Part 1

Transcriber’s Note: Obvious printer errors have been corrected but general stylistic inconsistencies have been left as is (save for standardising on “per cent.”). Asterisks are as they appeared in the original: possibly denoting items to check before printing.

Pulp and Paper Magazine

A Semi-Monthly Magazine Devoted to the Science and Practice of the Pulp and Paper Manufacturing Industry with an Up-to-date Review of Conditions in the Allied Trades.

_Official Journal of the Technical Section of the Canadian Pulp and Paper Association_

Published by The Industrial and Educational Press, Limited

35-45 St. Alexander Street Montreal. Phone Main 2662. Toronto Office, 263-265 Adelaide St., W. Phone Main 6764. New York Office, 206 Broadway.

Published on the 1st and 15th of each month. Changes in advertisements should be in Publishers’ hands ten days before date of issue. The editor cordially invites readers to submit articles of practical interest which, on publication, will be paid for.

SUBSCRIPTION to any address in Canada and Great Britain, $2.00--United States $2.50--Foreign $3.50.

Single Copies 20c.

VOL. XIII. MONTREAL, OCTOBER 15, 1916 No. 20

PULP AND PAPER MAGAZINE TO BE A WEEKLY

Arrangements have now been completed for the turning of the Pulp and Paper Magazine into a weekly publication, this forward step to be made on the first of January, 1917.

Four years ago the present publishers of the Pulp and Paper Magazine purchased that Journal from the Bigger & Wilson Company. It was then a small sized paper, published once a month. The first step taken by the new publishers was to enlarge its size to the present dimensions and publish it twice a month. Now a second forward step has been taken and the publication will shortly appear as a weekly.

No better evidence of the prosperity and progress made by the pulp and paper industry can be given than that furnished by the Pulp and Paper Magazine. It has grown in size, in circulation, in influence, and in usefulness, and today is the official organ of the technical section of the Pulp and Paper Association, and occupies a commanding place among the Pulp and Paper Publications on the Continent. Under the leadership of the Pulp and Paper Magazine the Canadian Pulp and Paper Association was formed, the Forest Products Laboratory at McGill University created, and the Technical Section of the Pulp and Paper Association made a possibility.

Much of the success which has come to the Pulp and Paper Magazine must be attributed to the two editors who have given it their best services, namely Mr. A. G. McIntyre and Mr. Roy Campbell. As editors of the Pulp and Paper Magazine, they both have done much to further the best interests of the industry, and those associated with it.

Arrangements have been completed whereby Professor J. Newell Stephenson, now head of the Forestry Department of the University of Maine at Orono, will take over the editorship of the Pulp and Paper Magazine when it launches on its career as a weekly. Some facts regarding the new editor appear elsewhere in this issue.

THE PRICE OF PAPER.

A somewhat serious crisis has arisen here in the relationship between the newspaper publishers and the news print manufacturers. A few days ago a meeting of the Canadian Press Association was held in Toronto at which the whole paper question was thoroughly discussed and a representative committee delegated to visit Ottawa and register before the Minister of Finance their protests in regard to the shortage of paper in Canada, and the mounting prices of the same. In Ottawa they were met by representatives of the Pulp and Paper Association, and the whole situation was carefully considered before the Minister and also by the two organizations as separate bodies.

The newspaper men complained that they were unable to secure new contracts for any length of time, and that the prices asked for the supplying of white paper were prohibitive and if paid would mean the collapse of many newspapers. They urged upon the Government that an inquiry should be instituted into the cost of manufacturing news print in Canada and, following that, such steps be taken by the Government as it should find necessary to safeguard the supply of news print for Canadian publishers. The publishers suggested to the Government that either an embargo or export duty be placed on white paper or that the Government fix a maximum price above which manufacturers would not be allowed to charge Canadian publishers.

In refutation of the publishers’ statements, the news print manufacturers pointed out that the attack on the part of the publishers had come without warning and that they had not consulted or tried to negotiate with the news print manufacturers. They further pointed out that the cost of everything entering into the manufacture of paper had advanced in price, that old trade channels had been upset, and that there was a great deal of uncertainty regarding the future cost of paper making materials. The manufacturers agreed to call a meeting of all their members and thoroughly discuss the matter and later meet the publishers in a last effort to arrive at a satisfactory solution. It is understood that the manufacturers are asking an increase of from 25% to 33% over the figures now prevailing, and if the publishers do not see their way clear to accept these terms the manufacturers will then ask for a Government inquiry into the cost of paper making, feeling satisfied that such an investigation would vindicate them in the stand they have taken.

