and he (Mr. Houghton), in conjunction with Mr. Burgess, introduced the Watt and Burgess process into America in the year 1854. These are the facts.
Bamboo (Bambusa vulgaris).—The leaves and fresh-cut stems of this plant are used for paper material, but require to pass through a preliminary process of crushing, which is effected by suitable rolls, the second series of crushing rolls being grooved or channelled to split or divide the material, after which the stems are cut to suitable lengths for boiling.
Paper Mulberry (Broussonetia papyrifera).—The inner bark of this tree, and also some other basts, have long been used by the Japanese and Chinese in the manufacture of paper of great strength, but of extreme delicacy.
CHAPTER III.
TREATMENT OF RAGS.
Preliminary Operations.—Sorting.—Cutting.—Bertrams' Rag-cutting Machine.—Nuttall's Rag-cutter.—Willowing.—Bertrams' Willow and Duster.—Dusting.—Bryan Donkin's Duster or Willow.—Donkin's "Devil."
Preliminary Operations.—Before the rags are submitted to the various processes which constitute the art of paper-making, they are subjected to certain preliminary operations to free them from dirty matters, dust, and even sand, which is sometimes fraudulently introduced into rags to increase their weight. This preliminary treatment may be classified under the following heads, namely:—Sorting; Cutting; Willowing; Dusting.
Sorting.—The rags being removed from the bags or bales in which they are packed, require first to be sorted according to the nature and quality of the fabrics of which they are composed; thus linen, cotton, hemp, wool, &c., must be carefully separated from each other; the thickness of the substance, its condition as to the wear it has undergone, and the colour of the material, all these considerations are taken into account by the women and girls who are employed in the operation of sorting. The finer qualities are set aside for writing-paper, inferior sorts being used separately, or mixed, according to the requirements of the manufacturer. Blue rags are generally separated from the rest and kept for the manufacture of blue paper, but most of the other coloured rags require bleaching. In sorting rags, a good deal of judgment and skill are required to avoid mixing the better qualities with those of an inferior class, which would occasion loss in the manufacture. It is also important that those of inferior colour should not be mixed with the finer qualities, which would be liable to affect the colour and deteriorate the quality of the paper. Paper manufacturers generally classify the rags obtained from home sources, that is, from different parts of the United Kingdom, under the following heads:—
Home Rags.
New cuttings.
Linen pieces.
Cotton pieces.
Fines (whites).
Superfines (whites).
Outshots (whites).
Seconds (whites).
Thirds (whites).
Colours or prints.
Blues.
Gunny, clean.
Gunny, dirty.
Rope (white).
Rope (hard).
Rope, bagging, etc.
Foreign rags are distinguished as below:—
Belgian Rags.
White linens.
Mixed fines (linens and cottons).
Grey linens.
Strong linens.
Extra fine linens.
Blue linens.
Superfine white cottons.
Outshot cottons.
Seconds.
Half jute and linen.
Light prints.
Mixed prints.
Blue cottons.
Fustians.
Black calicoes.
White hemp, strings, and rope.
Tarred hemp, strings, and rope.
Jute spinners' waste.
Jute waste.
New.
White linens.
Grey linens.
Blue linens.
Unbleached cottons.
White linens and cottons.
Print cuttings (free from black).
Blacks.
Fustians.
French Rags.
French linens.
White cotton.
Knitted cotton.
Blue cotton.
Coloured cotton.
Black cotton.
Marseilles whites.
Light prints.
Mixed prints.
New white cuttings.
German Rags.
S. P. F. F. F.
S. P. F.
F. F.
F. G.
L. X. F.
L. F. R. blue.
C. S. P. F. F. F.
C. F. B. blue.
C. F. X. coloured.
Trieste.
P. P. white linen (first).
P.
