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20Th Anniversary of the Paper Machine 200th Anniversary of the Paper Machine KURT J. HAUNREITER THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS ext year marks the 200th anniversary of the paper machine. The bicentennial of the paper machine first created by Nicholas-Louis Robert in N 1798 causes us to imagine what it must have been like to live and work in an era when papermaking was still an art. In 1798 France had just emerged from a revolutionary war and was engaged in a war with Great Britain and Napoleon had invaded Egypt The art of papermaking in the Essonnes region of France was practiced much as it had been since the mid-fourteenth century. The turbulence of the time had done little to change the Papermaking by hand (From the Art Collection of the Technical Association papermaker’s art. of the Pulp and Paper Industry.) Paper was produced by hand. The papermaker used a mold, covered by wires laid parallel for "laid" papers or by woven wire for "wove" papers, to form each sheet. He would dip the mold into a vat of rag fibers. Drawing it carefully out, the water would drain through the wire mesh leav- ing a wet sheet of fibers. This sheet of fibers would then be couched off the mold onto a felt. A post of alternating wet sheets and felts would be built up. This would then be placed in a press to remove additional water. After pressing the sheets would be hung to air dry. Nicholas-Louis Robert, worked in the counting house of the Essonnes mill owned by Leger ease the burden of managing so many papermakers. Didot first as a clerk, then as an inspector of personnel. Encouraged by Didot, he began the groundwork for the Dard Hunter noted that Robert was not shy about his construction of the first machine to form a continuous opinion of the workers, "he was not hesitant in declar- sheet of paper. There is some disagreement as to the ing that he was disgusted with the behavior of the impetus for his idea; demand for wall paper in long sheets hand workers and lack of discipline among the mem- or the shortage of paper for production of bank notes. It bers of the papermaker’s society." Robert came up is most probable that his motivation to develop the idea with the idea of mechanizing the process in order to of a continuous papermaking process was the need to Drawing of Nicholas Louis Robert operating the first paper machine (courtesy of A.E. Staley Manufacturing Com- pany). Inset drawing of first paper machine based on original design from "The Paper Making Machine, Its Invention, Evolution and Developement," R.H.Clapperton. improve the efficiency of the process and consistency 9, 1798 Robert applied for the first patent for a of the product. "For several years I have been mechanical method of papermaking . employed in one of the principal mills of France. It Despite the tremendous contribution to the evo- has been my dream to simplify the operation of mak- lution of papermaking, Robert never realized any ing paper by forming it with infinite less expense, gain from his invention due to a legal conflict with and, above all, in making sheets of an extraordinary Didot. He later reconciled with Didot and sold him length without the help of any worker,using only the patent rights, but he never again worked in the mechanical means." paper industry. He retired and went on to become Didot placed the carpenters and millwrights a school teacher. of the Essonnes mill at the disposal of Robert. Didot with his brother-in-law,John Gamble, took With these resources and Didot’s support, Robert the paper machine design to England. There with worked on perfecting his design. On September the assistance of a mechanic, Bryan Donkin, and the Paper machine designed by Donkin 1806 (from "The Paper-Making Machine, Its Invention, Evolution and Development,” R.H. Clapperton) FIRST HUNDRED YEARS financial assistance of Henry and Sealy Fourdrinier, they little resemblance to Robert’s machine of 1798. The Four- developed the forebearer of the modern paper machine drinier paper machine had been born and was patented in from Robert’s patent. The Fourdrinier brothers, London 1806. stationers, purchased 1/3 of the patent rights from Didot. The first 100 years after the invention of the paper They began developing Robert’s machine further. machine witnessed a steady and rapid succession of According to Donkin, "On Robert’s machine the paper improvements. The Dandy roll was added to allow the was removed by hand from the surface of the wire, after production of laid paper and eventually impart a water passing between the press rolls, and it was deposited upon a mark. The dry end with heated cylinders was developed sheet of endless felting, or flannel; and upon that it was in order to eliminate the need for air drying the sheet. made to pass between a second pair of press rolls to receive Prior to this development, the paper machine known at a harder pressure. The uncertain manner in which the this time consisted of only the wet end. The dry end was sheets were divided, and the wet state of the paper,occa- treated as a separate process relative to the wet end. sioned much of it to be torn and otherwise wasted." Developments in the process reflect the gradual merging Donkin added a top wire to squeeze out more water and to of the wet end and the dry end into the paper machine consolidate the sheet. He added endless deckles at the known today. Suction boxes were added to the wire to edges of the wire to prevent the pulp slurry from spilling improve drainage of the sheet. The press section was off the wire and to allow changes in the width of the paper developed which improved sheet strength and increased being produced. The pulp was fed onto the wire from a vat the solids content of the sheet. The forming table was positioned at the end of the forming fabric rather than introduced and on-machine sizing was developed. beneath it. Donkin noted that "in the machine brought By the year 1889, 100 years after Robert conceived the from France, the means used for delivering the pulp on the idea, paper machines had achieved speeds of 270 feet per wire was so bad that there was no chance of making paper minute and resembled the modern machines of today. It of a uniform thickness." Improvements on Robert’s design was now the Paper Machine Age. Only one mill in the for producing shake resulted in uniform shake applied to United States continued to produce paper by hand, L.L. the machine. Additionally the wet sheet was run between Brown Paper Company of Adams, MA. two rollers and couched onto an endless felt with out the In following timeline we will take you through the first assistance of manual labor. The damp paper was then 100 years of development of the paper machine as the art wound onto a roll at the end of the machine. With these of papermaking evolved into the science of papermaking. improvements, the resulting paper machine produced bore 100 YEARS OF PAPERMAKING 1798 Nicholas-Louis Robert invents the first paper machine. The model machine was operated in the Essonnes paper mill owned by Leger Didot. The machine was under 10ft in length and operated by turning of a handle. A drum picked up pulp in the vat throwing it onto the forming fabric. Water was pressed out of the sheet by means of rollers. First paper machine - Nicholas-Louis Robert (photo courtesy of IPST) 1801 Leger Didot purchases Robert’s patent and with John Gamble and Bryan Donkin begin improvements on the design. Fourdriniers purchase 1/3 of the patent rights. 1804 A new machine constructed at Two Waters Mill with improvements in forma- tion, pulp delivery and a top wire. 1806 A patent was obtained by Henry Fourdrinier and his brother Sealy for the machine still recognizable to day and referred to as the fourdrinier. 88 TAPPI JOURNAL OCTOBER 1997 .
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