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10. Paper Mill
- Wayne State University Press
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10 PAPER MILL Henry Ford believed in cleanliness and abhorred waste of any sort. At the Rouge, it took at least 5000 cleaners to keep the immense plant “shipshape.” In one month, 32,500 gallons of paint were applied, 7000 mops and 2700 brooms were worn out, and 30,000 pounds of soap chips were used. In this ongoing massive cleanup, Ford recognized the value of the tons of waste paper accumulating daily. By October 1922, he had constructed and put into operation a paper mill. Trash such as empty cartons, paper bags, lunch wrappings, newspapers, and waste office paper was baled and sent to the paper mill, where it was all torn to bits and mixed with resinous chemical binders to form a dark, gummy mass that could be pressed and dried to form a strong, relatively oil- and waterproof “binder board.” The many compositions, shapes, and sizes of binder board provided a variety of uses, such as cartons for shipping automotive parts and binder-board panels for use as upholstery backing in car body interiors. A workforce of about thirty-five employees was processing as much as 25 tons of paper a day by 1931. A small research laboratory staff in the paper mill kept improving the products of the mill, so that in 1937, an additional investment of $300,000 was provided, adding more space and improving facilities. 71 72 Top: Exterior of the first paper mill built in the heart of the Rouge Plant in 1922. (833.96170-1) Bottom: A Howland beater containing a batch of well-beaten binder-board slurry. (833.37278) [3.227.239.160] Project MUSE (2024-03-28 19:53 GMT) 73 Salvaged paper being examined as it is put into a Howland beater. (833.56476.A.5) Right: Stock storage tanks containing slurry ready for pressing into binder board. (833.37280) Below: A new Merritt press, added to the paper mill in 1939, converts the slurry into a continuous sheet of wet binder board. (833.72704-C) [3.227.239.160] Project MUSE (2024-03-28 19:53 GMT) Wet sheet from the Merritt press is cut into large sections and piled in stacks. (833.65728) 76 Top: Wet board sheets from the stack at bottom right are placed on a dryer. (833.70428-B) Bottom: A display of samples of finished panel boards used in the Model A as interior body parts. (P.833.56476.A.2) ...