CHAPTER II
PAPER FROM RAGS
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classes ojf rags
linen and cotton rags constitute the ideal raw material for the production
of paper, but on account of their high initial cost they can be used only for
the manufacture of papers of the highest class, such as hand-made and machine-
made writings, bank-notes, ledger, and filter-papers.
The chief reasons for their suitability and value, for papers of this class,
are, that they can be so prepared as to produce papers which are extremely
good to write upon, which will stand a great deal of wear and tear, and are
probably everlasting.
When rags are properly prepared they will produce a white paper which
will keep its colour for hundreds of years without showing any signs of fading
or discoloration. The rags in general use may be divided into two classes, new
cuttings and old used rags.
New cuttings consist of trimmings and cuttings from textile factories, and
are the waste from the cutting out of shirts, shoes, canvas goods and many
other articles of clothing, etc. These new cuttings may be divided again into
linen and cotton, and below is a list of the various qualities generally met
with.
New White Linen (damask) cuttings, obtained from factories making table-
cloths and fine linen goods. This is the most expensive form of raw material
used in the manufacture of paper, and is used only for the very best tiiin bank-
note papers, which have to combine great strength and durability with lightness
.in weight. Even in the manufacture of these papers the linen cuttings are
* seldom used alone, but are blended with cuttings of other materials, such as
white cotton.
The designation 'white' serves to distinguish these cuttings from another
quality known as 'unbleached'. In the former case the cloth has been bleached
white during the course of manufacture, so that it is usually .unnecessary
for the paper-maker either to boil it with chemicals or to bleach it, when
reducing it to half stuff. All that is required, generally, is for the oittings
to be picked over for the removal of dirty pieces, threads or other objection
able materials, which invariably find their way into the bales or bags from dbe
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