Some people have counted that there are now more than 12,000 types of paper with different uses in the world, which meet all aspects of human needs. Some of these papers were invented consciously, and some were born inadvertently; some inventions have been patented and have the name of the inventor, while some do not know who the inventor is, leaving only the invention story about it. .
The color of the paper people made earlier was not beautiful. Except for the paper made from sulfurous acid pulp, which was white, the rest were either brown or slightly yellow like wheat straw. In the 18th century, a family handmade paper mill in Sheffield, England, accidentally created colored paper. That day, William was pounding paper pulp, and his wife was preparing to dye clothes. By accident, his wife dropped a bag of madrim dye into the paper pulp vat. "Oh, you are such a careless person!" William complained to his wife, but he was reluctant to throw away the basin of pulp and made do with it to make paper.
Unexpectedly, as soon as these pink papers were placed in the store, they were spotted by a girl. "Hey, what a beautiful paper!" The girl paid a higher price than ordinary paper and happily bought a few pieces. After a while, many young people came and wanted to buy this pink paper. Later, William learned that this day happened to be February 14th, Valentine's Day. The young man thought that using this pink rose-colored paper to write letters to his sweetheart would be more heartwarming. This inspired William, and later he not only intentionally made this kind of pink paper, but also made various other colored papers.
Blotting paper was also invented accidentally. When making paper, some gum or bark sap should be added to the pulp. The paper made in this way will be strong and the words written on it will not melt. At the end of the 18th century, in a British paper mill, a worker accidentally forgot to add glue to the pulp. The resulting paper looked good on the outside, but it couldn't be written on at all. When the quill was touched, it turned into a ball of ink. When the boss got angry, he threw the pen onto the paper. The ink thrown out of the pen was immediately absorbed by the paper.
This scene greatly inspired the boss, thinking that after people write a letter, the ink often does not dry for a while, and it takes a while before it can be put into the envelope. If you specially make this kind of unglued paper and use it to absorb the wet ink on the letter, then you can put the envelope into the envelope as soon as you finish writing the letter. How great would that be? Thus the blotting paper was born.
Carbon paper was invented in the early 19th century, and the inventor was Wedgwood in England. At that time, he was running a stationery store in London. One day, Wedgwood wrote a letter in pencil to his regular customers, introducing them to several new stationery products in the store. The contents of these letters were almost the same. He wrote them mechanically, a little bored. "Can I write two or three letters at the same time?" Looking at the traces of writing on the previous paper left on the latter paper, this idea suddenly came to Wedgwood's mind.
The key to some inventions lies in production, while the key to some inventions lies in having an idea. Once you think of it, it is not difficult to realize it. The situation Wedgwood is facing now falls into the latter category. Soon, he figured out how to realize his idea: soak a piece of tissue paper in blue ink, then sandwich it between two sheets of blotting paper and let it dry. A copy is obtained by lining it under regular paper while writing. In 1806, Wedgwood received a patent for an invention with an awkward-sounding name: a device for copying letters and documents.
When Wedgwood's invention came out, British commercial activities were already very developed, and carbon paper was of great use. Seeing that his invention was so popular, Wedgwood simply set up a factory to produce carbon paper. Later, the French switched to the method of infiltrating glycerin and pine smoke into the paper to make carbon paper. Around 1815, someone in Germany made another innovation, using hot glycerin plus dye extracted from coal tar, finely grinding and researching, and coating it on tough tissue paper to make carbon paper. Later, people added various wax materials to the coating of carbon paper to overcome the viscosity, which became the carbon paper we use today.
Probably because the British papermaking industry is particularly developed, there is also a special type of paper-corrugated paper also invented by the British.
British gentlemen often wear straight top hats. Wearing those woolen top hats in summer is a pain. The sweat on the forehead makes the brim of the hat wet and uncomfortable. Some people thought of finding some paper lining inside to absorb sweat, but the dry paper was a bit hard and uncomfortable to wear. Sometimes the hat would slip off the head, making people look bad. Later, two British gentlemen, Harley and Alan, figured out a way: sandwich a layer of corrugated paper between two layers of paper. This kind of paper will feel very comfortable when inserted into the hat, and the hat will not fall off again. In 1856, they obtained the patent for corrugated paper.
However, for some reason, the trend of lining top hats with corrugated paper has not become popular in the UK. However, Americans took a fancy to the paper's good rigidity and resistance to deformation, and thought of using it to make cartons for packaging items. In 1894, the United States built a factory dedicated to manufacturing corrugated paper to produce large quantities of cartons and cartons. Corrugated paper is now widely used in daily life, but it is difficult for people to imagine its original intention from its current use.