Since that important era Mr. Donkin has steadily devoted his whole mind and means to the progressive improvement of this admirable apparatus; and has, by the unfailing regularity, precision, promptitude, and productiveness of its work, earned for himself a place along with Watt, Wedgewood, and Arkwright, in the temple of mechanical fame.
“La France,” says a late official eulogist of her arts, and interpreter of her sentiments, “ne craint plus la rivalité des autres peuples pour la fabrication des divers genres de papiers et de cartons.”[39] After this boast, one would not expect to hear him immediately confess that in 1823 his country possessed only one manufactory of the papier continu, containing one of the Fourdrinier machines made at London by Mr. Donkin, for M. Canson, at Vidalon-les-Annonay; that in 1827 there were only 4 of these machines in France, and that in 1834 there were not many more than a dozen. He justly observes, that “this mode being more economical, more rapid, and more powerful, will become henceforth the only one which can be practised without loss. Then will disappear the antient system of hand-work, which likewise involved the inconveniences, we may say dangers, resulting from combinations among the operatives. The machine-made papers possess many advantages: they can receive, so to speak, unlimited dimensions; they preserve a perfectly uniform thickness throughout all their length; they may be fabricated in every season of the year; nor do they require to be sorted, trimmed, and hung up in the drying-house, operations which occasioned great waste, amounting to no less than one defective sheet out of every five. The continuous paper at one time retained the impression of the wire-wove web on its under side; a defect from which it has been freed by a pressure apparatus of Mr. Donkin, recently imported from England by M. Delatouche.”
[39] Rapport de Jury Central, sur les Produits de l’Industrie Française exposé en 1834, par Le Baron Charles Dupin, Membre de l’Institut, Rapporteur-général et Vice President du Jury Central; ii. 278.
It appears from documents presented to a committee of the House of Lords in 1807, that the Messrs. Fourdrinier had, by that time, withdrawn from their stationery business the large sum of 60,000l., to further the object of their patent; so many difficulties did they encounter in bringing the machinery to its then comparatively complete state, and so little encouragement or support did they receive from the paper manufacturers throughout the kingdom.
The patentees laid a statement before the public in 1806, containing the following comparative estimate of the expense attending seven vats, and that attending a machine employed upon paper sized in the engine, performing the same quantity of work as seven vats, at the rate of 12 hours daily.
A MACHINE.
| Day. | Week. | Month. | Year. | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| s. | d. | £ | s. | d. | £ | s. | d. | £ | s. | d. | |||
| 2 | Journeymen | 3 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 8 | 0 | 109 | 4 | 0 | |
| 2 | Ditto | 2 | 6 | 1 | 10 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 78 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2 | Finishers | 3 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 8 | 0 | 109 | 4 | 0 | |
| 2 | Dry workers | 3 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 8 | 0 | 109 | 4 | 0 | |
| Parters (none) | |||||||||||||
| Fire (none) | |||||||||||||
| Felting | 24 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||
| Washing, ditto | 5 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||
| Wire | 200 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||
| 1 | Man, to keep in repair the mill and machine | 100 | 0 | 0 | |||||||||
| Total | 9 | 7 | 16 | 0 | 31 | 4 | 0 | 734 | 12 | 0 | |||
| £ | s. | d. | |||||||||||
| Expense of 7 vats per annum (see [next page]), is | 2,604 | 12 | 0 | ||||||||||
| A machine doing 7 vats’ work, is, per annum | 734 | 12 | 0 | ||||||||||
| Balance saved by the machine per annum | £1,870 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||
| N. B.—There are other advantages, to the amount of full 400l. per annum, of which manufacturers are well aware, although not taken into this calculation. | |||||||||||||
SEVEN VATS.
| Day. | Week. | Month. | Year. | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| s. | d. | £ | s. | d. | £ | s. | d. | £ | s. | d. | |||
| 7 | Vatmen, at | 3 | 3 | 6 | 16 | 6 | 27 | 6 | 0 | 354 | 18 | 0 | |
| 7 | Couchers | 3 | 1 | 6 | 9 | 6 | 25 | 18 | 0 | 336 | 14 | 0 | |
| 7 | Layers | 3 | 1 | 6 | 9 | 6 | 25 | 18 | 0 | 336 | 14 | 0 | |
| 3 | Finishers | 4 | 0 | 3 | 12 | 0 | 14 | 8 | 0 | 187 | 4 | 0 | |
| 6 | Dry-workers | 3 | 1 | 5 | 11 | 0 | 22 | 4 | 0 | 288 | 12 | 0 | |
| 3 | Men to go to press, &c. | 2 | 6 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 117 | 0 | 0 | |
| 7 | Parters (women) | 1 | 4 | 2 | 16 | 0 | 11 | 4 | 0 | 145 | 12 | 0 | |
| Fire | 7 | 0 | 0 | 28 | 0 | 0 | 364 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| Felting | 140 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||
| Washing ditto, oil, soap, fire, &c. | 1 | 11 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 81 | 18 | 0 | ||||
| Moulds | 140 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||
| 1 | Man, and expenses of repairing, in keeping in order 7 vats, vat-presses, &c. | 112 | 0 | 0 | |||||||||
| Total | 41 | persons. | 42 | 11 | 0 | 170 | 4 | 0 | 2,604 | 0 | 0 | ||