Volume 1, Number 5
Dec 1988

Early Research

Martens, A. Durability of the printing papers of the present day. Mitt. Kgl. Mech-tech. Versuchs. 5, Erganzungsheft 4:3-16, 1887.

Tests indicate that a great part of the works of this period are in danger of extinction because of the rapid deterioration of the paper on which they are printed.

Strachan, J. Permanence of the earliest sulphite paper. Paper-Maker Brit. Paper Trade Journal 91(2): Ts 17-18 (Feb. 1, 1936);.Bull. of the IPC 6: 311.

A sample has been found of the first sulfite paper produced by Ekman at Northfleet in 1886. Physical tests were carried out on a portion of the sample and showed normal bulk, bursting and tensile strengths, and exceptionally high folding resistance which it would be impossible to reproduce with modern cooking and bleaching methods. The sample has apparently changed very little in its physical properties during exposure to atmospheric conditions for fifty years and, considering the fact that it was produced with imperfectly developed processes, gives a valuable indication of the permanence of sulfite papers.