Paper and Printing Recipes / A Handy Volume of Practical Recipes, Concerning the Every-Day Business of Stationers, Printers, Binders, and the Kindred Trades

by John Sawtelle Ford

To Make Paper Fire and Water-proof.

To make paper fire and water-proof, mix two-thirds ordinary paper-pulp with one-third asbestos. Steep in a solution of common salt and alum, and after being made into paper coat with an alcoholic solution of shellac. By plunging a sheet of paper into an ammoniacal solution of copper for an instant, then passing it between the cylinders and drying it, it is rendered entirely impermeable to water, and may even be boiled without disintegrating. Two, three, or any number of sheets rolled together become permanently adherent, and form a material having the strength of wood. By the interposition of cloth or any kind of fiber between the layers, the strength is greatly increased.