History of paper
This happened in July 1951.One of the women of Novgorod walked along the street, where archaeologists had recently worked. On the 14th century road, freed from the earth's thickness, she saw a dense and dirty clump of birch bark, on the surface of which there were clear letters. If it were not for these letters, one could have thought that a scrap of another fishing float was found, which in the collection of archaeologists by that time had already accumulated several dozen. The find was handed over to the head of the excavations, who stood right there on the cleared ancient stage. He could not breathe for a minute, choking, uttering a single word, uttering only inarticulate sounds, and then shouted: "I've been waiting for this discovery for 20 years!" Since that time, a lot of time has passed, but this July day was forever leftin the history of science as the date of the discovery of a new source of knowledge - birchbark credentials. They were written by our ancestors before the invention of paper.
Stone and clay, wood and bone, leather and birch bark, wax and metal, papyrus and parchment served people at different times for writing. But each of these materials had its drawbacks.
First, people carved written signs on the stone - the rocks, the walls of the palaces, the arches of the triumphal gates. It was not easy - working with a stone required time and a lot of hard work. Such inscriptions could not be taken with them, sent to someone. Clay tablets went into action. Now in museums of all countries and in private collections there are about half a million such tablets. They were found during the excavations of the ancient cities of Assyria, Babylon, Sumer. On raw clay tablets, drawing signs was much easier and easier than carving on stone. To fix the text, ordinary tiles were dried in the sun, and especially important, on which state acts and laws were recorded, were burned. Such tile-letters were sent not only within one state, but also to neighboring ones. To this end, in Persia, for example, during the reign of King Cyrus, there were postal stations on which messengers with fast horses were on duty day and night.
But all the same, the clay tiles-letters were too heavy and bulky. In humorous "Universal History", published at the beginning of this century by the journal Satyricon, it is said about this: "In order that the beloved could properly express his feelings of love to the object of his love, he had to send her a whole supply of bricks."
In search of material for the consolidation of thoughts people in different epochs have tried many things: tiles, ceramic vases, metal mirrors, copper, gold and lead plates. But all these materials retreated before the papyrus. Papyrus appeared among the Egyptians long before our era and served them more than four thousand years. The reserves of this perennial reed plant with straight, reaching at a height of five meters triangular stalks with flowers in the form of tassels were huge. Papyrus grew in abundance in shallow areas of rivers and lakes and fed thousands of people engaged in its harvesting and processing, because it came from Egypt to many markets in Europe and Asia.
When cheaper material for writing appeared - paper, papyrus stopped growing, and by the 20th century it had disappeared from the territory of Egypt, and the secret of making the papyrus itself had been lost. True, now this secret was disclosed, but on papyrus only invitations to especially important receptions, diplomas of Egyptian scientific institutions and business cards are printed.
Papercus was replaced by parchment in the 2nd century BC.The legend claims that the Egyptians learned that the Pergamon state, which existed in Asia Minor, intends to create a rich library in its capital and for this is going to buy a huge amount of papyrus from Egypt. The rumors were confirmed, but the merchants who arrived in Egypt from the Pergamon King Eumenes II returned home empty-handed. At that time Ptolemy, who ruled in Egypt, did not agree to the deal, fearing that the Pergamon library would prove to be a strong rival to the library of Alexandria. But Evmen II was persistent and ordered the organization of his own production of material for writing from the skin of domestic animals. Such material was already known, but before the skin was taken oxen, coarse and thick, and in Pergamum began to produce skin of calves, young sheep, goats, donkeys. By its quality, parchment was superior to papyrus, it was stronger, more elastic, more durable. But he also had to retreat before the paper that appeared in China.
Before the invention of paper, the Chinese wrote their letters on wooden waxed plaques, then on cloth in ink. Silk was the most suitable for this, but it was too expensive. But the silk left a lot of scraps. They were soaked and manually rubbed between stones. The slurry thus obtained was poured onto some smooth surface, for example a ground stone slab, and pressed with another polished stone. Kashitsa dried up, turned into a thin flat cake
Court counselor of Emperor Ho, who lived in the 2nd century AD, Tsai Lun is considered one of the inventors of paper. He proposed to make it with a stone stupa, a wooden pestle and a sieve, using some fibrous plants. As it really looked his way, it's hard to say, but, probably, he was like that. With the tree of mulberry widespread in China, the branches were cut off, then they removed the bark from them. The upper dark layer of the bark was peeled off, and the inner fibrous part was soaked in rainwater, then chopped into small parts and pushed into a mortar. The resulting gruel was collected in a barrel and diluted with water. The master took the sieve's hands and scooped the mass out of the barrel. Water drained away, and a smooth and thin layer of pulp remained on the surface. It was turned over on a smooth board. The boards with castings were stacked one on top of the other and loaded. Pressed sheets under the press were dried in the sun or in a warm room. Paper sheets made in this way turned out to be light, strong and convenient for writing. Paper began to be manufactured in various formats, colors, weights and even soaked with special substances that repelled harmful insects. There were also paper money.
For many centuries, the Chinese have kept the secret of making paper. But the unforeseen happened. In Turkestan, two khans did not share something between themselves, and one of them turned to the Chinese emperor for military assistance. This rash action was not liked by the Arab caliph, who sent the army at once against both khans.