There is no doubt but that manufacturers of news print are being unjustly blamed for a condition of affairs over which they have no control. They are not arbitrarily increasing the price of white paper. Everything entering into the manufacture of news print has advanced in price; labor is scarce and commands higher wages; dye stuffs have advanced to almost unheard of prices; in copper wire paper men are competing against munition makers while a similar story can be told in regard to every ingredient entering in their finished product. In addition to that a sudden and unprecedented demand resulting from improvement in business and a presidential election in the United States has made the consumption of paper exceed production. Further, the war has interfered with regular channels of trade and has shut-off the whole of continental Europe from the markets of the world with the result that publishers who formerly depended on Europe have turned to Canada and the United States in an effort to have their needs supplied.

The situation is undoubtedly embarrassing and may possibly work hardships to some publishers, but the whole of the world’s business fabric is confronted with extraordinary conditions. It is as unreasonable to blame the manufacturers of news print for the advance in the cost of white paper, as it would be to blame the bridge builder or the man who erects skyscrapers for advancing the price of steel. In the last analysis it is the war which is to blame. The advance in the cost of news print is not an arbitrary procedure, but rather the result of world conditions over which the paper makers have no control.

THE GATHERING IN NEW YORK.

The over-worked words, co-operation and service, best describe the spirit of the recent gathering held in New York, under the auspices of the American Chemical Society. The affiliated organizations such as the technical section of the Pulp and Paper Association met at the same time, and their deliberations were permeated with the same spirit as characterized the chemical organization.

Hundreds of the best chemical men on the continent, technical experts from pulp and paper mills, college men from all the great universities, and others interested in the spread of technical and chemical knowledge, gathered in New York and gave their best. Men who had experimented for years in the quiet of their own laboratories, made public the results of their patient research work. Technical experts and college men vied with practical mill men in revealing the things which they had found to be of benefit in the working out of the manufacturing problems of the day. There were no secrets, the cards were laid on the table, and men who found a certain line of work, or policy, or experiments beneficial, frankly and freely made public the result of their findings.

The chemists felt that it was “up to them” to make this continent independent of Germany in chemical research. The result of their two years of effort were simply beyond belief; even the chemists themselves were surprised at the wonderful progress that had been made in supplying dye-stuffs and other chemicals that were formerly obtained from Germany. If the war should continue another year, this continent will be practically independent of the foreign dye-maker.

In much the same way, satisfactory progress was made in connection with the technical work of the Pulp and Paper Association. The papers read, the discussions carried on, and the conclusions reached, marked further progress in the work of the Association, and made it more than ever apparent that the technical man is an increasingly important factor in the modern paper mill. A number of the papers read at the gathering appear in this issue of the Pulp and Paper Magazine.

PRODUCTION AND SHIPMENTS.

The last weekly letter on production and shipment was sent out by the News-Print Manufacturers Association on October 7th.

The report from the Western Territory for the week ending October 7th shows production equivalent to 107.1%, and shipments equivalent to 103.8% of maximum production capacity.

The report from the Canadian Territory for the same week shows production equivalent to 100.1%, and shipments equivalent to 97.2% of maximum productive capacity.

A number of the mills have been running on other grades of papers, and in the case of one large Canadian mill, low water has caused low production.

There has been an increase in inventory during the week in question of 476 cents. It will, of course, be understood that this increase is not surprising, as it is impossible to maintain inventories at the same low figures reported last week.

New Editor of Pulp and Paper Magazine

Professor J. Newell Stephenson, who is to assume the editorship of The Pulp and Paper Magazine on the first of January, 1917, when it changes from a bi-monthly to a weekly publication, is at present head of the paper making department in the University of Maine, Orono, and assistant professor of chemistry in the same university. Like so many paper-makers from south of the Line, Mr. Stephenson realizes that the future of the industry lies north of the 49th parallel, and in casting in his lot with the Pulp and Paper Magazine, he is but following a natural development.

The new editor was born at New Rochelle, N.Y., and educated in the schools of that city and Great Barrington, Mass. After graduating from the high school, he was employed as foreman in the Stanley Instrument Company’s Watt Meter Factory. Later an opportunity to learn paper-making presented itself and was taken advantage of by the subject of this sketch. Encouraged by his employers, the B. D. Rising Paper Company, Mr. Stephenson decided to go to college, and in 1905 entered the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from which he graduated four years later as a Chemical Engineer. The year following graduation was spent at Lawrenceville, N.Y., as a teacher of drawing, then came a post in the Chemical Engineering Department of the Rose Polytechnical Institute of Terre Haute, Indiana. Three years later the University of Maine established a Pulp and Paper Course, and Mr. Stephenson was given charge of the Paper-Making Department. Two years ago he was made assistant professor of chemistry. While he has never been in actual journalism, Mr. Stephenson was associate editor to his college paper, and has done considerable writing for the various paper trade journals in Canada and the United States, as a matter of fact, the work he did in this connection, led to his appointment as chairman on the Committee on Abstracts of the Technical Committee of the American Pulp and Paper Association.

