Part 2
The fact is that the so called free rosin emulsions, when properly made, contain but a very small amount of rosin acid in the emulsified form, practically all of it remaining in solution in the dilute soap. The art of preparing good rosin size emulsions (using the term as generally understood) is therefore the ability to dilute a solution of rosin acids, without the actual liberation of rosin in the emulsified form. The difficulty in doing this will explain the erratic results obtained by Remington and other investigators when endeavoring to determine the effect of rosin size containing dissolved rosin.
The laboratory difficulties involved are shown by an article by Otto Kress and R. T. Struthers, published in Paper, April 1913. Their results show that from a rosin saponified with 15% of sodium carbonate, over 98% was obtained by them in hot dilute aqueous solution, and that from a rosin saponified with 10% of sodium carbonate, only 50.6% was brought into actual solution in hot water. It is quite possible however, to dilute such a rosin soap holding in solution about 45% of rosin acids, to an aqueous solution of 2% solids, without having any of the rosin become insoluble. In this condition all of the rosin acids can enter into chemical reactions with other solutions and will precipitate from solution in a very bulky colloidal mass.
Between the extremes of physical condition just described, there are a great number of intermediate stages. The rosin acids may be partly liberated by dilution in the form of small visible floating particles and coarse granular masses and a part may be in a state of colloidal solution. It is safe to say that all rosin particles which are sufficiently coarse to be classed as suspensions, have lost the greater part of their sizing value. That portion of the rosin acids which is in colloidal solution is still effective for sizing purposes because it has the property of becoming fixed upon the fibres by absorption. This action can only take place, however, when the paper stock is free from such electrolytes as may discharge the colloid before it reaches the fibre. Dilute acid resinate solutions may contain variable proportions of dissolved acid resinates, colloidal rosin, and rosin suspensions, and the relative proportion of these is what determines the basis of its waterproofing possibilities. Assuming that the sizing value of these solutions varies directly with the amount of rosin acids that are in true and colloidal solution, we have a measure of efficiency which checks very closely with actual mill results.
The maximum amount of rosin acids that can be held in stable solution in a diluted rosin soap of from 1% to 2%, total solids, is about 50% of the total rosin content. In such a solution there is always a slight tendency towards hydrolysis which increases with the amount of dilution, but the fact that these solutions when once prepared can be then boiled without decomposition, shows that the solutions are fairly well stabilized and also that there can be very little rosin then present in the colloidal form.
The conclusions which it is desired to submit as offering a satisfactory explanation of practically all the phenomena in connection with sizing paper with rosin is as follows:--
(1). That the rosin acids which are precipitated from dilute solution by means of a coagulant which will deposit the rosin in a colloidal mass, is the material which when properly incorporated into the paper stock and dried therein, produces the water resistant characteristic known as sizing.
(2). That the results obtained from a given quantity of material are largely dependent upon the character of the rosin colloid and its treatment during the process of manufacturing the paper.
(3). This product can be obtained in limited quantity from a neutral resinate, by the use of large excess of alum, or it may be obtained in large proportions from an acid resinate and a relatively less excess of alum. The maximum obtained from a neutral resinate being about 40% of the total rosin, and from an acid resinate about 70% of the total rosin, when a sulphate of alumina containing no free acid is used.
American Newspaper Publishers’ Association
Committee on Paper.
Mr. A. G. McIntyre, of Toronto, has been appointed Manager of the Committee on Paper of the American Newspaper Publishers’ Association.
His varied experience in paper and associated lines well qualifies him to handle the paper situation at the present critical time.
Mr. McIntyre has been both Engineer and Manager of some of the most successful paper companies in Canada, during which time he has designed and built a number of mills, together with having managed and operated same as well.
He has been associated with the following companies:
Jonquiere Pulp Company.
Price Bros. & Company, Limited.
Bathurst Lumber Company, Limited.
Mattagami Pulp and Paper Company, Limited.
He also became Editor of the Pulp and Paper Magazine, when this magazine was purchased by the present owners, the Industrial & Educational Press, and acted in this capacity for a year after its re-organization.
He was also Superintendent and Organizer of the Forests Products Laboratories of Canada, under the Dominion Government, located in Montreal, where a large technical staff are engaged in working on paper making problems.
Mr. McIntyre was also Organizer and first Secretary-Treasurer of the Canadian Pulp and Paper Association, and leaves the position of General Manager of the Mattagami Pulp and Paper Company, Limited, Toronto, to take up this work.
His experience has been a unique combination of paper mill engineering, paper mill executive, publishing, Government expert work and association work.