Paper machine. XIX century.
In 751 on the river Tallas, near Samarkand, there was a battle. Help the emperor did not help the khans, they were defeated. Among the many captives brought to Samarkand, there were Chinese masters who could make paper from fibers of an oak, a mulberry, flax. Since this raw material was not found in sufficient quantity in Samarkand, the fiber was recovered from used fabrics.
The first in Europe began to make paper Spain, taking the art of its manufacture from its conquerors - Arabs. This happened in the middle of the 12th century. After several decades, the paper appeared in Italy, then in France, Hungary, Germany, Russia, Holland, Sweden. It is interesting that she came from one country to another at approximately the same time intervals( 50 to 100 years).
The paper came to Russia later than in many other countries. This "overseas" product we bought more than 260 years. Own production of paper began in the reign of Ivan the Terrible. It is no accident that by this time the birth of printing in Russia also applies. Each paper mill had its own watermark, or filigree, a kind of trademark. He was embroidered with a thin wire on a metal mesh, which served as a form for manual casting paper. When the net with the liquid mass was taken out from the barrel and shaken, fewer fibers settled on the convexity. On the finished sheet this place shone through. Such a sign was clearly visible to the light, and it could not be faked.
A great development of the paper business was under Peter I, who, having visited abroad, conceived "to commit paper factories in every province. .. and in those factories to order paper to make different hands and majesticities, that is, Alexandria, food, postal, capricious, gray andblue ยป.In these products, the state was in great need. Kartuznaya was intended for combat charges to an artillery gun( if shot without shells) to determine the quality of the gunpowder. Of the paper, by the way, they made different cartridges. Dense Alexandrian paper was required for state correspondence. In 1714, near St. Petersburg
The paper mill was laid down by the decree of the tsar, and two years later the first production was presented to the king who visited the building, where he wrote with some pride: "This paper is made here at the mill, and it can be made as needed in the millstate, and not only in France, but also in tacos. "
"Ah, how much paper is there for you!- she went on, after glancing at him in the box. And in fact, the stamp paper was there a lot."If only I could have a piece of paper!"And I have such a drawback;there will be a request to the court to file, but not on anything. ... explained to her that this paper is not of such a kind that it is designated for the execution of fortresses, and not for requests. However, in order to reassure her, he gave her some kind of sheet in rubles at a price. "
Although the name of the protagonist in the passage is omitted, you probably learned the work from which the conversation is based. Of course, this is the "Dead Souls" of NV Gogol. Chichikov talks with Korobochka. But what kind of paper is it? It appeared under Peter I, who introduced a kind of tax, the so-called stamp duty, through the sale of stamped paper. There were three sorts of such a paper - with a picture of a large, medium and small eagle. Documents for the purchase of land, serfs, buildings could only be made out on paper with a large eagle. There was a stamp paper until 1874.Since that time, her place was taken by the stamp.
The years passed, the needs for paper grew, and raw materials for it became scarce. At the beginning of the last century, there was a "great battle" for rags in the world. Different countries in their own way sought a way out. England tried to buy rags in neighboring countries. France, Belgium, Holland, Spain and Portugal did not allow its export. There were even "black markets" on which raw materials were paid for this raw material. The collection and sale of rags to paper mills were engaged in thousands of tramps, but still it was not enough - and entrepreneurs had to embark on various tricks. One time in New York to buy a book, it was necessary not only to pay its cost, but also to hand over a certain number of rags. Publishers of newspapers offered a free subscription to everyone who is obliged to bring updates. In short, it was required to find a material that would replace rags.
When the search for raw materials began, someone remembered: back in 1719 the French physicist, the inventor of the thermometer R. Reaumur, suggested that such material could be wood. He even cited the example of the construction of a wasp's nests from the gruel-like mass that they receive by crushing the wood with their jaws. The assumption of Reaumur was repeatedly confirmed by many enthusiasts, but to create a technology that would be suitable for mass production, it was not until 1843 that the German bookbinder Friedrich Keller succeeded. He chopped wood in a device of his own design( it was called a manual grinder), mixed it with a rag and got a good, thick paper. Later, instead of a manual defiber, a mechanical one appeared.
As soon as in the middle of the last century it was possible to extract from wood its most valuable substance - cellulose, with handicraft production of paper was finished. Chemistry has also allowed not only to isolate cellulose, but also to ennoble it. With the help of various chemical reagents, it is given this or that degree of whiteness, strength, resulting in various types of paper.
Printing house. XVII century.
The paper has many "professions".Look at least your apartment. Shelves with books, wallpaper on the walls, photos in albums, tablecloths, towels, napkins. And the furniture? The surface of the table sparkling with an intricate pattern, the door of the cabinet is a sheet of paper glued to the particle board. The paper is contained in clothes and shoes, in a TV set and radio.
We are constantly searching for new raw materials for paper. Scientists in Hungary, for example, built a plant for making paper from the leaves of birch, aspen, poplar, maple. By its qualities this paper is not inferior to the usual one, but it allows to save millions of cubic meters of valuable wood.
When you put a blank sheet in front of you, then, before you start writing, think about the lines from the poem by S. Mikhalkov: