FIBRES FOR PAPER-MAKING.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XII, Issue 898, 5 February 1856, Page 2 (Supplement)

FIBRES FOR PAPER-MAKING.

At the meeting of the British Association for the advancement of Science, held in Glasgow, the Chevalier Claussen read a paper on Papyais Bonapartea, and other plants which can furnish fibre for paper pulp. Referring to the want of material experienced by paper-makers, M. Claussen said that what they desiderated was a che«ip substitute for rags, with a strong fibre, easily bleached, and of which an unlimited supply may be obtained. Papermakers regard rags containing fifty per cent, of vegetable fibre, mixed with wool or silk, as useless ; but by boiling these rags in caustic alkali the animal fibre is dissolved, and the vegetable fibre is available for the manufacture of white paper pulp. Sunn, or jute, the inner bark of corchoius indicus, produced a paper pulp, of inferior quality, bleached with difficulty. Again, phormium tenax, and banana or plaintain fibre (Manilla 1 c up) are not only expensive, but it is nearly impossible to bleach-them. The banana leaves contain 40 per cent, of fibre. Flax would be suitable to replace rags in paper, but the high price and scarcity of it, caused partly by the war, and partly by the injudicious way in which it is cultivated, prevent that. Six tons of flax straw are required to produce one ton of flax fibre, and by the present mode of treatment all the woody part, or stems, is lost. By the Chevalier's process the bulk of the flax straw is lessened by partial cleaning befoie rotting, whereby about fifty or sixty per cent, of shoves, a valuable cattle food, are saved, and the cost of the fibre reduced. The flax pulp thus produces nearly 12 to 15 per cent, of paper pulp. Hemp produces 25 per cent, of paper pulp. Nettles produce 25 per cent, of a very beautiful and easily bleached fibre. Palm leaves contain 30 to 40 per cent, fibre, but are not easily bleached. The Brojncliacem contains from 25 to 40 per cent, fibre. Bonapartea juncoides contain 25 per cent, of the most beautiful vegetable fibre known, which could be used for all kinds of manufactures in which flax, cotton, silk, or wool are employed. This plant exists in veiy large quantities in Australia, and it is most desirable that some of our large manufacturers should import a quantity of it. The plant wants no other preparation than cutting, drying, and compressing like hay. The bleaching and fi lishing of it may be done here. Ferns, equisetum, the inner bark of the lime tree, atthea, stalks of beans, peas, hops, buck wheat, potatoes, heather, broom, and many other plants contain 10 to 15 and 20 per cent, of fibre, but in most of them there are obvious difficulties preventing their economical use. The straws of the cereals cannot be manufactured into paper pulp unless cut before they are ripe, as the joints or knots of the stalks are so hardened by ripening as to resist bleaching agents. Many grasses contain from 30 to 50 per cent, of fibre, not very strong, but easily bleached. Ground reeds and canes contain about an equal amount. The wood of the conifera gives a large proportion of fibre suitable for paper pulp ; but the cost of prepaiiug would be about three times that of preparing rags. As none of these (said M. Claussen) would entirely satisfy Qii all points the wants of the paper-makers, I continued J my researches, and at last remembered the papyrus (tre plant of which the ancients made their paper), which I examined, and found to contain about 40per cent, of strong fibre, excellent for paper, and jVery easily bleached. The only point which was not entirely satisfactory was relative to the supply of it. I directed, therefore, my attention to plants growing in this country,' and found, to my great satisfaction, that the common rushes (juneous effustis, and others) contain 40 per cent, of fibre, quite equal, it not superior, to the papyrus fibre, and a perfect substitute for rags in the manufacture of paper, and that one ton of rushes contains more fibre than two tons of flax straw.