Newspapers / The Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, … / Nov. 10, 1907, edition 1 / Page 13
Part of The Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
c i ( l . r, ctJy fruni the "4 "Automatic Coal, Bin Over -: ,V,U jvi. ' Champion Fibre ii-Vi,.'" Story of the "Great Undert 1 ' i , ' o , - What la to-day the Bite of probably the greatest pulp mill In the United 6tatea.'"'ottly ' trireryeara'agd J was ' a i, flourishing field, of com,' wheat .and hay.. . The wttol la now covered over with' brick, concrete- and railroad '( tracks TWs vast mill s located at ' Canto, von the. Murphy division of i the Southern Railroad, about 18 miles ' from Aehevlile.- This enterprise, - atytod the Champion Fibre Company, Is financed .chiefly by Petor Ok Tnomp- . son, -of Hamilton,- CU ,who to also a large, holder in the 'Champion Coated ' Paper Company, of that place.' ? Mr. v Thompson, Who. visited this country several summers ago, sawth " vast possibilities of a lsrga pulp mill I In this vicinity and after looking over many locations, hi Anally -decided up on Canton as the most favorable place '. for hla plant, because the timber could toe easily gotten : down.; the Pigeon river; from-Ms -vaat-tractvandtalso .from the west; and on account of the : targe supply of pure water .that could '. be secured from the fHgeon river, and ' because , he recognised that Canton , possessed' greater possibilities for new ... lines of railroad, particularly up the Pigeon driver '-from-' Tennessee. which , wouia put n is .sunt, nearer, tne coai ;,vast timber tracts hitherto untouched. . The land on which the plant Is lo i ' cated was1, purchase cMeny" ;ffom y Mayor J. N. Mease, and his willingness to accept a fair', prlc' for ; his ihome property had much to do with .secur lng, this great enterprise -for; Canton. t 8lnca the location P of ; this ; "com . janjr hart, the town .has grown won v derfnlly. , In 1905 the taxable prop arty in the whdletownshlp was valued at only $314,828, -while n -190T the valuation was 11,015,647. The popu . , . latlon wf Canton was only- about SOO ! three years ago and now there are be , tween.t.OOQ and S.000 people In Can tonand Its suburba r The dtlsena of .. the- town , hacva almost unanimously ; Toted 186,000 Of, Improvement bonds v pon themselves. " v: ! - Tha Champlort flbra Company will j not Onlv manufacture naDer nulo. but t will also manufacture , tannlo acid , from. chestAut ,wood...?i It will only Tnaniifnetiira aftmirh .'nani him to , ship ;: Its tannll add, -which will be , ' evaporated to dryness, , to the tan .nerlea, and tp ship Its pulp, also In dry stata," to the other plant of Mr. ' "Thompeon's ' at Hamtltonr-OThe - Champion Coated Paper Company, " ' Where It wlH be manufactured Into all v grades erf paper, front the cheapest itfriLDTiInap nannr tA flna mlm nf writ. ' v lnj paper. ; - THE PULP MILL. f There will Be two processes" used In the manufacture of the gulp; the f, sodav. process, requiring soft woods, i such-a poplar, chestnut; and the sul- , earn, and other ( pine ;woods. ,Each (of these processea requires large dl- ' t Fife -'L Vr ryipg Rolls, Where the Pulp is Dried After Coming. ,upu he Boiler House. . Coalia Elevated Inty-This and Then ? Passes to the Boiler Tubes; Company's Dig , v ; Paper Mill a Gigantic Enterprise aldxurin Haywood County A , BT E..B. JEFFKESS., V v BY -B JEFFRESS.; la cooked for many hours under pres sure, . and with superheated ' B'oath, Before- coming to the chip bins a ove the vilgesters, the wood has to be finely chipped, ana have all the knots re moved, and also the barkvi i This Is done In a large building near the digester building, called the chipping and barking building. . , - - The sulphite "digester building Is 12S feet high, and is probably one of the tallest buildings tn North Caro lina. It is eight -stories high and built Out of red pressed VJck. There are three large' steel digester -tanks in- this building which are 16 feet tn diameter, and 64 feet high, wtth 7;04Q cubic , feet capacity each. The soda digester building, which la near this one. Is about leO fe-et Mgh with - C large digesters,. .9 feet Inches tn diameter and 47 feet high. ' It Is in these digesters that the chip ped wood has to cook with steam and I calcium and magnesium bisulphite, in the sulphite process, and- with caus tic soda In the soda process, for from ten to eighteen hours at a time. These Iage digesters are then emptied Into large concrete tanks where the pulp will be warmed free from acids: It will then pass Intd the bleaching tanksV wnera lf wlll be, bleached' by chlorine gas, and then It will gd to the beater room, where it will be re-rrounJ and screened. From this room" It will oaas to the hollanders and 'then on to the drying rolls where ms puip ib maae uuo mat, ana got ten in dry form for shipping to the Champion Coated Paper Company, at Hamilton, Ohio.. - T , The main building of the Champion Fibre Company is about 850 feet in length, and Is the longest one of the buildings. '.This building contains the soda digesters the . blow, tanks, the screen room,. the machine room, the bleaching roon, the cnemtoal reclaim ing room, the -evaporating room,. and the drying room, ; and ; pulp ; storagfe rooms, v'v. i,.'