establishments at Musselburgh and Leith.
The most popular form of
decorative art is the covering of the walls of rooms with stained paper—a
material capable alike of adorning the abodes of the wealthy, and making
more cheerful the humblest dwellings. The Chinese are reputed to be the
inventors of paper-hangings. Many centuries ago those ingenious people
covered their walls with paper, and painted thereon figures and landscapes
in the quaint style which even yet marks the limit of their pictorial art.
Some of the early British travellers to the east brought home specimens of
the painted paper. These were imitated, and came into use to some extent
among the wealthier class, who valued the painted paper as a cheap and
tolerable substitute for the costly tapestries and leather hangings which
were then fashionable. Notwithstanding our early connection with the art,
the credit of its development belongs to France, which has long been the
chief seat of the manufacture of paper-hangings. In the middle of the
sixteenth century paper-staining was an established branch of industry in
France; and in 1620 a manufacturer at Rouen invented blocks for producing
the patterns, which had previously been done partly by painting, and partly
by the stencilling process. The French set themselves to make paper that
would resemble in some degree the tapestry which it was intended to stand
substitute for, and consequently their earlier efforts were of a pictorial
kind. In England the art made slow progress, and it was not until the year
1712 that it attracted the notice of Government, who recognised its
existence by imposing a tax of lid. a-yard on stained paper, in addition to
the duty of 3d. a-yard charged on the plain paper. At the same time, each
manufacturer of paper hangings had to procure a license at a cost of L.20
a-year. By these restrictions the trade was nipped in the bud, and became
almost extinct, until, in 1786, Messrs George & Frederick Echardts
established an extensive manufactory at Chelsea.
The invention of the
paper-making machine, about sixty years ago, gave the manufacture of
paper-hangings a great impulse. Previously, the manufacturers had to begin
operations by pasting together twenty- four sheets of paper to form a web or
"piece" twelve yards long. Irrespective of the labour they entailed in the
way of pasting and joining, the composite webs looked patchy, as the stout
paper that was used showed the joinings very distinctly. The cost of
production having been reduced by the invention of the paper-making machine,
paper-hangings were placed within the reach of many persons who were unable
to purchase them at the old rates. The first English paper-hangings
possessed little or no artistic merit; and the manufacturers did not bestir
themselves to improve their productions until some time after 1825. In order
to encourage home enterprise, the Government had placed a prohibition on the
import of foreign papers, and that continued without any good result until
the year named, when the prohibition was removed, and a duty of 1s. per
square yard was imposed on all foreign papers imported. The stamp-duty on
English paper-hangings was at the same time removed. French paper-hangings
were so much superior to those produced in this country, that large
quantities were imported notwithstanding the heavy duty. The trade in
home-made papers was threatened with extinction, and the only alternative
left to the English manufacturers was either to make a higher class of
goods, or resign the market entirely to the Continental makers. They chose
the former course; but the French had had such a long start that it was
difficult for the English manufacturers to approach them. To such an extent
had the trade flourished in France, that in 1827 there were in Paris alone
seventy-two large manufactories of paper-hangings. In 1846 the import-duty
on paper-hangings was reduced to 2d. a-yard, and a great influx of foreign
papers followed. About that time cylinder-printing had been introduced into
the trade, and the facility of production thus obtained, coupled with the
removal or reduction of restrictions, had the effect of bringing down
prices. Thenceforward paper-hangings became exceedingly popular, and
competition among manufacturers tended to improve the quality and designs.
The manufacture of
paper-hangings was begun in Scotland within a comparatively recent period,
and, until a few years ago, was conducted on a small scale. There are only
about half a dozen firms engaged in the trade, and of these there is but one
that does what may be called an extensive business. The number of persons
employed altogether will not exceed 500; and were it not that the trade is
one that has been carried to a high degree of perfection by those engaged in
it in Scotland, and that it promises further development, it might have been
omitted from the list of subjects dealt with in this book.