Mr. Stephenson takes up his duties on January first.

TECHNICAL SECTION MEETING NOVEMBER 24th.

The Annual Meeting of the Technical Section of the Canadian Pulp and Paper Association will be held in Montreal on Friday, November 24th.

Arrangements are being made for a most interesting meeting. The business to be considered is very important, and there will be in addition a programme of papers by experts which should be unusually instructive and also should evoke good discussion. Dr. J. S. Bates, Chairman of the Section has received assurance from Mr. Ellwood Wilson, Forester to the Laurentide Company, of his being able to attend and present a paper on “Forestry in Connection with Pulp Mill Operation.” Mr. O. F. Bryant of the Forest Products Laboratories will discuss “Pulp Wood Measurements.” Three other papers are expected concerning which announcement will be made in the next issue of Pulp and Paper Magazine.

The original intention was to hold a two day meeting but the members of the Council feel that the extreme activity of pulp and paper mills at the present time precludes the absence of technical men from the mills for longer than one day.

With the papers forthcoming it is expected that this will be one of the very best of the Section meetings. Technical men are strongly urged to make preparations now to be in Montreal for the occasion.

CHEMICAL EXPOSITION.

That the Third National Exposition of Chemical Industries will be a great success is already assured. An additional third floor has already been engaged, and plans are being made to use the fourth floor. In addition it is hoped to have large sections showing the resources of the country awaiting development.

Two prizes have been offered to the students of Cooper Union Art Schools to draw up a poster seal for the next exposition. The designs for this purpose will be finished January 1st next year, and prizes awarded February 1st. All designs submitted and which the Jury consider fit, will be exhibited during the next exposition.

* * * * *

Among those interested in the pulp and paper lines, who joined the Entente delegation from Ontario in visiting Montreal, Three Rivers and Quebec were W. P. Gundy, managing director of W. J. Gage and Co., and S. J. Moore, President of the F. N. Burt Co., Toronto.

SOME CHEMICAL AND PHYSICAL REACTIONS OF ROSIN SIZE SOLUTIONS

Paper read by J. A. DeCEW at the meeting of the American Chemical Society.

It is quite to be expected that in any class of chemical reactions which occur under such varying conditions as those existing during the precipitation of rosin size in paper mill practice, there will be among the various investigators a certain amount of disagreement regarding the theoretical explanation of what actually takes place. There is also some confusion resulting from the termology which is commonly used in describing sodium resinate compounds existing in rosin size, as for example, in the use of the phrase “free rosin”. The purpose of the following remarks is not to recapitulate the work of other investigators, nor to criticize their conclusions, but to submit a short discussion of the effect upon the chemical reactions involved, of the various physical conditions in which the material may be used.

It is a well known fact that a rosin soap will easily dissolve an equivalent amount of rosin to that which has been saponified, and this extra rosin, whether in solution in the size wax, or whether in suspension in a diluted solution, is still called “free rosin” in the termology of the trade. In order, however, to distinguish between the various states in which the rosin might exist, it should be divided into three classes, consisting first, of dissolved rosin, second, colloidal rosin, and third, rosin in suspension. The reason for this is that before the rosin soap can be used in the art of paper making it must first be brought into dilute aqueous solution.

If the soap should be readily soluble, then dilution may take place in cold water and consequently the diluting can be carried out within the beater itself. On the other hand, if the rosin soap is not readily soluble in cold water, owing to the fact that it contains a considerable quantity of dissolved rosin, it is necessary to bring it into a sufficiently dilute condition so that no further material separation of rosin will take place when it comes in contact with the paper stock. Obviously the difficulty of carrying out this operation increases in proportion with the amount of extra rosin which is held in solution in the rosin soap.

Authorities disagree as to whether abietic acid is mono-basic or dibasic and it cannot be stated definitely whether rosin which is in complete solution in a rosin soap is there in the form of an acid resinate, or whether it is merely dissolved rosin. It seems to the writer that a fairly intelligible conception is obtained by assuming that a sodium resinate containing rosin in solution, is in fact an acid resinate of the alkali metal and that from this solution insoluble acid resinates of the heavy metals can be produced.

Some interesting data on this subject is recorded by E. O. Ellingson in a paper before the American Chemical Society, 1914, the subject being “Abietic acid and some of its salts.” In this investigation he shows clearly that certain insoluble acid abietates were formed when a dilute aqueous solution of sodium abietate was added in small proportions to a dilute solution of a metallic salt.

