Abstract
The paper describes the industry of the papermaking in the vicinity of the Benedictine Abbey in Montecassino (Italy). The focus is mainly on the factories that were supplied by hydraulic energy that was available in that area. The historical analysis of the papermakers in the area begins with a factory that was established in the town of Sant’Elia Fiumerapido by abbey monks in 1516. The plant was chosen because it was provided with a water mill that made the Abbey’s extensive ‘scriptorium’ independent of outside sources for the provision of suitable paper. Drawings of past plants at different scales have permitted us to analyze the historical and technical evolution of the papermaking in the specific area under the influence and supervision of the Montecassino Abbey. A specific analysis is carried out on the development of machines by observing their structure and operation, in conjunction with calling attention to recovering of the past needs for papermakers through the remains of their machinery.
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Notes
- 1.
The Montecassino Abbey was founded by Saint Benedict in A.D. 529. It was considered one of the most important historical monuments of the European architecture until its destruction during World War II. It was rebuilt during the post-war period by reproducing the original structure from drawings and surveys of the past.
- 2.
The Liri is the largest river in the area under the influence of Montecassino Abbey that is known as the Land of Saint Benedict.
- 3.
Even when pure water was used, the pulp – and hence the paper – was not white, and a uniform bluish hue was imparted to it. For the papermaking industry, the discovery of chlorine’s bleaching properties towards the end of the eighteenth century was thus a revolutionary event.
- 4.
A pattern worked in silver wire can be attached to the mould. When the sheet is formed, the pulp settles in a thinner layer over the raised wire, producing an image that can only be seen when the paper is held up to the light: the watermark.
- 5.
Developed by the English inventor Joseph Bramah in 1806, this machine – also called a board machine or vat machine – consists of a wire covered cylinder that rotates partially submerged in a vat of dilute paper stock. Pulp fibers cling to the wire and are formed into a sheet on the cylinder as the water drains through it. The sheet is then automatically lifted from the wire by an endless felt, pressed and dried.
- 6.
In the procedure used by this continuous papermaking machine invented by the Frenchman Nicolas-Louis Robert in 1799, the watery pulp or stock is refined and conditioned before it enters the machine. From the machine’s head box, the stock is spread onto an endless belt of wire mesh that moves horizontally, shaking from side to side as it passes over suction boxes that draw out the water from the stock. The paper is then compressed in a press section consisting of a series of rollers, dried by enormous dryer rolls, and wound on a reel.
- 7.
Of the few machines in use, most were printers, while Hollander beaters were rare. Only three paper mills had vats (Archivio di Stato di Roma, Camerale II – CARTIERE (1775–1866) [envelope 1], 1850 – Statistics on paper mills in the Papal States). Also see: Balzani (1970).
- 8.
A flourishing trade – which often overstepped the bounds of strict legitimacy – grew up around rags: hemp, linen and wool (white or dyed).
- 9.
In the Middle Ages, the cities of Amalfi, Venice, Pisa and Genoa achieved prominence as maritime republics, i.e., small city-states whose economy was based on their naval power and sea trade.
- 10.
Until this time, cellulose manufacturing had failed to make headway in Italy because of the high cost of production and the shortage of wood, coal and chemicals needed for processing.
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Cigola, M., Ceccarelli, M. (2011). Historical Development of Paper Mills and Their Machines in South Latium During the Nineteenth Century. In: de la Portilla, J., Ceccarelli, M. (eds) History of Machines for Heritage and Engineering Development. History of Mechanism and Machine Science, vol 14. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-1251-5_4
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