Editing Paper machine (section)

== History ==
Before the invention of [[continuous production|continuous]] paper making, paper was made in individual sheets by stirring a container of pulp slurry and either pouring it into a fabric sieve called a sheet mould or dipping and lifting the sheet mould from the vat. While still on the fabric in the sheet mould, the wet paper was pressed to remove excess water. The sheet was then lifted off to be hung over a rope or wooden rod to air dry.

=== Fourdrinier machine ===
[[File:Fourdrinier machine model.jpg|thumb|Model of a [[Henry Fourdrinier|Fourdrinier]] continuous paper making machine at [[Frogmore Paper Mill]]]]
In 1799, [[Louis-Nicolas Robert]] of [[Essonnes]], France, was granted a [[patent]] for a continuous paper making machine. At the time, Robert was working for [[Didot family#Saint-Léger Didot|Saint-Léger Didot]], with whom he quarreled over the ownership of the invention. Didot believed that England was a better place to develop the machine but due to the turbulence of the [[French Revolution]], he could not go there himself, so he sent his brother-in-law, John Gamble, an Englishman living in Paris. Through a chain of acquaintances, Gamble was introduced to the brothers [[Sealy Fourdrinier|Sealy]] and [[Henry Fourdrinier]], [[stationers]] of London, who agreed to finance the project. Gamble was granted British patent 2487 on October 20, 1801. The Fourdrinier machine used a specially woven fabric [[mesh]] [[conveyor belt]] (known as a ''wire,'' as it was once woven from bronze) in the forming section, where a slurry of fibre (usually wood or other vegetable fibres) is drained to create a continuous paper web. The original Fourdrinier forming section used a horizontal drainage area, referred to as the ''drainage table''.

With the help of [[Bryan Donkin]], a skilled and ingenious mechanic, an improved version of the Robert original was installed at [[Frogmore Paper Mill]], [[Apsley, Hertfordshire]], in 1803, followed by another in 1804. A third machine was installed at the Fourdriniers' own mill at Two Waters. The Fourdriniers also bought a mill at [[St Neots]] intending to install two machines there, and the process and machines continued to develop.

Close to Frogmore Mill in Apsley, [[John Dickinson (inventor)|John Dickinson]] designed and built an alternate machine type; a Cylinder Mould Machine in 1809.

Thomas Gilpin is most often credited for creating the first U.S. cylinder type [[papermaking]] machine at [[Brandywine Creek (Christina River)|Brandywine Creek]], [[Delaware]] in 1817. This machine was a cylinder mould machine. The Fourdrinier machine wasn't introduced into the USA until 1827.<ref>Hills, Richard, "Papermaking in Britain 1488–1988", Athlone Press, 1988.</ref>

=== Similar designs ===
Records show [[Charles Kinsey]] of [[Paterson, NJ]] had already patented a continuous process papermaking machine in 1807.  Kinsey's machine was built locally by Daniel Sawn and by 1809 the Kinsey machine was successfully making paper at the Essex Mill in Paterson.  Financial stress and potential opportunities created by the [[Embargo of 1807]] eventually persuaded Kinsey and his backers to change the mill's focus from paper to cotton and Kinsey's early papermaking successes were soon overlooked and forgotten.<ref name="Bidwell">{{cite book|last1=Bidwell|first1=John| title=American Paper Mills, 1690–1832: A Directory of the Paper Trade with Notes...| date=2013| publisher=Dartmouth College Press|isbn=978-1-58465-964-8|pages=154–155 |url=http://www.upne.com/1584659648.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120910170629/http://www.upne.com/1584659648.html|url-status=usurped|archive-date=September 10, 2012}}</ref><ref name="HAER NJ-6">{{cite journal| title=Historic American Engineering Record Essex Mill NJ-6|journal=National American Engineering Record| page=3| url=http://cdn.loc.gov/master/pnp/habshaer/nj/nj0100/nj0180/data/nj0180data.pdf|publisher=National Park Service Department of the Interior Washington D.C. 20240|quote=The Essex Mill is historic as the first new mill site leased by the Society for Establishing Useful Manufacturers, and as the scene of some of the earliest experiments with continuous paper manufacture in the United States.}}</ref>

Gilpin's 1817 patent was similar to Kinsey's, as was the John Ames patent of 1822.  The Ames patent was challenged by his competitors, asserting that Kinsey was the original inventor and Ames had been stealing other people's ideas, their evidence being the employment of Daniel Sawn to work on his machine.<ref name=Bidwell />

=== Related inventions ===
The method of [[continuous production]] demonstrated by the paper machine influenced the development of continuous rolling of iron and later steel and other [[continuous production]] processes.<ref>{{cite book
|title= A Nation of Steel: The Making of Modern America 1865–1925
 |url= https://archive.org/details/nationofsteelmak00misa
 |url-access= registration
 |last=Misa
 |first= Thomas J.
|year=1995 |publisher = Johns Hopkins University Press
|location= Baltimore and London
|page=[https://archive.org/details/nationofsteelmak00misa/page/243 243]
|isbn= 978-0-8018-6502-2 }}</ref>