Editing Paper machine (section)

=== 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>