Paper takes its name from ‘Papyrus’ a plant that grows in Egypt. The Egyptians were the first to use ‘Papyrus’ for writing. Papyrus was made from the stem of Papyrus reed. The strips of the reed were soaked in water and made into pulp, which was hammered to make it thin. After that it was dried in the Sun and used as writing material. So, around 3,500 BC Papyrus was the writing material of the people. Paper, was invented in China in 105 AD. The Chinese invented paper, which was made from the fibres of cellulose plant.
Most of the paper is made from wood pulp. Wood logs from trees like pine, eucalyptus, poplar, birch, firs and chestnut are taken to a paper mill where the bark is stripped of them. Then they are cut into chips and put into huge vats. Inside the vats the chips are boiled and stirred with chemicals until they become a soggy pulp. This pulp is washed thoroughly and bleached to make white paper adhesives. Glue is added to make the fibres link together in the paper. The pulp is combined with China clay or chalk to improve the capacity and surface finish of the paper. The product at this stage is called ‘stuff’ and ‘stock’.
After this stage, the stuff is spread on a belt of wire sieve of a refining machine. The water is drained out of it through the holes in the sieve and the fibres start sticking together into a thin sheet. This sheet then passes through a number of felt-covered rollers. The rollers squeeze out remaining water and press the fibres more firmly together. It is then passed through a number of steam-heated metal cylinders, which evaporate the remaining water and make it dry. Then comes the last stage where it goes through polished iron rollers that make its surface highly smooth. After smoothening, the paper is cut into large rolls, which are further cut into various sizes.
In India there is a scarcity of wood. So most of the paper is of cheaper variety, made from grass, wastepaper, rope, rice-husk, straw, rags and other agro wastes. Some good quality paper is also prepared from bamboo and crushed sugarcane.