HOW PAPER DEVELOPED
Ts’ ai Lun, a Chinese court official, is credited with the invention
of paper. He did this nearly 1900 years ago in the year 105A.D.
Before the invention of paper, people wrote on a variety of
materials. For example, animal skins called parchment and vellum were
used by the ancient Greeks. And papyrus, a writing surface made by
pounding a woven mat of papyrus reed into a thin, hard sheet was used by
the ancient Egyptians. The word paper, in fact, is derived from the
word papyrus.
In the tenth century A.D. techniques for making paper by hand were
introduced to the western world. North African moors discovered
papermaking while trading with the East. In conquering Spain, the moors
brought papermaking to the West. The first paper mill in America was
established in 1690 by William Rittenhouse. It was located near
Philadelphia. By the beginning of the nineteenth century, hundreds of
paper mills had sprung up throughout the country. However, it was not
until the middle of the nineteeth century, when papermaking machines
were put into general use, that the urgent demand for inexpensive paper
could be met. Today, an average of well over 400 pounds of paper per
man, woman, and child is used each year in the industrial developed
countries.
HOW INK DEVELOPED
Printing ink was also invented in china. Wei dan is credited with
developing an ink for block printing about 400A.D. He made ink from
plant substances mixed with colored earth and soot. By the time of
Gutenberg, inks were being made by mixing varnish with lampblack. The
varnish was made by boiling linseed oil. These inks were used, with
little modification, until the end of the eighteenth century. During the
nineteeth century, advances were made in the use of dries to speed the
drying of ink. Various new pigments for producing colored inks were also
developed. It was in the twentieth century, however, that major
developments in ink making came about. Rapid technologies advances in
printing during the past fifty years brought about changes in the
composition and manufacturing of printing ink. Today, thousands of
chemists are constantly working to improve old inks and develop new
ones.
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