The office of the Committee on Paper will be located in the World Building, New York City.
Mr. McIntyre has made the following statement, in connection with taking up this work:
“I have accepted this work of the Paper Committee, with the idea that something can be done to alleviate the present serious condition for the consumers of newsprint paper.
“Everyone knows there is a serious shortage in production over the demand; at the same time, much can be done by both manufacturers and consumers to adjust their business to the present conditions.
“Consumers must practise rigid economies, making all papers non-returnable; eliminating press room wastes and all avoidable consumption of paper. If this does not bring the consumption within the production, sufficient new mills must be constructed to take care of the normal consumption with the normal increase, as there is only very little new tonnage proposed, which will come on the market by 1918.
“Manufacturers must turn aside from export business, taking care of old and permanent customers; should run mills at the fullest possible capacity, and at a reasonable margin of profit.
“It has been distinctly understood with me before taking up this work, that the basis of relief will be mutual understanding and information between manufacturer and consumer, with sufficient increased tonnage provided, either by the present manufacturers, or by a few of the consumers, to protect the members of the American Newspaper Publishers’ Association in their supply of print paper.”
MARKET VALUES OF PAPER STOCKS.
The present unprecedented situation in the paper industry has fomented considerable speculative enthusiasm in Canadian paper and pulp stocks. Trading in these issues on the Montreal and Toronto stock exchanges has increased very materially, and prices are way up from the low of the year. Canada produces half as much newsprint as the United States, and she is increasing her capacity at a much faster rate than American mills.
The following table shows the extent of the advance this year in a number of prominent pulp and paper stocks listed on the Montreal and Toronto exchanges:
Present Low Advance price 1916
Laurentide Paper 198 176 22 Wayagamack 74 27 47 Riordon Pulp & Paper 99 58 41 Price Brothers 95 60 35 Spanish River com. 15½ 3½ 12 Spanish pfd. 44 29 15 Toronto Paper 55 42 13
* * * * *
The Conservation Commission calls the attention of Canada to experiments showing that jack pine is well suited for making kraft paper. It will grow on poor land and is largely used in the West for fuel.
Why Paper is Dearer
In a letter to the members of the News-Print Manufacturers Association Mr. G. F. Steele ably refutes the charge that the recent advance in the price of paper were arbitrary measures.
The writer was unavoidably absent from New York when the monthly report of production and shipments for the month of August was sent out from this office on September 19th.
You have doubtless observed the decreased production in August as compared with the month of July. This was largely caused by the difficulties encountered by one of the large Canadian mills by a terrible forest fire, which decreased operations for several weeks. It will doubtless occur, however, to every one of our members that due to the terrific pressure which has been placed on the operation of the mills during the past eight months, that it is a great wonder that production keeps up to the present high point. Machines are running at a much greater speed then they were ever expected to run, and ordinary shut downs for repairs and replacements have not been made this summer. It is usually the custom for most news-print mills to shut down at the end of the summer before freezing weather occurs, to run their screening and tailings into wrappers. I do not know of a single mill which has indulged in this desirable practice this year, and in order to get a supply of wrappers for the coming six months it may be necessary for some mills to stop making news-print paper temporarily and run out their wrapper stock.
During the months of June, July and August in normal years production drops down materially, and stocks are accumulated for the great Fall demand. During the months of June, July and August of this year, instead of accumulating increased stocks, you doubtless have observed from the statement submitted to you that total stocks at hand at all points, including stocks on hand at mills, in transit, and at destination points, decreased 7,316 tons or 10.6 per cent.. It was thought by those who are best posted in the industry that stocks were at danger point on June 1st, and that unless these stocks could be replenished there would be grave danger of the necessity of some papers suspending publication temporarily because of the inability of the mills to get paper to them in time for their requirements during the coming Fall and Winter. During the three months of June 1st to September 1st, 1915, storage stocks increased as much as they have declined this year.
During the past few weeks the newspapers have been full of violent outcries, uttered by publishers, regarding the high price of news-print paper. There have come to my desk during a period of two weeks over 1,500 radical and abusive articles, making all sorts of baseless and unfounded charges against the manufacture of news-print paper. It is quite evident that these newspaper publishers are more scared than hurt up to this time, for owing to the peculiar nature of this business and the fact that the great bulk of the business is contracted for the calendar year in the fall months of the preceding year, it is the belief of those who are best posted in the industry that on the average the price of roll news-print paper which is sold on contract has not advanced up to this time more than 5% or $2.00 per ton. Many newspapers have taken advantage of the situation to raise subscription prices and to raise their advertising rates, when these same papers are paying no higher price for their supply of news-print paper than they were paying a year ago.
