and the mould is returned to the vatman. The felts are woollen cloths of close texture, resembling that of machine blankets, and are larger than the paper placed upon them.
Upon each sheet of paper a third worker places a felt, and the papermaking proceeds. When the pile of felts and paper is sufficiently high, it is transferred to a hydraulic press, and considerable pressure is applied in order to remove as much water as possible by squeezing, and, more important, to couch or press the fibres together and to close the sheets. The pile is removed, the felts taken out, the pile of paper given further pressing, and for some papers the paper is turned, rebuilt, and pressed again, to improve the closeness of the sheets. The paper is then taken to the drying loft, hung on ropes of cow hair, which material possesses the virtue of making no marks or stains upon the tender paper. Loft-drying is carried on at an even temperature, in order to permit of even shrinkage of the sheets. At this stage the paper, which is unsized, is known as waterleaf, and unless it is to be used in the unsized state, requires further treatment, as described in the next chapter, before being ready for use.
Mould-made papers are made by machine as far as making the sheets is concerned, other operations being carried out as for hand-made papers. The moulding or forming of the sheet is carried out in different ways on different machines, but the construction of the machines being kept secret by their users, it is not possible to give a description here.
