Crane's - Papermaking at Crane with Cotton

Crane's - Papermaking at Crane:

"Papermaking at Crane & Co., Inc.

Making 100% Cotton Paper Since 1801

In some ways, papermaking at Crane has not changed greatly since 1801, when sheets were formed by hand. We still feel it is a highly skilled craft where great care must be taken to select the best raw materials and transform them into elegant and strong papers. Modern machinery and technology now play a significant role in crafting that final product, but it is the care and skill of the papermaker that really matters. Let's take a tour of a Crane papermaking facility.

First of all, Crane's make their paper from cotton. They don't cut down trees, and the cotton for our paper doesn't come directly from the field either. Crane uses the small scraps left over from the manufacture of cotton garments, such as jeans and t-shirts. These recovered scraps, or rags, as we call them, would otherwise be sent to landfills. So, not only are trees spared when you buy Crane paper, but you are helping with another growing environmental concern: overburdened landfills. We also use something called linters, the tiny fibers adhering to the cotton seed, which used to be thrown away by cotton seed oil producers. Nothing is wasted because the fibers from cotton are such an excellent raw material for paper.

To prepare the cotton for papermaking, it is first mixed with large amounts of water and sent to a piece of equipment called the beater. A beater is like a giant blender. (Crane's range up to 5,000 gallons.) In the beater, the cotton fibers are frayed between rotating steel blades and a lava bed plate, hence the term beaten to a pulp. Don't try this at home with old t-shirts and your food processor! The care taken with this step makes a huge difference in the quality of the paper.

After being processed in the beater, the cotton fibers are suspended in a solution of about 99% water and 1% fiber that we call stock. On the paper machine, this mixture is sprayed onto a wide belt of wire mesh called the fourdrinier, running at several hundred feet per minute. Much of the water is removed by gravity and suction and then reused in the papermaking process.

While the fibers are still very wet, a cylinder called a dandy roll, covered with a wire pattern, subtly rearranges the fibers to make the watermark. Barely able to support itself yet, the paper is picked up by a continuous felt cloth and passed through rolls that squeeze out more of the water, like a ringer on an old-fashioned washing machine. The paper then moves through a series of steam-heated cylinders where it dries completely.

In order to effectively take ink, either from a printing press, laser printer or a pen, a special coating must be applied to the paper called sizing. The paper must be dried once again by another series of heated cylinders before it is collected on a large roll at the end of the paper machine.

From start to finish the paper travels approximately a quarter of a mile through the machine. The rolls are either shipped directly to the customer or cut into large sheets. Once these sheets pass our rigorous inspection, they can be sent directly to paper merchants or converted into stationery.

At Crane's Stationery Factory, envelopes are cut, lined and folded. Crane's is are the only paper company that converts its own envelopes. Sheets are trimmed and, perhaps, bordered with colored paint or gilded in silver or gold leaf by hand. Some sheets are sent to Crane's engraving plant where they are skillfully transformed into elegant thank-you cards, invitations, or holiday greeting cards. Back at the Stationery Factory, finished products are tied with ribbons, assembled in boxes and packaged for shipment to fine stationers across the country.