PAPER MANUFACTURE. The first paper mill established in England was at Dartford, by a German, (who was jeweller to Queen Elizabeth,) about the year 1588. For a long period afterwards the manufacture was, however, of so inferior a quality as to render it necessary to have recourse to France and Holland for those of the better quality. The process at this time consisted in subjecting the rags to fermentation, by which destructive operation they were of course more easily reduced to a pulpy consistency, which was effected by stamping or triturating in a kind of mortar, similar to the action of the Asiatic oil mill, described at page 201. About the middle of the last century the pro cess was, by successive ameliorations, entirely changed, so as to approximate nearly to that now used in making paper by band. We shall therefore proceed to describe, in the first place, all the ordinary manipulations practised in making paper by hand ; and afterwards, successively, those improvements in the mecha nism by which this important manufacture is now conducted.
The best kind of rags employed in the manufacture of paper are collected in this country, but all these are only sufficient to supply a fifth part of our demand; and the inferior kinds are imported from the continent, particularly from Hamburgh, whence our chief supply has been drawn for many years, that city being apparently the grand rag-market for the German States and the north of Europe. France, Holland, and Belgium, prohibit the exportation ; a considerable quantity is, however, brought to us from Italy, and various parts of the Mediterranean. These rags are of course of every quality, from canvas to cambric, and of every tint, as respects filth or cleanliness, between white and black; those from Sicily have the hue of sepia. Notwithstanding they undergo, from their excessively filthy state, a partial cleansing before they can be shipped, they become so completely metamorphosed by the ablutions and manipulations of our paper makers, as to be converted, in a. very short space of time, into a pure and spotless white paper. Before rage are brought to the mill, they are
roughly sorted into several qualities, distinguished by technical terms, understood by the trade. At the mill, these aorta are more particularly sorted, according to the requirements of the manufacturer, and at the same time they are cut into piecea, if they are much larger than Lout the palm of the band. A number of women are employed for this purpose, in a krge room, fitted up and adapted to reduce the nuisance of the filth and dust of the operation. Each woman stands before a kind of table, formed of a wire screen, on which the rags she sorts are from time to time distributed, and moved about, which causes much of the dust and dirt to loam through the wires into receptacles beneath. At each stand there is also a fixed blade of steel, kept very sharp, over which the workwomen draw those pieces of rags that are too large, and thus quickly divide them. If the pieces be small enough, they throw them, according to their respective qualities, into one or other of a series of receptacles designed to receive the various qualities in a separate state. All the seams in the rags are carefully separated ; as the sewing threads, if not thoroughly torn into filaments by the engine, would produce indentations or knots upon the paper. An active woman can cut and sort about a hundred-weight a day ; the rags are next weighed, and put up into hundred-weight bags, ready for the subsequent operation. It was formerly necessary to assort the rags with great care, with respect to colour, as well as texture; but from this care they are now in a great measure relieved, by the introduction of bleaching by chlorine, which enables them to produce the whitest paper from any kind of rags: by injudicious management, however, the process is sometimes carried too far, and the tenacity of the vegetable fibre destroyed. The next operation is to boil the rags for some hours with lime, which loosens the dirt, and partially cleanses them ; but this preparatory process for the operations of the mill is, we believe, confined to the most improved mills.