About twelve years ago Messrs
Wylie & Lochhead, a well-known firm in Glasgow, added paper-staining to the
other departments of their house-furnishing business. They began operations
in a small way, and limited themselves to block-printing. The encouragement
they received induced them, on the abolition of the paper-duty in 1861, to
build a large factory, and introduce cylinder printing- machines. The
factory is at Whiteinch, near Partick. The main part of it consists of two
large buildings, each upwards of 300 feet in length, by 50 feet in width,
and united at one end by a transverse block. About 300 persons are employed,
and 80,000 pieces of paper-hangings are made every week. The more costly
papers are produced by block-printing, the machines being chiefly devoted to
the cheap varieties. The papers supplied to the trade range in price from
10s. to 21d. per piece of twelve yards; but papers which cost 5s. a-yard
have been made to special orders.
The paper arrives at the
factory in compact rolls, about eighteen inches in diameter, and the first
operation it is subjected to is over-running, in order to see that it is
unbroken. It is then "padded" or "grounded," by being passed through a
machine which spreads upon it an equal coating of colour, and rubs it in
well by a series of brushes moving transversely. As the paper comes off the
machine it is dried by being made to traverse a hot-air chamber. The paper
is padded in all save the very lowest qualities. The ground of the latter is
formed by the tint given to the paper in process of manufacture. After being
grounded the surface is polished by means of friction-rollers and brushes.
Fine drawing-room papers are "satined" —that is, made to assume a glossy
appearance resembling satin—by having French chalk rubbed into them as they
are drawn through a machine. There are eight cylinder printing-machines in
the factory —one capable of putting on twenty colours at a time, and the
others twelve, eight, six, and four respectively. The paper is fed into the
machine in a continuous web. It passes over a large central cylinder, around
which are arranged the engraved printing-rollers, each with a supply of the
particular colour which it is to put on. As the paper passes along it
receives the colours in succession, and comes out with the design fully
developed. The preparation of the engraved rollers is a work of great
exactness, as the ultimate appearance of the paper depends much on the nice
adjustment of the various colours. The twenty-colour machine prints 20,000
yards a-day, and the others about 30,000 yards each. On leaving the
printing-machine, the paper passes through a hot-air chamber, whence it
emerges quite dry, and is folded loosely by an ingenious piece of mechanism
peculiar to the establishment. It is then raised to an upper floor, where it
is measured, cut into twelve-yard lengths, and made up into rolls, all of
which operations are performed by machines attended by young women. Papers
striped with various shades of positive colours, such as blue, crimson, &c.,
are much in fashion at present, and Messrs Wylie & Lochhead have recently
set up machinery for producing them.
The block-printing shop
occupies an entire floor nearly 300 feet in length. Along one side of it the
printing-tables are arranged. A man and a boy or girl are employed at each
table. The man draws the web of paper over the table and impresses the block
upon it, while his assistant keeps the block supplied with colour, as in the
case of calico-printing already described, and at intervals hangs up the
paper in long loops. Steam-pipes are laid along the floor, which dry the
paper so rapidly that by the time the end of a web has been printed the
first of it is ready to receive another colour, and so on, one colour being
put on after the other until the design is completed.
Messrs Wylie & Lochhead have
devoted great attention to the production of paper-hangings of the highest
class, and have carried the art of making gold-stamped, bronzed, and flocked
papers to a degree of perfection unsurpassed in Britain. The firm have
obtained the services of workmen from the best factories in France, and have
introduced the most improved machines and processes. A specially interesting
department of their establishment is that in which papers of the finer kinds
are made. The simplest way of introducing gold into a design is, after the
colours have been put on and thoroughly dried, to print the portion to be
brought out in gold with a strong size. That is done by hand; and as the
paper passes from the printing-table, it is thickly dusted with bronze
powder, which adheres only to the sized parts. The paper is then sent
through a calendering-machine, and comes out with the bronze figuring
flattened and burnished, and the appearance of the design enhanced a
hundredfold. Gold stamping is a slower and more costly process, and
constitutes the highest department in the art of the paper-stainer. In order
to attain the full richness of effect which gold imparts, the papers to
which it is applied are grounded with a quiet colour, on which little or no
pattern save that in gold is introduced. The case is somewhat different when
the bronzing process is used, as then the gold is employed only to form
slender outlines and sprigs, and a variety of hues may be used with good
results. Bronzing is particularly effective on embossed papers. In the gold
stamping-room there are nine screw presses and several cylinder machines.