So much has been said about the price of news-print paper, and so little has been said about the rise in price of other commodities, that I have endeavored to make up a list gleaned from responsible commercial publications regarding the rise in other commodities.
Just as soon as the price of news-print paper advances, no matter how little, the newspaper publishers promptly outdo the Prophet Jeremiah with their lamentations and demand an immediate investigation on the part of the government. We do not see the same demand when the prices of other commodities advance.
The selling price of the raw materials entering into the manufacture of news-print paper has increased to a very remarkable extent during the past year. Many mills now making news-print paper are paying a very much enhanced price for the cost of raw materials which they have to purchase. Other mills purchasing the chemical and ground wood pulps entering into the manufacture of their products are operating on old contracts which expire with the calendar year. There is every indication at the present time that the price of these two commodities after January 1st, 1917 will be practically double the price which ruled a year ago, and perhaps in the case of chemical pulp three or four times the price which ruled a year ago. The mills which are forced to make news-print paper from these high priced raw materials will necessarily have to charge what would seem like an inordinate price to operate at a profit.
Consider, for example, a paper mill which is dependent on the market for its supply of raw material. Sulphite pulp, of which news-print paper contains approximately 25%, is now selling around $100.00 at the sulphite mills and the mill which converts it into news-print paper will pay $25.00 per ton of paper for this item. Ground wood, which constitutes 75% of news-print paper, is selling at $30.00 per ton F.O.B. ground wood mill, and the converting mill pays $22.50 per ton of paper for this. As it takes approximately 110 pounds of pulp to make 100 pounds of paper, this brings the total cost per ton to $52.25 for the raw materials alone. Add to this a freight rate of 12c per hundred pounds for pulp, 40% dry, and the cost per ton of raw material comes to $58.85. Add to this the manufacturing costs which, according to the Tariff Board figures in 1911 amounted to $10.14 in the United States, and a larger figure in Canada. These costs have easily increased 50% since 1911, which makes a total cost of the paper $74.06 per ton.
The majority of paper mills make one or both grades of pulp, in which case increased expenditure is dependent on the increased cost of pulpwood, coal, labor, machine clothing, repair materials, chemicals, etc., but the mills dependent on the market for raw materials have to obtain large prices to operate at a profit.
In the year 1914, the average price of news-print paper was approximately $2.00 per hundred pounds F.O.B. cars at mill. The largest producer of news-print paper in the world, is now charging for renewal of contracts $3.00 per hundred pounds F.O.B. mill or an increase of 50%. Compare this increase with the increases in the following commodities, taken from such authorities as:
R. G. Dun & Co.--“WEEKLY REVIEW”.
“THE ANNALIST”.
BRADSTREET’S.
U.S. Market Statistics (As quoted by the “N.Y. SUN”.)
Monthly Summary of U.S. Commerce.
Then follows a long list of articles in daily use which have advanced from 25 to 467 per cent. showing that the advance in the cost of paper is not an isolated case. The cost of living index accordingly to the New York Annalist increased from September 1915 to September 1916 from 135 to 185, an increase of over 37 per cent., and the market value of securities listed on the New York Stock Exchange increased from July 30th, 1914 to September 1916, deducting value of new editions, by over $3,000,000,000.00, a net increase of 33 per cent.
According to Bradstreet’s, out of 106 commodities which their index table embraces, all but 17 advanced in price between September 1st, 1915 and September 1st, 1916, representing for the entire groups an average increase of over 16½%. According to Dun’s last review, out of 328 commodities quoted, 42 showed advances in price over the previous week, while but 25 showed decreases.
There is another matter to be considered. During 1915 there was a decided increase in the price of practically every commodity, except paper. The Journal of Commerce quotes from the United States figures as follows:
“Wholesale prices of commodities in the United States averaged considerably higher in 1915 than in the preceding year, according to Bulletin 200 of the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the United States Department of Labor. ***The Bureau’s weighted index number for December (1915) stood at 105, the highest point reached in any year since the collection of data for the present series of reports on Wholesale Prices, dating back to 1890, was begun.
“Violent fluctuations were recorded during 1915 in the prices of all commodities, particularly drugs and chemicals and metal products. ***In the fuel and lighting group*** in August the prices again advanced (after a Spring slump) the increase continuing for the rest of the year. ***Articles belonging to the food group were in the aggregate highest in price in December and lowest in September. The increase between January and December in this group was nearly 4%.” The paper market, however, remained unchanged.
