First Paper Industry Job

A lot has changed in the paper industry - and for the better. My first job was for the summer as a paper tester. At the time, it was one of the very few jobs which had air conditioning - not to mention you could stay relatively clean - also unusual for the industry.

With 3 days training, I was ready to go. No orientation about safety programs, about where the cafeteria was, or that there was a nurse 24/7 (common then, but not today). I quickly found out the "training way" was not the operating way. Machine foremen had a lot of power with their own way of doing paper testing. You learned pretty quick not to rock the boat - at least on nights and weekends. A good number of the machine foremen were missing arms (or parts there of) because of incidents on the machine (threading the machine was very dangerous in those days - still is today - but with a lot of safety improvements). As a consequence, they took a very personal approach to my safety - even if the formal approach was some what lacking.

There were a lot of great people working on the shift and we had some pretty good times. My lessons  forward were don't jump to conclusions based on shift tests and never assume an employee knows the organization or the safe way to do the job.

A Paper Tale - And Another Mill Start-Up

A PAPER TALE 

Many years ago in a kingdom by the Pee Dee ,

They built a paper mill near Florence , in 1963.

 

      Apologies to, Edgar Allen Poe.

 

It was built on a shoestring, even in those days, for about $26 million ($369 M today).  This included the whole mill, pulp, paper, power, water treatment - in and out, and the woodyard.  They bought no land, just the mill site…unheard of.

 

I was one of 4 process engineers (3 from NC State) and one from Rock Hill. The startup was at Christmas time in 1963 and we all had to stand around 16 hours a day and watch  production  try to get the mill going.  Everyone had bought a new pair of safety shoes, so this was particularly bad on the feet.  As with all paper mill startups, we had to beat the design rates  (about 450 tons per day) - so we went to 700 tons per day quickly.  An "off brand" set of brown stock washers barely washed the pulp and we were stuck with a soda loss of  175 #/T.  Good was about 25 #/t.  The single pulp storage would hold  an hour’s production for the machine. The forming section on the machine corroded away in about a year.  The bronze wires lasted a  a week.  The alum tank would hold about a truck load or a days run.  The tank was completely enclosed and the level gage  never worked - so keeping the paper mill satisfied and  supply trucks from getting into demurrage was a process engineer’s nightmare.  Remember the 1^st rule of papermaking: “If a little alum does good, a whole lot will do a lot better.”

 

Another process engineer’s nightmare was keeping saltcake inventory  in balance.  The storage tank held 1 & ½ days run.  The railcars came from Canada and took 20 days to arrive - but -  you better not run out or incur demurrage (which was $16 a day)!  The plant manager had decreed  there would be no demurrage paid. The alum and the saltcake tank’s inventories turned all of the process engineer’s hair white (or loose) and our stomach’s sour.  In other words, everything in the plant was too small…a typical start-up.

 

My first area of responsibility was in the paper mill.  We switched jobs about every 6 months or so.  I had the alum tank, the paper lab, and  process control. We had one paper tester per shift.  As you know, in linerboard mills, the only test that is looked at is mullen. If mullen is low, the machine is slowed back, which can never be allowed.  The production people were supposed to have their own mullen tester.  They promptly burst theirs and never again ran any mullen tests.  That is how we, in the paper lab, ended up with 2 Mullen tester machines.  The paper mill super always insisted on using the one giving the highest reading which required me to spend many lonely nights  trying to get them to read together…an impossible task.  Never have 2 Mullen testers!

 

The powers that be, decreed that we would have Mullen test results by roll … another impossible task - so we finally ran the tests by set and guessed at the roll position.  The paper mill management flatly refused to stop the machine after each set (3 or 4 set reels) to get samples.  We had to hire an extra paper tester to accomplish this and one of them was  your friend.  I distinctly remember the profound words he uttered on the night of start-up.  After working the night shift, he said, “I didn’t even have time to eat lunch!”  Henry was a good boy and tester.  Of course, the busy time got shorter as they learned to do their job more efficiently.  Henry began to sell Pilot insurance in his off time and he probably owns the company by now.

 

After a few months of wire changes each week, I suggested to the Papermill Superintendent that we try this new stuff…wirelife extender (WLE).  He didn’t say no, but “hell no”.  A few weeks passed and my boss asked why we didn’t try the WLE.  I told him why and he went to the superintendent's boss.  I don’t know if you knew him but he was probably the most renown papermaker of his time.  Originally from  Georgetown , he had worked his way up through the ranks doing start-ups mostly.  He was a hell raisin’, fighting, drinking, and man with great papermaking abilities who didn’t trust “college boys” or paper testers that got “bad results.”  You know the type. He was in charge of the paper and pulp mills.  He knew as much about the pulp mill as I did at the time…almost nothing.  He thought of them as “The Enemy”.   For some strange reason, he said he’d “speak with the superintendent”.  In a few days, the superintendent called me up and said he wanted to try the WLE so we were ready to start after the next wire change.  We asked him where we should put it and he  replied that he didn’t give a damn if we poured the GD barrel in the wire pit.  We applied it to a shower over a wire turning roll.  The first wire ran 22 days; a record by about 3 times.  The superintendent got very interested after that.