..1'- .' J 'i.-,r.v'4'-.--: The sulphlU digester building Is the highest building In the plant, being 123 feet -high." This building has the acid plant- joining Jt, where the sul phurous acid la made. This acid is used la tha sulphite process to decom pose the ligneous matter tn the wood. It will take several car. loads of sul phuric run this plant dally, and sev eral cart of lime, to absorb this acid, making blsulphat of , calcium, whioh digests or decomposes thfr wool when he-ated with steam under pressure. ' Between the two digester buildings ia located the boiler house and the gi gantic smoke stack. The boiler house Is the most modern in the country, and : will contain, twenty 316ihorse power . water tube boilers, f . These boilers are "all connected In system, and they ara automatically fed by the best system known.- ' The coal will be crushed np, an J elevated from" the rars to tha top of the coal bin, where It will be fed Into tha hollers by tubes which run to each of tha boilers. The pn lagnt.jMaKeuoarse raper,j!lat,,; t ...., , -x, .::vyv:?. ft , and . Viewsiof ' -Swf Plant. ? . 1 , r - j ,. 1 -- -t-tJ-- -m f n - t . i ' : mmmmmmmmmmmmm mu n i n I i u .. II n i I " . . ,' 1 1 " .' 1 v 1 1$ t. ', , V " ' - (, v1 M- - ' &-i-Ui;v :; r . t?''V " t . ' . ' r n t-( s, vi H-"',k! - ;'T '0'" v ! ff(WltBlrt(W8FVrl I -l General ,View of the Champion Fibre Company's lant, '''':,""-'V " i-i"-''--the .1 , )- - V , - - 1 a ashes will alt be carried out in cars and ' Jumped -Out' on the ash heap without handlinrfwith the- hands at all. i ', The ' steam of ;. these V gigantic boilers will be used to generate elec tricity, to run machinery,: and to be used In the large digesters, for aiding e 4 iFroni the Beater Ho6m.! THE f.MOKE .STACK. f The s:-nfike from this boiler tiouse will be carried dlroctly out la large flues to Jhe jjljantic smoke stack. This was built by the Alphons Cus todla Chimney Construction Company, of New York. The material used In, the. construction of this huge chimney Is reinforced. - The elevation of this fcmoke stack above the foundation Is 253 feet . hljrh. The stack is built, upon a foundation of concrete which Is laid upon ,400 piles. These piles are about 14 to It inches in diameter and 28 to 32 feet in length and are driven below the surface of - ii grounds - They are cut off 6 feet be low the ground and the cement foun dation laid upon that. The inside diameter, of the smoke stack is J 4-feet for' the first 85 feet, and . the thickness of the wall is 14 Inches, being made up of 5 Inches of concrete, a 4-ihch air 'space and an other 6-lnch wall-of concrete. From the 83 feet mark up to the top there is no air spacce, and the waQ is about 8 Inches In width.- The outside di ameter Is the same throughout be ing 16 feet, 2 Inches. s, At the -top the stack widens cut : slightly, and '. then narrows y . again. The stack haa been constructed about 5 feet a day, th Cement being pack ed In a mould, which la slipped up again each day, - . BLEACH ROOM. There are 24 bleaching tanks,' 20 feet high, and about 12 feet in diame ter each... la the bleach' room, which i located near the:,- soda .digester building. -.. 'Here' the pulp is bleached by chlorine gas. These tanks are constructed of the best grade reinforc ed concrete", and will hold both water and chlorine gas. The capacity of these tanks is aeveral thousands, of gallons each,, The screen room, Is tha next room adjoining and contains between 25 and SO screening machines which 1grade"the pulp, and a-et out all the pieces which -have not been ground up fine enough. The pulp then passes into the'bollander'!. room, where it is washed and rtfrou.l ad "otte n final shape for tha .drying rolls. The "hollanders" .are machines which have rapidly revolving parts, to wash the pulp and grind It. The next adjoining room to the "hol lander" room Is the drying room where the pulp-passes over screens and Is made In the form of mats and passed lntothe hot rolls. These rolls are large copper ones, and are heated from the exhaust steam from the engines in the machine room, wWch Is Just toelow the drying room. There are four sets of drying rolls In this min, each of which contain about 23. revolving rolls, which are over two feet In diameter. 7 j The next room adjoining Is the large storage warehouse , which has a fine hardwood floor In It. Here the pulp. Is stored and gotten ready to whip, and can be placed on cars, just off. the platform, 7-' MACHINE ROOM. .', The machine room Is situated on the ground floor of the main building 1ut, under, the drying room, Hera it s that the largest engines, probably, in North Carolina, are located, Thre are - two ' . 