CHAPTER I

INDUSTRY AND PRODUCT DESCRIPTION

The Early History of Paper Machinery

A

The production of paper by hand is an ancient craft, but the manufacture of machine-made paper is less than two centuries old. Frenchman, Nicholas Louis Robert (1761-1828) invented the first paper machine, receiving a patent in 1799. Hence, much of the terminology surrounding the paper machine is French. The first practical paper machines were developed in England. Henry and Sealy Fourdrinier, London stationers of French Huguenot origin, obtained patents in 1806 and 1807 for what became commonly called the fourdrinier machine. Like many other inventors, the Fourdrinier brothers realized little profit from their invention. Improvements by John Gamble and Bryan Donkin, early British paper machine builders, allowed commercial introduction of machine-made paper about 1812 in Great Britain. John Dickinson, also an Englishman, invented and patented the cylinder-type paper machine in 1809. Subsequently, the cylinder machine would become a specialized device for linerboard production. The multicylinder board machine first appeared as an American invention in 1863.

The

Working from knowledge of a Dickinson cylinder-type machine, Thomas Gilpin placed a cylinder-type machine in operation in 1817 at his paper mill near Wilmington, Delaware. The first fourdrinier machine was imported from England and placed in operation at a mill near Saugerties, New York in 1827. A French-built fourdrinier was imported in pieces in December, 1827 and erected the next year at a mill in North Windham, Connecticut. The machine erectors subsequently incorporated as Phelps & Spafford in the adjoining village of South Windham. They produced fourdrinier machines which were installed respectively in 1829 and 1831 at Norwich and East Hartford, Connecticut. Reorganized after the 1837 recession, the firm operated into the 20th century as Smith and Winchester. firm claimed a number of inventions, including the first American-made continuous web cutter and also produced an early jordan. Phelps and Spafford also manufactured the first American-made paper driers, in 1830, apparently modifying an English model. Earlier British patents for steam dryers were issued to Thomas Bonsor Crompton in 1820 and to Bryan Donkin for modifications in 1823. Robert Ranson made improvements to the drying process in 1839. The dandy roll, used for marking the newly formed web, dates from 1825 when a patent was issued to John and Christopher Phipps. In 1839, William Joynson first placed letters and markings on the dandy roll allowing the production of watermarked paper. Out of favor in recent years, the dandy is now making a comeback as an integral part of the paper machine. Other improvements to the fourdrinier occurred during this period. George Dickinson invented the slice in 1828, a thin, flat board which lays across the surface of the wire in front of the headbox and smooths and directs the

pulpstock flow as it exits the headbox chamber. In 1829, John Dickinson invented a reversing press. The suction box, used to squeeze water from the web, was first developed in France. In 1836, John Brown received a British patent for a suction press. Appearing much later, in the 1870s, were machine showers and fourdrinier wire guides, to hold the wires in place.

Improvements at the finishing or dry end of the machine did not generally evolve as quickly as at the wet end. This is somewhat ironic because in early paper mills most finishing tasks were considered less skilled and consequently left to women. However, machine calenders and supercalenders were in use by the 1830s, although requiring individuals to tend and individually feed sheets. Slitters and cutters appeared before mid-century. In 1847, J. C. Kneeland, of Troy, New York, patented a mechanical layboy, which stacked the sheets as they fell from the cutter. In a subsequent patent dispute, Kneeland prevailed against three other applicants.

Many of the famous names in U.S. papermaking machinery date from the pre-Civil War period. Rice Barton Corporation, Worcester, whose predecessor was formed in 1837, and the Bird Machine Co., South Walpole, are two examples from the large Massachusetts paper machinery industry. Two of the principal manufacturers of today were organized in 1858, the Merrill Machine Company, now known as the Beloit Corporation, and the Bakers Falls Iron Machine Works, now known as the Sandy Hill Corporation.

Wood fibers were first used for papermaking in a Marysville, Pennsylvania mill before the Civil War in 1855. Groundwood, or mechanical spruce wood pulp, was first introduced into Canada in 1866 and to a U.S. mill the following year. Machine felting appeared during the Civil War. The use of sulfite, an acid reagent, originated in 1867 with the American chemist, Benjamin Tilghman. The sulfate or kraft process was first developed by the German chemist, Carl Dahl in 1889. Kraft pulping, using spruce and pine, became the most common pulping method in the United States. Initially spruce and poplar predominated among U.S. pulpwood species, accounting for 88 percent of consumption in 1899. pulpwood production shifted to the South and West, other hardwood and softwood species, notably southern yellow pine, gained predominance.

