The pulp as it comes from the beaters is now ready to be made into paper. We will first consider briefly the manufacture of hand-made paper.
It is made on a mould of wire-cloth, with a movable frame of wood, called the “deckle,” fitting on to the outside of the mould and extending slightly above its surface.
The wire-cloth is generally supported by a much coarser wire-cloth, or by pieces of thick wire, and these again by wedge-shaped pieces of wood, the thin end being next to the wire.
To form a sheet of paper the workman dips the mould, with the “deckle” in position, into a vat containing the prepared pulp diluted with water, lifting up just so much as will make a sheet of the necessary thickness. As soon as the mould is removed from the vat, the water begins to drain through the wire-cloth, and to leave the fibres on the surface in the form of a coherent sheet of paper. The felting or intertwining is assisted by lateral motion in every direction given to the frame by the workman. The movable deckle is then removed, and the mould, with the sheet of paper, given to another workman, called the “coucher,” who turns it over and presses it against the felt, by this means transferring the sheet from the wire to the felt. In the meantime the “vat-man” is engaged in the formation of another sheet with a second mould.
The Fourdrinier Paper Machine. Plate I.
A number of the sheets thus formed are piled together, alternately with pieces of felt, and when a sufficient number {145} have been obtained, the whole is subjected to strong pressure, to expel the water. The felts are then removed, and the sheets again pressed.
They are then sized, if required, by dipping them into a solution of gelatine: again slightly pressed, and hung up on lines or poles to dry. Such paper is called loft-dried.
When dry the sheets of paper are calendered. (See Chapter XI.)
The making of paper by hand involves considerable dexterity on the part of the workman; on account of the expensive labour necessary, in comparison with paper-machines, it is comparatively little practised in the present day; certain kinds of paper, however, such as bank-notes, various drawing papers, and printing papers intended for the production of very elaborate editions are always made in this way.