Paper
Holyoke’s fame as “Paper City” arose in the 1880s, when it became the world’s largest producer of fine writing papers. Paper manufacturing began here in the Parson’s Paper Company in 1855. More and more mills produced paper from the Civil War to the turn of the century. Paper makers prized Holyoke’s waterpower and the pure wash or “process water” of the river. By the Great Depression, Holyoke had lost its “Paper City” dominance.
Papermaking is an ancient art, advanced by technology in the 19th and 20th centuries. True paper, a thin sheet of plant (cellulose) fibers, was invented in China about the first century A.D. Rags were soaked in water, reduced to fibrous pulp, mixed with water spread on a wire screen, drained to leave sheets, and dried. Handmade paper is still crafted this way. Paper machines were first produced by New Englanders in 1828. By the early 1900s, Americans each consumed 300 pounds of paper a year, in the form of newspapers, letters and other writing paper like ledgers for factory bookkeeping.
Paper quality depends on rag fiber content. The finest most permanent papers are made of 100% cotton or cotton and linen fibers. Most paper today is temporary, like newsprint, which is made from 100% wood pulp. A paper lab was essential to the manufacturing process. The chemist or paper technologist examined raw materials, including water, to ensure quantity. He developed the formulas used for fiber content, bleaches, dyers, and coatings.
The rag paper manufacturing process is much the same as when it began almost 200 years ago. There are several steps in the general paper manufacturing process employed in Holyoke in the early 1900s.
Step One: Rag Room
Rags such as worn clothing arrived in large, burlap wrapped bales. Experienced “rag girls” sorted them, cutting off buttons and ripping open seams.
Step Two: Cutter and Duster
Cutting machines chopped the sorted rags into small uniform pieces. A convey or belt fed them into a duster, a shed enclosure where the rags were mechanically tumbled and stirred to sort out dust and lint.
Step Three: Bleach Boiler
In boilers large enough to hold ten bales, the rags tumbled and steam-cooked in a caustic solution to remove color and loosen dirt.
Step Four: Washer
In open tubs, blades separated dirt and fiber particles. Wash water removed the dirt. Another bleach solution was added and the stock was dropped into drainers.
Step Five: Beater
The moist, white “stuff” or “stock” was put into a beater, sometimes along with prepared wood pulp or cottonseed fibers. Blunt blades further cut and frayed the fibers. A starch and dye mixture was added, even for white paper.
Step Six: Jordan
The fibers were cut again and brushed to remove knots as they passed through the conical Jordan, lined with metal bars.
Step Seven: Paper Machine
From the Jordan, stock entered the Foudrinier paper machine in a solution of 97 1/2 to 99 1/2 percent water and the rest fiber. It flowed evenly over a wire mesh belt moving along continuously and shaking from side to side. Water was suctioned out; the fibers interlaced to form a continuous sheet called a web. A wire-covered dandy roll impressed a label or design called a watermark. Then the web ran under a couch roll to squeeze out more water.
Step Eight: Drying Drums
The moist web was pressed through several sets of rolls, squeezing the fibers together and removing more water. Then the paper passed over steam-heated, iron drums that eliminated almost all the excess moisture.
Step Nine: Sizing
Sizing, coating the paper with hot starch or animal glue, strengthened the paper and improved its writing surface. Paper was run through the size tub and then machine-cut into sheets while wet and mechanically stacked to form an even pile.
Step Ten: Loft or Final Drying
The finest paper was hung on poles for several days, allowing the sizing solution to dry. (Today, more hot rolls complete the drying process).
Step Eleven: Calendaring and Finishing
Final pressing, called calendaring, smoothed the paper sheets on rolls. Pressing gave the paper an embossed (textured) finish or a very smooth, vellum finish.
Step Twelve: Sorting, Counting, Packing
The paper was hand-sorted to remove imperfect sheets, and then hand-counted. Machines performed a final trimming, and the paper was wrapped and packed for shipping.