As

The Voelter-Keller stone grinder, first manufactured by J. M. Voith of Germany in 1847, was patented in the United States in 1858. In 1858 Joseph Jordan and Thomas Eustace of Hartford, Connecticut produced the first jordan refiner, which consisted of a conical plug rotating in a matched conical shell. Named for its co-inventor, Joseph Jordan, the jordan was long the standard means of pulpstock refining. In 1856, J. Klingsland offered a disk refiner manufactured by Cyrus Currier & Sons, Newark, New Jersey. However, the four revolving disks could not be machined finely enough by then current machine tools, and disk refining did not supersede jordans

until the 20th century. In 1862, the first Harper fourdrinier was introduced, a variant used for production of lightweight paper grades. The first patent for rubber roll coverings was issued in 1864.

In

The post Civil War period offered several of the industry's major producers the opportunity to expand and take recognizable shape. 1893, the Beloit Iron Works manufactured a paper machine for display at the Chicago World's Fair. This machine exposed many people to papermaking machinery for the first time. The machine was subsequently sold to a mill and remained in service until quite

recently. business.

In the same year, the Black Clawson Company started

The industry would carry on into the 20th century, developing new technologies and serving the country through two wars. Throughout the century, American paper machinery would reach into mills around the world from Canada to China. As a new globally competitive industry emerged after 1960, American-made paper industries machinery was recognized globally for quality, long life, and service. New challenges were to emerge to press this U.S. leadership.1

Paper Industries Machinery: What Is It?

Paper industries machinery (SIC --standard industrial classification--3554) encompasses the principal products

manufactured to serve the needs of the pulp, paper, paperboard, and paper converting industries. Products of this industry serve the Paper and Allied Products Major Group (SIC 26) from woodyard to converting and finishing. The major focus of this assessment is on manufacturers in the paper machinery industry as defined in the SIC nomenclature. Equipment such as boilers, black liquor recovery systems, pumps, and pollution control devices largely lie outside the purview of this study. Woodyard equipment (barkers, chippers, knotters, etc.) prepares the raw pulpwood into roundwood or chips, for processing into pulp. Pulpstock may then be processed into market pulp or various grades

1

There is no complete history of paper machinery in the United States. This section is drawn from several works including: Clapperton, Robert H., The Paper-Making Machine, (Oxford, 1967); Hunter, Dard, Papermaking, Dover, New York, NY, 1978 (reprint of 1943 ed.); Juckett, J. Walter, In Retrospect, privately published, 1985; and McGaw, Judith, Most Wonderful Machine, Princeton, NJ, 1987, esp. pp. 95-116, 158-186. Also see "Origins of Groundwood Pulping, "J.N. McGovern and C.H. Carpenter, Tappi Journal, January 1988, pp. 201-202.

of paper.

A recent survey showed rapid expansion of mills designed to process modern mechanical pulps.

There are currently some 257 mills worldwide (97 in North America) employing various mechanical or chemical pulping processes, including thermomechanical pulping (TMP), for market pulp, newsprint, and other grades; and chemi-thermomechanical pulping (CTMP), largely used to produce newsprint; and

chemi-thermomechanical pulping pressurized groundwood pulping (PGW). Traditional kraft pulping, used for production quality publication grades, corrugated boxes, bags, and sacks, remains the most common method used.

Mechanical pulping yields about 90 percent pulp from the entire tree, and as a result it is a more economical pulping technology. It can be used mostly for processes such as newsprint and other papers where rapid yellowing of the sheet is not a problem. Chemical pulps, on the other hand, yield only about 50 percent pulp from the same wood.

Most mechanical pulps are used in conjunction with chemical pulps to produce paper. Exceptions are newsprint, which can be produced from 100 percent TMP and so-called free-sheets used for writing and fine papers, which are manufactured from 100 percent chemical pulps.

In manufacturing stone groundwood pulp, raw pulpstock goes through a grinder. Chemical pulp is first cooked in a digester, which may be of a batch or continuous design. Pulp refiners are central to the TMP-CTMP processes. A disk refiner consists of one or more pairs of ribbed disks. The other disk is stationary or rotated in the opposite direction. Pressure applied to the suspended paper stock acts to "roughen" the fiber surface as it passes between the disks for better bonding into a sheet. The refined pulp is washed to remove impurities and then bleached to raise brightness. Market pulp will be partially dried or dewatered before shipment. machines fold the pulp before shipment.

The Fourdrinier Machine

Wet lap

The fourdrinier machine produces most grades of paper and paperboard. The machine consists of four sections: the wet end, the press section, the drier sections, and the calender and reelup. A brief description of each segment follows.

The primary wet end part, the headbox, is a flow control chamber which receives the paper stock or pulp furnish from the stock

2 Pulp and Paper, January 1986, pp. 73-76. In the future, this assessment will use the term paper machinery industry for the industry encompassed by SIC 3554.