The salts of Chromium, Manganese, Nickel, Iron, Cadmium, Cobalt, Strontium, Copper, all gave precipitates carrying an excess of abietic acid. The one exception was the Salt of Aluminum, which under exactly the same conditions produced a basic aluminum abietate. From this it is proven that a neutral sodium resinate solution when poured into a dilute solution of sulphate of alumina, will always produce a precipitate of basic aluminum resinate.

On the other hand, the investigations of Naugebauer, republished in Paper XI., 10-17, shows that a neutral resinate when precipitated with a considerable excess of sulphate of alumina, will produce an acid precipitate containing approximately 33 per cent. of rosin excess, and with the maximum amount of alum the rosin acid in the precipitate does not exceed 41 per cent.

If we can accept the results of this investigator then it is evident that insoluble acid resinates containing a limited amount of rosin acids can be produced from a neutral sodium resinate by precipitation with even an aluminum salt.

The results produced with sulphate of aluminum therefore, will depend largely upon the mass action of the materials, chemical equilibrium being established in accordance with the relative amount and acidity of the alum used. In short, if 100 grs. of rosin in the form of a neutral resinate is precipitated with approximately 33 grs. of alum, we will have as a result, a basic alum resinate. If, on the other hand, it is precipitated with 330 grs. of alum, we would have an acid resinate of alumina containing approximately 40 per cent. of rosin acid. With less alum excess the amount of rosin acid in the precipitate will be proportionately less.

If the basic aluminum resinates were a satisfactory water repellant then the problem of paper sizing would be a very simple one, and all that would be necessary in practice would be to use the size and alum in proper chemical equivalents. All experience shows however, that when using a neutral resinate for sizing, it is necessary to use a large alum excess in order to obtain a sufficiently water repellant condition in the paper. The inference is that the insoluble acid resinates are essentially the agents which impart to the paper that resistance to aqueous penetration called “Sizing.”

Remington and his associates claim that resinate of alumina only, is formed when a neutral sodium resinate is precipitated with alum, even if the alum is used in excess, but that it is decomposed by extraction with alcohol and that this fact leads others to believe that a portion of the rosin is uncombined. These investigators publish the result of 50 tests for sizing paper, from which they draw their conclusions, but it would seem that their methods of making the tests were quite inefficient, inasmuch as they used not less than 5 per cent. of rosin, and as high as 12 per cent. without always getting sizing results. Now, in mill practice, a very poor size should give results with 3 per cent. of rosin, while an efficient size should produce a very hard-sized paper with an equivalent amount. It would seem unwise to form any fixed conclusion from tests which gave such unsatisfactory results.

Other investigators such as, Emil Meuser and Naugebauer, (Paper, June 25th, 1913), and also Otto Kress & Struthers (Paper April 16th, 1913), have demonstrated by exhaustive tests that rosin acids are liberated from a neutral resinate when alum is used in excess and that the amount of these rosin acids may be from 33 per cent. to 41 per cent. of the total rosin, depending upon the alum excess used.

If an acid resinate of alumina containing 40 parts of rosin acids, can be produced from 100 parts of neutral resinate of soda and 330 parts of sulphate of alumina, then 20 parts of alum will be required to produce the same results from an acid resinate of soda, containing 40 per cent. of rosin acids, or with 200 parts of alum one can produce from this an aluminum resinate with 64 per cent. of rosin acid.

These highly acid resinates are found to be very colloidal in character and have great capacity for distribution within the paper pulp. They also show considerable resistance to dehydration and are thus able to retain their plastic character while the paper is being dried. Such are the properties that these highly acid resinates seem to possess in addition to their water repellant characteristics.

It has been demonstrated in paper mill tests that the rosin acids alone are thrown out of solution from a rosin soap by means of acid, can also produce sizing results providing that the rosin acids precipitated have a similar colloidal character to the aluminum precipitate. The practical difficulty, however, of obtaining colloidal precipitates when using acid, makes this practice a very uncertain one, for it would be only under very favorable circumstances that this practice could be carried out with success. The same difficulty is experienced when other metallic salts, (e.g.,) the salts of iron or calcium, are used to replace the aluminum sulphate, for the precipitates from these are much more dense and granular than those derived from aluminum.

It would seem therefore that the real necessity for the use of sulphate of alumina for precipitating the rosin is not so much the necessity for forming acid aluminum resinates, but the fact that the rosin precipitated in this way has a more colloidal character, than that thrown out of solution by other coagulants, and consequently will have greater covering power and efficiency as a water repellant. This explanation is opposed to the theory that rosin acids in the form of emulsion or suspensions are efficient sizing agents, for it is obvious that visible floating rosin has lost its colloidal character and its covering power.