1,800-horse-power each Hamllton-Corless oross-compound en- 'gines, which wlllrun two 1,600-horse. power generator . There will also be a' number of other engines In this room varying In siie. The only 'use "f steam In this plant is to generate electricity, and to run the machinery which will ihave variable speeds, and for use in' the dlg-sters. ELECTRICAL PEPARTMENT.' The generator building Is . located near the boiler room, and will be equipped with the finest electi'teal macr.unery no be found In western N'orth Carolina. The generstors will ftltornatlnft current, S phase ' ma 'nines, running at 440 volts pressure. They will be 1,500 -K, W., capacity, ind running at 100 revolutions per econd. - They are In direct connee lon with' two J,W0-horse-power Ham Iton-Corlcss cross-compound engines, these generators will run In multiple .vith l,8(KVhors-Dower transformers. which receives current at 2,200 volts from the Haywood Electrical Com pany, at Waynesville, ' - The total current to run, the machin ery of this plant will be 7,000-hor-e power, with 1.800 to possibly b add ed in a year or a The current win be supplied direct ly - to tha - m ill-- through -11 pannel Solid Hammered Triple f Effect, Copper Evaporators in the .Tannic Acid Plant, 1 , " J Where the Extract is Evaporated. Its Cost Was Over $100,000. . ; . switch boards, 60 feet In length. This will be dtstrlbutsd to 189 Induction motors, varying from HO to 200 horse power. .There will be over 100 mo tors connected directly to the ma chine which they run. This (a a mot modern-nd up-to-date plant and is .accepted by the Insurance com panies having jurisdiction in this ter- Taken Nearly a Half-Mile . North. rltory.t , ELECTRIC LIGHTING. Tha lighting of this plant will con sist of (0 Adams-Bagnall and General Electric aro lights In unison with 4,000 Incandescent " lights. For the outside lighting, modern frame arc a1 I ' I Machinery in Beater ( or ; Hollander Room, Through Which the Pulp Parses I7fc:: lax Ughts .will be used. This 15 the most up-to-date system of " electric light ing to be found In the State, and Is beln; Installed under the superintend ency of Mr. Thomas Judge, of BldJe- ford. Mass. - -- . ,, All the machinery In the pulp mill will hi driven by motor except the variable speed machinery, and the ( J Distant and booking . to. 4 - . beater machinery. Tha generators for this plant will be 21 feet In diameter, L800 home power, each weighing 83 tons. The revolving part weighs 32 tons.. . ., There will be three systems if lighting, Lighting can be taken at a moments riotlce from either of threa circuits, the. Haywood Electric Com pany's circuit, tha large generators, or direct from tha exciters. Ther will be about 120 miles of electrlo wiring; in this plant when all the work -is completed. There haa alreaJy been, over 100 miles of wiring installed in -the buildings,; Tha Haywood Electric Company, of Waynesville, Is under AnnrvaftT in mm mui . i.nuii nurnruuwcr to this plant and they hope to furnisn f 1.800.; : (-J";" :r : v-V,. 'U';'f,o- In addition to the electric wTA at; Canton, the company Is also Installing a 60-horse power station In connec tion with Its woods .' department at Ariili: This current will be dlstribut ed at' 33. volts to saw mills, within a rang of 3 to B miles from the plant ' Something of this kind will probably be installed at their works at Sun burst when they begin to get out tha timber In that section. , f 1 The Champion Flbr Company wilt reclatm all the possible chemicals they can, and to accomplish this they are installlng'a flna chemical depart ment in connection with the plant This plant will be equipped with 4 and 4 large boilers. These furnaces traverse furnaces. 4 rotary furnaces, aro HneJ with chemical fire-brick. . and will be used to heat up the chem icals. : .' - ' . There are also 4 large evaporators, which work on the multiple system. . They evaporate tha liquid from tha digesters to dryness, and tha residua' Is then placed in the furnaces, where It Is roasted, Large lime, bleach, . and other chemical storage rooms are being constructed. .'.,, Tannic acid plant. In addition to the , pulp mill, tha Champion Fibre Company is also con structing a large tannic acid plant for getting out the tannic add from the chestnut wood before it is used for making paper, The length of the acid plant. is 888 feet, and contains a boiler house, a regrlnder room. - a rough bleaching room, a chipping ' rooms, pulp bleaching room, and eva porator rooms. The wood will be ground up Into : crete bleaching tank where the tannlo " acid will be bleached out. There are 73 concrete tanks In this plant which have several thousands gallons capaci ty each. The extract will then be concen large copper evaporators. These , evaporators are made nut of solid cop per end cost about 1 3 0,0 00 f eaca and freight. Thle making tha four cop per evaporators cost aJbout 1180.000, '. Tha tannic extract will be shipped entirely In dry form to tanneries la various parts of tha XTnltad States. t MATERIALS USED. -Brick, and concrete have been the chief materials used In tha construc tion of this plant Tha construction of the plant will require 10,000.000 ' brick, most of which have been al ready laid. ,rv These -brick came from Alex A. Scott it Co., Knoxvllle, Tenn, -There has already been 180.000 bags of cement used In the plant besides 20,000 bags used In tha add plant and 3.000 m tha emoka stack. Thera Is only one ptank floor, in the building; ; and fha Is In the storage department AU the other floors ar made of r-
The Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Nov. 10, 1907, edition 1
13
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75