19&20TH CENTURY Full-scale industrialisation – innovation and specification lead to new paper grades and paper uses

19&20TH CENTURY Full-scale industrialisation – innovation and specification lead to new paper grades and paper uses

Gradually, the paper production process became fully automated: from the preparatory and pulp production stages through to the papermaking, use of fillers and finishing (including the headbox, wire section, pressing, drying, reeling, smoothing and packaging). The...
21TH CENTURY & BEYOND…

19TH CENTURY Emergence of wood based paper and increased mechanisation

The systematic search for substitute raw materials with which to produce paper in Europe proved difficult. In the early 18th century straw was used as a raw material but it failed to make headway due to quality concerns. However, in 1843, a solution was at hand, Saxon...
17&18TH CENTURIES Papermaking technology improves – demand for paper increases

17&18TH CENTURIES Papermaking technology improves – demand for paper increases

Technical progress continued throughout the 17th Century. The invention of the ‘Hollander beater’ confirmed the Dutch as being at the forefront of papermaking technology. It was a much more efficient way to make pulp compared with the stamping mill, which it...
16TH CENTURY Literature and literacy supported by paper mills’ increasing productivity

16TH CENTURY Literature and literacy supported by paper mills’ increasing productivity

The advantages of mill-based papermaking spread throughout Europe in the 15th and 16th centuries.In Germany, by the end of the 16th century there were 190 mills.Work at the paper mill was typically carried out by a four man team: the vatman took the pulp from a vat...
14TH CENTURY European papermakers continue the innovation

14TH CENTURY European papermakers continue the innovation

The export of the technique of papermaking to Europe, especially to Italy, has been well documented. From the 13th century onwards, papermakers at two early Italian centres, Fabriano and Amalfi, tried to improve upon the Arabian technique.The Italian papermakers...