The deckle is a thin square mahogany frame, bound with brass at the angles; its outer dimensions correspond with the size of the mould, and its inner with that of the sheet of paper. The use of the frame is to retain the pulp upon the wire-cloth; it must be quite flat, so as to fit the cloth of the mould, otherwise the edges of the paper will be ragged and badly finished. When the deckle is placed upon the wire of the mould it forms a shallow sieve, in which the paper-maker takes up a quantity of the pulp suspended in water, and, the water draining through, leaves the pulp in the form of a sheet upon the wire. The deckle is not fastened to the mould, but is held to it by the workman grasping the mould and deckle together in both hands at the opposite sides. When the sheet is moulded the deckle is removed, and the sheet is taken up from the wire by laying it on a piece of felt or woollen cloth. These felts prevent the sheets from coming together, and they also serve to imbibe a portion of the water from the damp and loosely cohering sheet.

The wood-cut at the commencement of this article represents the process of making paper by hand.

Upon looking at the cut, it will be seen that one of the two men employed is dipping the deckle into the vat. This vat is supplied with stuff from the chest already described; and that stuff is kept warm by a copper within the vat, to which heat is communicated by a steam-pipe. It is also agitated by machinery within. The workman forming the sheet, who is called a vatman, is provided with two moulds. These are slight frames of wood, covered with fine wire. Fitting to each mould is a deckle, or movable raised edging, which determines the size of the sheet. The vatman, putting the deckle on one of the moulds, dips it vertically into the stuff; and bringing it to the surface horizontally, covered with pulp, shakes it gently. It must be evident that this operation requires the greatest nicety, both in determining the general thickness of the sheet, and in producing it of an uniform thickness throughout. The vatman then pushes the mould with the sheet towards his fellow-workman, who is called the coucher; and, taking off the deckle, applies it to the second mould, and proceeds as before. The coucher, who receives the first mould, having a heap of porous pieces of flannel by his side, called felts, turns the mould over upon a felt, upon which the sheet remains; and, placing a felt on the sheet, he is ready to turn over another from the second mould. Thus the vatman and the coucher proceed, the one moulding a sheet of paper and the other placing it upon felt, till they have made six or eight quires. The heap is then subjected to the action of a powerful press. The sheets, after this pressure, have acquired sufficient consistency to enable them to be pressed again by themselves. The felts are accordingly removed, and one sheet being laid upon another, the heap is subjected to a moderate pressure.

When the paper is taken out of the press, it is separated into small parcels of seven or eight sheets in each, for the purpose of drying. The drying is conducted in extensive lofts in the upper parts of the mill. The sheets are taken up upon a piece of wood, shaped like a T, and hung upon hair lines stretched across large horizontal wooden frames, called tribbles, and as these are filled they are lifted up between upright posts to the top of the room, and retained by pegs put into the posts; another frame is then filled, and put up in its turn, until the loft is filled. Air is admitted to the lofts by means of louvre boards. When sufficiently dry, the paper is taken down, and sleeked, dressed, and shaken, to get rid of dust, and to separate the pages. It is then laid in heaps in the warehouse, preparatory to sizing. The size is made from the shreds and parings of leather and parchment; it is nicely filtered, and a little alum added. A number of sheets are then dipped into the size and separated, so as to expose both surfaces of each sheet; the sheets are taken out, turned over, and dipped a second time. About a dozen handfuls being thus dipped, they are made into a pile, with a thin board or felt between every two handfuls, and pressed to get rid of superfluous size, which flows back into the size vessel. The paper is again transferred to the lofts, and dried. This being complete, it is taken down, carried to a building called the Saul (probably a corruption of the German saal, or the French salle, a hall, or large room), where it is examined, finished, and pressed. The imperfect sheets are removed. The press called the dry-press is a powerful one, or the hydrostatic-press is used. After one pressing, the heaps of paper are parted; that is, they are turned sheet by sheet, so as to expose new surfaces: the press is again used; then there is another parting, and so on, several times. The paper is next made into quires and reams, and once more pressed.

Connected with the sizing of papers is the blueing, which is said to have originated in the suggestion of a paper-maker's wife, who thought that the practice of improving the color of linen while passing through the wash, by means of a blue bag, might also be advantageously applied to paper. A blue-bag was accordingly suspended in the vat; and the effect proved to be so satisfactory that it led to the introduction of the large and important class of blue writing-papers. It was soon found that smalt gave a better color than common stone-blue; and smalt continued to be used for many years; but when artificial ultramarine came to be manufactured at a very low cost, and in a great variety of tints, this beautiful color gradually superseded smalt in the manufacture of writing-paper.

PAPER-MAKING BY MACHINERY.

The slow and difficult process of moulding the separate sheets of paper by hand has, to a great extent, been superseded by the introduction and gradual improvement of the very beautiful machinery of Fourdrinier, referred to in our introductory remarks. By means of this machine, a process which, under the old system, occupied about three weeks, is now performed in as many minutes. Within this brief space of time, and the short distance of thirty or forty feet, a continuous stream of fluid pulp is made into paper, dried, polished, and cut up into separate sheets ready for use. The paper thus produced is moderate in price, and, for a large number of purposes, superior in quality to that which was formerly made by hand. In fact, the machine-made papers can be produced of unlimited dimensions; they are of uniform thickness; they can be fabricated at any season of the year; they do not require to be sorted, trimmed, and hung up in the drying-house—operations which formerly led to so much waste, that about one sheet in every five was defective.

The paper-machine moves at the rate of from twenty-five to forty feet per minute, so that scarcely two minutes are occupied in converting liquid pulp into finished paper, a result which, by the old process, occupies about seven or eight days. If the machine produce ten lineal yards of paper per minute, or six hundred per hour, this is equal to a mile of paper in three hours, or four miles per day of twelve hours. The paper is about fifty-four inches wide, and, supposing three hundred machines to be at work on an average twelve hours a day, the aggregate length of web would be equal to 1,200 miles, and the area 3,000,000 square yards.

Paper is sent into the market in various forms and sizes, according to the use for which it is intended. The following table contains the name and dimensions of various sheets of paper:—

Inches.
Foolscap,14 by 17
Crown,15 by 20
Folio Post,16 by 21
Demy,17 by 22
Medium,19 by 24
Royal,20 by 25
Super Royal,22 by 27
Imperial,22 by 32
Medium and Half, 24 by 28½
Royal and Half,25 by 29
Double Medium,24 by 38
Do. Super Royal,27 by 42
Do. Imperial, 32 by 44