 

One day, the manager just left without notice to anyone. Sometime later he turned up at another start-up.   He died a few years ago.  I miss him and will always remember his antics.

 

After 3 years, in 1966, our plant manager  was given some money to distribute to salaried folks at the plant.  The minimum amount was about $1400 (about $16,000* today), twice as much as I was making per month.  Almost everyone got the bonus: foremen and above, the safety director, accountants, the engineers etc. but not process engineers.  All who got it were told not to tell anyone under threat of being fired.  Of course, it got out to everyone.  I decided to leave as soon as I could find another job.  All three process engineers from State left.  I was offered a job in Roanoke Rapids and was about to take it when a job came open at Catawba.  Thank goodness  I ended up there.

 

* Using nominal GDP per capita.

Jack Frank

 

Whatever It Takes! Start-up of a Cylinder Board Pulp Machine - 1959

North American pulp making machines prior to 1959 consisted of a cylinder mould forming section, 2 or 3 presses, maybe a pre-dryer and then a series of can dryers or flotation bars.  A decision was made to install an air float dryer, a relatively new innovation in Europe (Sweden), at this North American site - becoming the first in North America (and 5th in the world).  Fans blowing air would move the 'pulp' sheet the length of the machine where it was turned  by the use of a "kite" and sent back down the length again.  The sheet made 17 "passes" in this manner and exited the dryer with  about 10 to 20 percent water.  The pulp was then cut into sheets, stacked, pressed into bales, wrapped by hand and shipped.
The following story was told about the startup:
The operator and first helper level jobs were filled by "experienced" pulp mill employees from other southern mills - though not necessarily experienced in operating pulp machines.  The remainder of the crews were hired locally with no pulp machine experience (A commitment to officials that local people would be hired).
Communication between the lone Swedish engineer  and the "southern speaking" crews was a major handicap.  This engineer knew very little English and had knowledge of only a portion of the process to be started up.
All start-ups in pulp and paper mills have problems that are soon solved but this one was the exception. The machine was designed for 400 tons per day. A major "wet end" problem was getting the pulp sheet off the cylinder mould and into the presses. Days drug on into a weeks and everyone was put on extended hours.  The situation was desperate because the rest of the mill would shut down when the dryer didn't operate. When this happened, all personnel would be sent to the pulp machine to "help", but with little success.  Most were strangers to each other.  Suggestions were being given by folks who had no experience on operating a pulp machine.
Finally, after much effort, the sheet was ready to enter the dryer section. The kite pulling the sheet had to be manually turned toward the other end at each pass.  This required putting your head and arms inside the dryer.  Temperatures were extremely hot (hot enough to melt safety glasses) causing some employees to  pass out from heat exhaustion.  It was not a job for the weak.  This method of threading of the drier ("flying a kite") continued for many years until a cable threading device was installed.


The pulp sheet guide didn't work (or the operators didn't know how to work it) and the pulp would run to one side and break out. This continued until an enterprising first helper decided to use a box cutter (Stanley Knife) to trim one edge of the sheet continuously (really almost a board at this point) and allow the trim to fall in the beater. The person doing the trimming would stand beneath the sheet and hold the box cutter so that the blade would slit the sheet.  The cutter blades would quickly become dull and hot thus requiring many quick changes for fresh box cutters. After several hours, the person doing the cutting quickly became experienced so that mishaps were infrequent in this tiring hot job. Reduced production was now being made and no one was forced to quit.
Some days later, one of the few experienced operators observed the first helper cutting the sheet and asked, "What in the world are you doing?"   When told, the machine operator returned to the wet end, cocked the presses (changed the loading) and had the problem solved in a few minutes.  The sheet ran to the middle. Halleluiah! 
From then on, it was smooth sailing.  Gradually but quickly the machine was brought up to design tonnage and beyond.  By 1964, the pulp machine was having 800-ton days - double the design.  The income from the pulp machine served the mill very well and it is still profitable today - although now, it is the oldest drying machine of its type still in existence.


Jack Frank

In The Beginning - The Beginners Guide To Papermaking

With 25+ years in the paper industry - and almost all of it in the "backside" of the mill - there are a lot of stories to tell. Some humorous, and some helpful. Hopefully, they will be captured here - and some stories that you may have as well.

Back in the 70's, a fellow student provided everyone with a copy of "The Beginners Guide To Papermaking" . I'm pretty sure it was produced by an artistically talented mill employee. If anyone knows who the author is, please let me know so I can give them credit.