In other words, the price of other commodities advanced rapidly during the year 1915, while the price of news-print paper was stationary, and at the present time the advanced selling price of news-print paper does not compare unfavorably with the high cost of living as evidenced by practically all other staple commodities.
COMING TO CANADA.
The Bryant Paper Company, of Kalamazoo, is planning the construction of a pulp mill in Canada, involving the expenditure of approximately $1,500,000. The company is now one of the largest book paper manufacturers in the United States, its daily output being 200 tons. It operates ten machines at present, but has prepared plans and specifications for the addition of two more machines, each 154 inches in width.
Suggestions as to Purchase of Pulp Wood
Messrs. C. P. Winslow and R. Thelan of Madison Wis. gave a very interesting paper on the consumption of Pulpwood and the best method of purchasing it. A summary follows:--
The annual consumption of pulpwood in the United States amounts to approximately 4,300,000 cords, representing an expenditure in the neighborhood of $36,000,000 per year by approximately 250 companies. From these figures it is apparent that the question of proper pulpwood specifications is of wide importance.
While the value of pulpwood is dependent basically upon the tons of dry pulp that can be produced from a given number of dry tons of wood, the great quantity of the wood is bought and sold either on the basis of an estimated and variable volume of wood in an assumed space, or on the theoretical quantity or volume of lumber which can be cut. Thus, with dry weight as the real and final measure, we find substituted for it a variable and indefinite volume, and the result in the long run is fair to neither seller nor purchaser.
While by far the greater proportion of pulpwood is purchased as cordwood or by log scale, it must not be overlooked that the use of sawmill waste is steadily increasing, and amounts to approximately 7.7 per cent. of the total. It is manifestly impossible to apply the log scale to the measurement of such material.
While it is entirely evident that a completely satisfactory basis of specification cannot be secured with a unit of measure based on volume, it is equally apparent that such unit of measure must continue to be used very largely for this purpose. It is desirable, therefore, where perfection cannot be had, to compromise on the issue, and some suggestions along this line are as follows:
1. An enumeration of the basic and fundamental principles which must underlie any correct system of specification should show clearly the relation of yield of pulp to the dry weight of specific gravity of the wood and the relation and probable variation of this dry weight in a given volume.
2. For the conditions where the cord will continue to be used as the unit of measure, the formulation of definite specifications to the end that this unit of measure may come to represent an approximately fixed volume of solid wood.
3. A study of the relation of actual cubic contents of logs of varying sizes to the board foot measure, as determined by the various log scales used in the purchase of pulpwood.
4. A study into all phases of the question of supplying pulpwood in the form of baled chips as the source of supply. Such a study should cover such points as the quantity of chips secured from a ton or a stacked cord of various forms of mill waste and from a standard cord, the cost and best methods of chipping, drying and baling, and finally of methods for determining the moisture content of the baled chip, which would presumably be sold on a weight basis.
5. Attention to methods for limiting, describing and illustrating such points as “knotty,” “rough,” “doty,” “fire scarred,” “heart-rot,” “sap-rot,” etc. All of these defects detract from the value of the material, but to just what extent is not at present generally established.
6. Other points, such as standard methods of determining the dry weight and moisture content of the wood, or of measurement of wood fiber dimensions, also require attention.
Guesses About Pulpwood Supply of Future
One of the most interesting papers read at the convention dealt with the Pulpwood Supply of the Future. It was by Prof. P. S. Lovejoy of the University of Michigan.
Mr. Lovejoy pointed out that the amount of cotton or corn raised in the country each year, the regions of production and the approximate costs and the sale values were known, and that with about the same relative degree of accuracy the principal items of timber production were known. In the case of pulpwood, statistics compiled from reports of the mills showed the consumption by species, by States, the amounts and kinds imported and how these items compare with past performances.
Attention is now being devoted, Mr. Lovejoy said, to learning where our remaining forests are and what is in them, but the results are far from satisfactory as compared with the record of manufacturing. He asserted that we did not know now, within 25 per cent., what our stand of saw timber is for the whole community or for a given region or State. Practically nothing is known about the existing pulpwood supply, so that guesses as to the future cannot be accurate, but Mr. Lovejoy explained that there were many things upon which such guesses could be based.
Competition Between Saw Mill and Pulp Mill.
A condition that would have to be met was greater competition between pulp mill and sawmill, Mr. Lovejoy said, as the value of lumber was constantly increasing while the merchantable grades of lumber were declining. The pulp mill is at a disadvantage in this respect; that it represents a greater capital than the sawmill and cannot be moved to a new location.