User:Nagasaraswathy/sandbox

Story of Paper Papyrus from which the term Paper was coined out. Papyrus was used as the writing material of the ancient world around 3500 B.C. Through some extraordinary features like toughness and fry desert air, the Egypt people prefer this for written handouts.Many ancient records written on this are still available which provide us the knowledge of past civilisation. Next to Papyrus, Parchment made from sheepskin or goatskin was commonly used as writing material. But both were very expensive and so they were replaced by wax tablets and they were cheaper when compared to the former ones.Some group of people scraped and cleaned the animal skin for a number of times and used as an effective writing material. During the Han Dynasty it was necessary to maintain the records for administrative purposes because they want to develop the literature,religion,science and technology. Moreover in those days documents were written on long narrow pieces of wood and on silk clothes. Inventor of Paper T'Sai Lun, a Chinese civil servant under the Emperor Ho-Ti invented the paper in 105 A.D. He used mulberry leaves and other fibres together with torn fish nets, old rags and hemp waste inorder to made out a sheet of paper. For this process, he was honoured with enormous gifts by the emperor.Tso Po,Sai Lun's assistant made several improvements to this new paper-making process.The word Paper is defined as "a mat of refuse fibres" in the Chinese Dictionary which was published duning the Han dynasty.During the Han dynasty 'The Spring and Autumn Annals with Tso's commentary',the first book made of paper was made out. Soon paper was found useful by the Chinese and it served a lot throughout China.But Chinese kept the paper making process as a secret for the next few centuries.The Arab captors learnt the secret of paper-making from the Chinese prisoners after the Battle of Talas,near Samarkand.In 793 A.D. the first paper on the Chinese model was made in Bhagdad in the reign of Caliph Harun al-Rashid known as the golden age of Islamic culture.From Arab manufacturers in the MiddleEast and Spain,paper spread to Byzantine Empire of South Eastern Europe and Asia Minor in the mid 11th century and then all over Europe. The paper because of its little cost and easiness it was used widely. Paper's Travel across the countries In 12th Century, Spain learnt this process and they began the Paper-manufacturing process.Nomadic people of North Africa who was generally called as The Moors built paper mills in Spain and they were Muslims. In the later half of the 13th century Paper-making centres were set up in Italy. During the 14th century France and Germany worked out this process and thus Paper was widely used as a writing material in several countries of Europe. Paper-making Process Over the centuries the various processes in Paper-making have become highly mechanised. But the basic process remain unchanged. The wet fibres-woods, rags,etc are made into pulp and then into a fibre sheet. The sheet is then pressed to force out water from it. It is then dried and treated with different chemicals and put through various processes depending on the type of paper that is required.Although wood is still the major source of fibre, rag fibres continue to be used for making paper of greatest strength, durabilitiy, and performance.Recycled wastepaper and paperboard also serve as important sources. Other fibres that are in use include straw, bagasse, bamboo,flax,hemp and jute. Some paper, particularly speciality items, is made from synthetic fibres. Invention of Printing-press The demand for paper was greatly increased in 1450 during the invention of the Printing-Press.In England, the first paper mill was successfully established in 1589 and in America in 1690 William Rittenhouse  of Philadelphia established this. The increasing use of paper in the 17th and 18th centuries gave rise to shortage of rags that were the only raw material known to paper-makers in Europe. As a result, at the beginning of the 19th century, wood and other vegetable pulps began to replace rags as major source of fibre for paper-making. Arrival of 1st Paper-making machine Before the invention of the paper-making machine the paper was made by hand - one sheet at a time by dipping a frame with a screened bottom into a large vessel of stock. Lifting the frame allowed the water to drain leaving the sheet on the screen. The sheet was then pressed and dried. In 1798, Nicholas-Louis Robert, a French inventor constructed the first paper-making machine. The French government recognised Robert's work by the granting of a patent. Robert's machine made paper in a continuous roll or web. After some years the Brothers Henry and Sealy Fourdrinier, who were stationers in Britain improved Robert's machine when they brought it to England in 1803. It was named after them- Fourdrinier. Still variants of Robert's machine are still in use. The first successful mechanisation of paper-making took place in England when Leger Didot (1767-1829) bought the machine patent granted in 1799 to Louis. The first cylinder machine was invented by John Dickinson,an English papermaker in 1809. And in 1774, with the invention of chlorine, a yellowish-green gas, bleached paper began to be made. From these crude and unrefined beginings modern paper-making machines developed gradually. By 1875 paper coated by machinery was put into use i the printing of halftones by the new photo-engraving process. And in 1184 Carl F.Dahl invented the kraft pulp in Danzig under Prussian rule(now in Poland). There has been no looking back ever since. Today almost all paper is made in a Fourdrinier machine. It is so large that it can make 914 metres of paper each minute. Paper is made in rolls and is cut into sheets later. Leading Producers The Unites States of America uses more than 250 kgs of paper and paper products in a year for everyone of its citizens. Leading producers of paper, pulp and paper products include Canada, Russia, USA and Scandinavian countries. Significant quantities of wood pulp and newsprint are made by Finland,Japan and Sweden.