This stream has a filmy
appearance and is of diverse color, depending upon the shade of paper to
be produced. From its consistency, which is about that of milk, it is
difficult to imagine that it floats separate particles of fiber in such
quantities as, when gathered on the wire cloth and passed to a felt
blanket and then pressed between rollers, to form in a second of time a
broad web of embryo paper sufficiently strong and firm to take definite
form. Man's mastery of the process by which this startling and wonderful
change is effected has come as one of the rewards of his long and
patient study.
The Fourdrinier machine, which preserves at least the name of the
enterprising developers of the invention, takes up the work that was
formerly done by the molder. The wire cloth upon which the fibers are
discharged is an endless belt, the full width of the paper machine. Upon
this the fibers spread out evenly, being aided by a fan-shaped rubber or
oil cloth, which delivers the smooth stream under a gate regulated to
insure perfect evenness and to fix uniformly the fibers of the web now
commencing its final formation.
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