The presses are constructed to operate upon a yard of paper at a time. The
paper is prepared with a dry gum size, and on the parts on which the figures
are to appear leaves of Dutch metal are laid. On the platen of the press a
number of metal dies bearing the designs are fixed, and kept hot by jets of
gas. When all is ready, the man in charge draws the paper into position,
and, by moving a fly-wheel, brings down the dies. While he is thus engaged,
his assistants place metal on a fresh portion of the paper. As the paper is
stamped it is rolled up with the superfluous metal still attached to it and
removed to another room, where the gold that has not been fixed is rubbed
off. Papers of this kind are cut into twelve-yard lengths before being
stamped, and sometimes before being grounded, when that operation is done by
hand. The designs in gold consist chiefly of isolated scrolls, or floriated
ornaments with vase-like centres. Nothing is introduced to destroy the
flatness of surface essential in a wall-paper, and the quantity of gold is
made to harmonise with the tone of the ground. The more sombre the ground is
the more gold may be employed up to a certain point, and the figuring may be
of a bolder kind than would be suitable for a light foundation. Drawing-room
papers are in many cases embossed, which is done by passing the paper
between engraved rollers.
There is considerable variety
in the style of embossing—the most common forms being waved lines, diaper,
and graining in imitation of leather.
There is yet another variety
of paper-hangings—that in which the design is worked out in "flock." In 1634
a Frenchman named Lanier took out a patent in this country for the process
of flocking paper, leather, &c. Little came of the invention until the
beginning of the present century, when it began to be practised by paper-stainers
generally. At the Whiteinch factory there is a special department for
flocking. The size is printed on by blocks, and the paper is then introduced
into a chest the full length of the piece, where it is covered by a deposit
of wool powder, which is caused to adhere evenly by a peculiar vibrating
motion given to the bottom of the chest. Flocks are not so much used as they
were some years ago, nor are they made so heavy.
The designing of
paper-hangings affords wide scope for the exercise of artistic skill; but
only in recent years has a high degree of excellence been attained. As
already stated, the French have maintained a leading place in the art; but
the British manufacturers are pressing closely upon them; and it is a
significant fact that, next to Australia, France takes the largest quantity
of the paper-hangings exported from this country. The earlier productions of
our paper-stainers were remarkable only for poverty of style and feebleness
of colour. The manufacturers did not realise the power they had in their
hands for improving the artistic taste of the people, and were content so
long as they satisfied the moderate demands made upon them by their
customers. Not only in the manufacture of paper- hangings is artistic skill
requisite, it is also essential in choosing a paper to suit the furnishing
and lights of an apartment. There should be a degree of harmony between the
colours of the paper and those of the carpet and other furniture; and where
that is wanting, the effect is unpleasant, even to an unartistic eye.
A large staff of designers and engravers are employed by Messrs Wylie &
Lochhead. The designs are drawn to full dimensions and coloured, and from
the drawings the engravers prepare a block or roller for each colour. In the
case of the rollers and the finer blocks the design is raised on the surface
by driving slips of copper into the wood, and filling up with felt the
portions which are to make the impression. In some patterns so many as
twenty colours are used, requiring as many separate rollers or blocks. To
print a rose, for example, about a dozen blocks are required; for in the
simplest way it can be done three or four shades of red have to be used for
the flower, three greens for the leaves, two wood colours for the stem, and
white for the clear spaces. By changing the colours used in a design great
variety of effect may be attained with one set of blocks; but so fickle is
the public taste, and so keen the competition among manufacturers, that new
blocks are being produced continuously. The papers made at Whiteinch during
1868 embrace no fewer than 240 varieties. Though the establishment has not
been many years in existence, an immense stock of blocks and rollers has
accumulated, representing in first cost many thousands of pounds. Another
important department of the factory is that in which the colours and sizes
are prepared. It is a laboratory on a gigantic scale. The colours are ground
and mixed by machinery, and for the treatment of those which require to be
dissolved or compounded in a hot state there is a range of copper boilers,
&c.
The men employed at Whiteinch
are paid by piece. The block- printers and machinemen earn from 25s. to
35s., and the women receive from 7s. to 11s. a-week. |
