Banbury, in Oxfordshire (then the property of Lord Say and Sele), had been set down as the first paper-mill erected in this country, and that referred to by Shakspere. Upon hearing this, Mr. Herring communicated with Lord Say and Sele, as to the plausibility of the supposition, when his lordship at once terminated the probability of this mill taking the precedence, even of Sir John Spielman’s, by informing him that the first nobleman succeeding to that title who had property in Oxfordshire, which he acquired by marriage, was the son of the first Lord Say, to whom Shakspere makes reference.
Sir Richard Baker (who died in 1607) has an entry in his “Chronicle,” that in the reign of James I. “coarse paper, commonly called white brown paper, was first made in England, specially in Surrey, and about Windsor.”
The making of paper in England had, however, made little progress even so late as 1662, when Fuller complained that the manufacture was not sufficiently encouraged, “considering the vast sums expended in our land for paper out of Italy, France, and Germany, which might be lessened were it made in our nation.” But, in 1690, an Act was passed to encourage the making of paper for writing and printing in England, our manufacturers being taught by French refugees. Thomas Watson, a stationer, by the introduction of foreign improvements, in 1713, gave a great impulse to the manufacture.
Paper continued to be made by hand until early in the present century, when the Fourdriniers completed their self-acting machinery, which imitates and improves the hand process, and makes paper of any size or length with a rapidity which leaves the other mode at an immeasurable distance. The invention was perfected at Tewin Water, in Hertfordshire, at a cost of 60,000l. Their patent right was, however, invaded, and they lost a considerable sum of money due to them from the imperial treasury of Russia; though, to enforce his claim, Henry Fourdrinier, at the age of seventy-five, with his daughter, made a special journey to St. Petersburg. The Fourdriniers then petitioned the British government, the revenue having benefited half a million a year by their inventions, when their claim was inadequately recognised by a parliamentary vote of 7000l. It was then resolved to purchase, by the subscription of the paper-makers, annuities for the surviving patentee and his two daughters: ere this was done the father died, in his eighty-ninth year; but his two surviving daughters receive a small pension from the Crown. If ever solid recompense was rightly asserted for individual exertion, it was surely due to the inventor of paper-making machinery, since the conductors of the metropolitan newspapers could never have presented to the world such an immense mass of news and advertisements as they now contain, did not this invention enable them to make paper of any size required.
A sheet of paper nearly three miles long and four feet wide was made at Whitehall Mills, Derbyshire, in 1830.
Down to the beginning of the eighteenth century, cotton, flax, and hemp were the only materials, except rags, used in the manufacture of paper. Cotton and linen rags are now chiefly used for this purpose, because they are more easily and cheaply converted into pulp, and furnish a better article when finished than other fibrous materials. But the comparatively high price of rags, and the enormous demand for cheap paper, have compelled manufacturers to turn their attention to other sources of supply; and for a century and a half past efforts have been unceasingly made to manufacture paper from the fibres of different species of vegetable substances. The following précis of these experiments will be found in “The Exchange,” for 1832:
In this review of the attempts made to obtain paper from other materials than rags, we have mentioned only a few of the most important facts. Many thousands of inventors and manufacturers, many years of incessant labour, and millions of pounds sterling, have been expended in experiments upon wood, straw, and similar substances; but the problem of obtaining good paper, at a moderate cost, from raw vegetable fibre, is yet only partially solved. Neither straw, nor wood, nor any similar material, has superseded linen and cotton rags. The raw fibre papyrus was used for thirteen centuries; the reign of rags has now lasted twelve and a half centuries; and it appears probable that the time for returning again to some cheap vegetable fibre is fast approaching.
Probably the most practical of the above substitutes was straw, the first useful paper from which was made in 1800, and used in a book printed by Burton, of London, of copy of which was presented by the Marquis of Salisbury to King George III. The work is entitled “An Historical Account of Substances used in Paper-making.” Cobbett, in 1828, employed, experimentally, some paper made from the husks of Indian corn, but with little success. The substitution of straw in 1800 was regarded of great national importance, and highly deserving support. It was negected for many years, but straw is now extensively used in paper-making in England, and on the Continent. New Zealand flax (Rhormium Tenax) has lately been tried, and found admirably adapted for making paper, which it is declared is superior both in strength and capability of finish, to the paper made from most of the rags now used.
Paper-making by machinery may be thus briefly described. The pulp is first made to flow from the vat upon a wire frame, or sifter, which moves rapidly up and down. Having passed through the sifter, the pulp flows over a ledge in a regular and even stream, and is received upon an endless web of wire-gauze, which moves forward with a shaking motion from side to side, assisting to spread the pulp evenly, and allow the water to pass through the wire, by which means the pulp solidities as it advances. Before the pulp quits the plane of the wire, it is pressed by a roller covered with felt, and is then taken up by an endless web of felt, which, gradually moving forward, absorbs a further portion of the moisture. It is again pressed between rollers, and after being passed over cylinders heated by steam, it is cut by machinery into sheets. Thus in two or three minutes the pulp, which is introduced upon the web at one extremity of the machine, is deli-